Mid-Autumn Moon Family Festival!
Sat, Sep 17, 2016 @ 12:00pm - 4:00pm
Museum of Chinese in America
215 Centre Street New York, NY 10013
http://www.mocanyc.org/visit/events/midautumn_moon_family_festival_1
Fly to the moon with MOCA! Explore the customs and traditions behind this harvest festival with a mooncake tasting, moon-themed arts and crafts, stellar story time, and more family fun!
Tickets: $10 per person. $8 for all MOCA Dual and Individual Level Members. Free for MOCA Family Level Members and above, children under 2, and Cool Culture families. Click here to purchase tickets!
Check back for festival times shortly!
FESTIVAL SCHEDULE
Performances and More!
Mad About Mooncakes!
Explore the meaning of mooncakes and learn how these sweet and savory treats are made! Taste traditional mooncakes while sipping on fragrant, hot tea. Take a mooncake recipe with you to try out at home!
Making Mooncakes
Peek inside a mooncake, and learn about the ingredients and tools used to make it. Then, mold your own play dough mooncake using a real mooncake press.
Harvest Moon Picnic
You’re invited to a make-believe harvest moon picnic at MOCA! Explore the foods families share during the moon ceremony, as they admire the moon and give thanks for the year’s harvest. Sketch your own moon-shaped contribution to add to the picnic blanket.
Sounds of the Autumn Moon with the EastRiver Ensemble
Feel the mood of the harvest moon with a musical performance by the Mencius EastRiver Ensemble, appearing as a trio with Cao Bao'an on erhu (fiddle) and flutes, Julie Tay on Chinese percussion, and Xiao Xiannian on yangqin (hammered dulcimer). An interactive session will follow the performance.
Legends Story Time with Author Leslie Swartz!
Join special guest Leslie Swartz, co-author of Moonbeams, Dumplings & Dragon Boats: A Treasury of Chinese Holiday Tales, Activities and Recipes, for an interactive reading of the tale of moon goddess Chang ‘E and her husband, legendary archer Hou Yi. As you act out the story, learn how the moon goddess and Jade Rabbit came to live on the moon!
To the Moon and Back Gallery Hunt
With a MOCA educator, search high and low to spot sparkling full moons and shimmering stars around the gallery. Will you find them all?
Drop-In Arts and Crafts, 12-4pm
Shadow Stories
Create and decorate shadow puppets of Chang ‘E, Hou Yi, woodcutter Wu Gung, and the Jade Rabbit. Then put on an original performance at MOCA’s shadow puppet theater!
Everlasting Elixirs
Prepare your own version of the magical elixir that lifted Chang ‘E from the earth to the moon! Grind salt together with chalk to create colorful sand. Use it to fill a potion bottle and make patterns that sparkle in the night sky. But be careful what you wish for—this potion could give you the power to live forever!
Cosmic Kaleidoscopes
Build your own eye-catching kaleidoscope! Fill a cardboard tube with sparkling beads and sequins. Then add a special reflective surface. Hold your kaleidoscope to the light to see colorful patterns dancing before your eyes!
Magical Moon Papers
Use collage and stamping to design a beautiful moon poster featuring Chang ‘E, a shimmering moon, and the Jade Rabbit! At the end of the night, hang your moon paper by the door and make a secret wish for Chang E’ to grant.
MOCA’s Family Festival Series is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, along with the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, Wells Fargo, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
