Asian society distributed Moon Cakes to the Andover community in celebration of Mid-Autumn Festival.
Traditional Chinese music played in Susie’s last Friday night as students enjoyed mooncakes and gazed at a virtual projection of the full moon. The constant chatter and karaoke singing covered up the pattering rain outside.
Hosted by Asian Society and Andover Korean Society (AKS), this event celebrated the annual Mid-Autumn Festival, a traditional Asian harvest holiday. Asian Society board member Angela Zhao ’26 explained what the holiday was about.
“Mid-Autumn festival in Chinese is called ‘中秋節.’ It originated from China, and it’s [when] people look at the moon and…eat mooncakes. It’s a festival about missing your family, and it’s the belief that if everyone is looking at the moon at the same time, then, technically, they’re connected… In China and a lot of Asian countries, family is a big, important part of the culture,” said Zhao.
Andover’s Chinese Department provided various flavors of mooncakes, such as red bean and lotus paste, while AKS provided Korean snacks such as songpyeon (rice cakes) and honey yakgwa (deep-fried cookies). Furthermore, the event was open to all students, allowing those from non-Asian backgrounds to learn about the festival’s culture, according to Magdalena Mercado ’26, board member of Asian Society.
“We did a collaborative thing with AKS…and I think we just wanted to celebrate [Mid-Autumn Festival] so that we could bring together AAPI (Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders) identifying students on campus and also [introduce] more Asian traditions to Andover,” said Magdalena Mercado ’26.
The event also provided an opportunity for new students to build community and get to know some of the campus affinity spaces early in the year. New Lower Lisa de Boer ’26 commented on why she went to the festival.
“I am an international student from China, and…[the festival allowed me] to celebrate something from home and connect with people who have similar backgrounds [to] me. Also, it just sounded like a really fun social event,” said de Boer.
The event was originally intended to take place on the Gelb Lawn to allow for a larger space and observation of the moon, but it was moved indoors to Susie’s due to rainy weather. Despite this slight modification, the event still drew a significant attendance.
“At the start, we were going to do a collaboration with the Astronomy Club, so we were going to hold [the festival] at the Gelb Lawn where we would get telescopes and watch the moon through the telescopes. However, because of the rain, we had to move it inside… It became more of an open event where people could drop in,” said Zhao.
Although the rain brought challenges, it made the celebration unique from past Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations. For example, many attendees found the full-moon projection creative. Attendee Chloe Ru ’27 compared the event to celebrations she has experienced in the past.
“Honestly, I feel like it was better… Back in China, it was more traditional and family-oriented, but over here, it’s more about your friends and new family, [because] you’re living in a different place… People were dancing, and it was just really fun because everybody was joining in, and everyone was really supportive,” said Ru.
