Full Moon
A 'dawn' she has both beautiful and bright,
When the East kindles with the full moon's light;
Not like the rising sun's impatient glow
Dazzling the mountains, but an overflow
Of solemn splendour, in mutation slow.
-- "By the side of Rydal Mere", William Wordsworth
September 29 is the day when the moon is at its fullest this year, according to the Chinese calendar. This date would be the 15th day of the 8th month of the Year of the Monkey. Otherwise known as "Full Moon Festival" or "Mid-Autumn Festival", it celebrates the full moon and what it stands for.
This festival revolves around the basic concepts of the moon -- the Beauty of a Full Circle; and the Cloak of Darkness. Seemingly disjointed, this is typical of Chinese sensibility - all is duality, yin-yang, action-reaction, positive/negative.
As such, a Full Moon is always the roundest, brightest and most beautiful when the rest of the dark night is at its blackest. I do think the Full Moon watched over me during my time spent in Singapore, Tokyo, New York and Boston these past few weeks.
For the Chinese, circles represent completion, unification, repetition and closeness. Reunions between family and friends are known as tuan yuan, which literally translates to "collective circle". Aptly I circled back with friends in all these places, trading dumb questions and experiences and dirty jokes over beers, pasta, water, coffee, into all hours of the night. On our best days, we can't imagine a more enjoyable time than laughing over nothing and everything with our friends, old and new. There is very little that is more important to me than a friendship - and I hope I get to keep these ones for many more full moons to come.
Celebrating the moon inevitably means celebrating the night. Mid-autumn provides the most comfortable night-time weather, slight breeze, the barest chill to remind you of the darkness, yet the air clear and sweet enough to entice you outdoors. Autumn nights are seductive - the perfect temperature to stare at the moon with a warm blanket about the shoulders (or, for the lucky ones, a warm arm about the shoulder?). The night is not threatening or confining, it hums with a seductive song that tempts you to put out the flame and walk into the darkness with only the full moon to light your way.
I walked many miles on this trip during nightime. In Singapore, I walked along quiet highways after midnight, letting the night air wash out the anger and frustration at my grandmother's illness, the full moon my only guardian.
In New York, I walked up Broadway with friends, animated over a new movie we had just seen, exchanging gossip and tips and updating each other on lives in general, the moon energizing us to walk over a hundred street blocks.
In Tokyo, we walked haltingly along the main Roppongi thoroughfare, the moon muted by the multitudes of blinking pink neon signs. Lady Luck Bar, Rocking All Night Cafe, Chill Joint, Cyberock Club.. in the night, we were looking for another dark room to dance and drink and forget about the open sky. In Roppongi, night does not exist - the tourism engine raises its head the highest, during the darkest hours.
In Boston, Faneiul Hall and Quincy Market were dotted with quaint lamps, the walk accompanied by the soothing strains of street violin and not much else, the tourist crowd having receded into their posh hotel rooms. After a scrumptious seafood dinner, the slow stroll on quiet cobbled streets has its own charm.
It takes nights like these to see the beauty in mid-autumn, and not just from the full moon. Perhaps from the spell cast by the season - perhaps from luck. There was beauty in a way a waitress poured water into my glass. When a grandmother picks out a lantern for her grandchild. Off the gleam of office windows reflecting streetlights. Leaping from a dog's joyful pounce when its master comes out of a grocery store. Radiating from a boy's smile when his father shares his pink bandung drink.
In another two days, the full moon would have lost its perfect edge - slivers of silver orb will be slowly swallowed by the dark sky and the circle will no longer be perfect - I am flying back to Hong Kong in a few days. But the spell may not be broken - I will be seeing the same moon, with the same fullness and content in its circle, in a few more weeks, in a different place, with different friends, with a different kind of beauty.
A lunar cycle repeated, a spirit refreshed, my moon-lit night-time story continues.
When the East kindles with the full moon's light;
Not like the rising sun's impatient glow
Dazzling the mountains, but an overflow
Of solemn splendour, in mutation slow.
-- "By the side of Rydal Mere", William Wordsworth
September 29 is the day when the moon is at its fullest this year, according to the Chinese calendar. This date would be the 15th day of the 8th month of the Year of the Monkey. Otherwise known as "Full Moon Festival" or "Mid-Autumn Festival", it celebrates the full moon and what it stands for.
This festival revolves around the basic concepts of the moon -- the Beauty of a Full Circle; and the Cloak of Darkness. Seemingly disjointed, this is typical of Chinese sensibility - all is duality, yin-yang, action-reaction, positive/negative.
As such, a Full Moon is always the roundest, brightest and most beautiful when the rest of the dark night is at its blackest. I do think the Full Moon watched over me during my time spent in Singapore, Tokyo, New York and Boston these past few weeks.
For the Chinese, circles represent completion, unification, repetition and closeness. Reunions between family and friends are known as tuan yuan, which literally translates to "collective circle". Aptly I circled back with friends in all these places, trading dumb questions and experiences and dirty jokes over beers, pasta, water, coffee, into all hours of the night. On our best days, we can't imagine a more enjoyable time than laughing over nothing and everything with our friends, old and new. There is very little that is more important to me than a friendship - and I hope I get to keep these ones for many more full moons to come.
Celebrating the moon inevitably means celebrating the night. Mid-autumn provides the most comfortable night-time weather, slight breeze, the barest chill to remind you of the darkness, yet the air clear and sweet enough to entice you outdoors. Autumn nights are seductive - the perfect temperature to stare at the moon with a warm blanket about the shoulders (or, for the lucky ones, a warm arm about the shoulder?). The night is not threatening or confining, it hums with a seductive song that tempts you to put out the flame and walk into the darkness with only the full moon to light your way.
I walked many miles on this trip during nightime. In Singapore, I walked along quiet highways after midnight, letting the night air wash out the anger and frustration at my grandmother's illness, the full moon my only guardian.
In New York, I walked up Broadway with friends, animated over a new movie we had just seen, exchanging gossip and tips and updating each other on lives in general, the moon energizing us to walk over a hundred street blocks.
In Tokyo, we walked haltingly along the main Roppongi thoroughfare, the moon muted by the multitudes of blinking pink neon signs. Lady Luck Bar, Rocking All Night Cafe, Chill Joint, Cyberock Club.. in the night, we were looking for another dark room to dance and drink and forget about the open sky. In Roppongi, night does not exist - the tourism engine raises its head the highest, during the darkest hours.
In Boston, Faneiul Hall and Quincy Market were dotted with quaint lamps, the walk accompanied by the soothing strains of street violin and not much else, the tourist crowd having receded into their posh hotel rooms. After a scrumptious seafood dinner, the slow stroll on quiet cobbled streets has its own charm.
It takes nights like these to see the beauty in mid-autumn, and not just from the full moon. Perhaps from the spell cast by the season - perhaps from luck. There was beauty in a way a waitress poured water into my glass. When a grandmother picks out a lantern for her grandchild. Off the gleam of office windows reflecting streetlights. Leaping from a dog's joyful pounce when its master comes out of a grocery store. Radiating from a boy's smile when his father shares his pink bandung drink.
In another two days, the full moon would have lost its perfect edge - slivers of silver orb will be slowly swallowed by the dark sky and the circle will no longer be perfect - I am flying back to Hong Kong in a few days. But the spell may not be broken - I will be seeing the same moon, with the same fullness and content in its circle, in a few more weeks, in a different place, with different friends, with a different kind of beauty.
A lunar cycle repeated, a spirit refreshed, my moon-lit night-time story continues.
posted by tygertyger at 1:39 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home