09/21/2024

Austin Community comes together for Moon Festival

On September 21st, people from around the Austin community came together to celebrate the Moon Festival at Fo Guang Shan Xiang Yun Temple. The Saturday evening was full of festivities, food, and performances.

Volunteers from the English and Chinese-speaking communities showed up early to work together on cleaning up, setting up chairs and tables, preparing food, and hanging up decorations. They helped to serve people tea and mooncakes. There was a place for friends and family to do a photo-op. Little kids were making mooncakes out of Play-Doh with differently designed molds.

At 6:00pm, Venerable Jue Ji came on stage and expressed the joyous occasion of the community joining together to celebrate the Moon Festival. After she led the audience through the Buddha’s Light Verse in both languages, people began to line up for the potluck buffet dinner. The temple’s own Lucky Dharma Band played songs for everyone to enjoy.

At sunset, the showcase of performances commenced. First up was the Lion Dance team. Then several other kids showed off their talent with several dance routines. After that, the red carpet was rolled out for the kid’s fashion show. With the performances over, Venerable Jue Ji read aloud a prayer from Venerable Master Hsing Yun on Light Offering. After offering the lights to the Buddha, the lantern parade began to go around the temple ending the night’s celebrations.