Mid Autumn Festival

Mid Autumn Festival is one festival I enjoyed the most when I was young.  My siblings and I used to light the lanterns and candles all around our house compound.  I simply love to see when a candle light flicker as a gentle eerie breeze blow on it in the night.  It creates a mysterious and romantic scene.  And the light a candle produces is warm, unlike the natural sunlight or a bulb.  and more excitingly than ever, that is the only time we, young kids, were allowed to play with fire.

Few days before the Lantern Festival, I happened to read a brochure printed by The Summit Subang USJ.  They were organising a Lantern Parade and it was opened to the public.  Eagerly I brought Elyse to participate in this parade.

Upon arrival, there were already many children and parents waiting impatiently at the main entrance of the mall.  After registering Elyse at the counter, I noticed many of them came from Smart Reader Kids.  We were entertained by the MC for about half an hour.  At one point, Elyse almost wanted to quit as she was getting restless after such a long waiting time.

A photo taken by one of the helpers from the Organiser while we were waiting.  It is a bit blur though.  : (

Finally we were instructed to light up the candles in the lanterns holding in our hand.  The paper lantern was provided by the organizer.  However, some children brought their own fancy lanterns with them.  The children from the Smart Reader Kids matched ahead, followed by the public.  Elyse and I were among the last to leave. 

Holding a lantern in her hand

Looking at the candle

It was the first time for Elyse to hold a lantern.  She happily walking around the compound of the mall with lantern in her hand.  But towards the end her hands were tired thus I helped her with the lantern.  It was about 15 minutes walk, from the external car park to the first and second floor of the complex.  One incident occurred whereby a man carried Elyse down the staircase when he saw that she was walking too slowly.  I thought Elyse would reject his kind action, instead Elyse was laughing.  She felt as though suddenly she was picked up and flew down the staircase, she said.

After the parade, we were ushered to the main concourse and children were given a treat from the McDonald Happy Meal set - a chicken burger, a packet of French fries, a cup of Coke and most importantly, a toy!  For the next half an hour, laughter and exhilaration filled the air as the clown amused the crowd with his jokes and tricks.  He also did some balloon sculptures, juggling and entertained us with puppets.

Sitting at the main concourse enjoying her Happy Meal

The Organiser expected around 150 kids

Elyse doesn’t like clown though.  Only once or twice she bust out laughing.  Other times she remained quiet.  Since we were sitting at a distance from the stage, it was difficult for her to watch clearly.  She wanted to leave earlier but I persuaded her to stay until the end.

The clown entertaining the crowds

Finally each kid were given a goodie bag followed by a photograph session.  Again, children from the Smart Reader Kids went first followed by the public.  Elyse did not want to take the goodie bag from the clown but I managed to convince her to do so.  I assured her that she does not need to shake hands with the clown, just take the bag and go as there were too many kids.

The joke of the day is the clown held Elyse’s hands during the photograph session.  Other kids may want to grab such opportunity to be near with the clown but not for Elyse.  I’m just thankful that Elyse did not shake away his hands and run back to me crying.

Holding the goodie bag in Elyse's hand, reluctantly she took a photo with the clown together with the kids from the public

Overall, it was a nice experience for both Elyse and I.  This is also my first time joining such public event.  It was a pity Andrew could not join us as he has a conference to attend to that night.