Baguio celebrates Mid-Autumn Festival
Text and Photos by: Lita Jane Botigan-Cadalig
Baguio City’s Session Road has transformed into a “Little Chinatown” in celebration of the Filipino-Chinese Community’s Mid-Autumn Festival on September 27.
Vibrant lanterns and colorful booths with Chinese-inspired decorations adorned the city’s main thoroughfares as dragon dance performances delighted residents and tourists during the event led by the Association of Baguio Chinese Filipino Youth, Incorporated (ABCFYI) in cooperation with the city government.
Fernando Tiong, vice chair of the Baguio Filipino-Chinese Community Executive Committee, said the Mid-Autumn Festival celebration is their way of sharing their heritage to the people, who like them, have made Baguio City their home. “We are sharing our tradition to the very city that welcomed us and we also welcome everyone to be part of what we are celebrating,” Tiong said in a message delivered by his son Rafael. He said Mid-Autumn Festival is a tradition many Filipino-Chinese families hold dear.
The Mid-Autumn Festival is the second most important celebration, next to the Lunar New Year. Also known as the Moon Festival, the celebration signifies reunion, gratitude, and unity. Part of the festivities is the dragon dance performance, done to thank the deities for the rain and bountiful harvest tied to the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Before the Mid-Autumn Festival celebration, the ABCFYI conducted an outreach at Kabuyao Elementary School where the group turned over construction materials, books, and smart TV to the school.
