Wan Qing Mid-Autumn Festival returns as physical event, to run till Sep 25

After two online editions of the Wan Qing Mid-Autumn Festival, the festival makes its return to a physical space from Aug 16 to Sep 25, at the Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall (SYSMH).

Organised by the National Heritage Board, the festival’s main weekend will fall on Sep 3 and 4. Through its line-up of programmes, the festival aims to celebrate Chinese arts and culture, and teach visitors more about the stories and traditions behind it. 

One such onsite programme is Celestial Bodies, a lawn installation situated right outside the memorial hall. 

Paying tribute to the moon on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month, the installation features spherical lanterns resembling five different characters – Moon, Earth, Sun, Saturn and Mercury.

Celestial Bodies will be on display from 10am to 9pm daily for the entire festival duration. 

On top of the installation, the festival also offers activities such as cultural workshops and storytelling sessions during the weekend open house for visitors to participate in.

One of the cultural workshops offered is the Woodblock Printing Workshop, where participants can try their hand at using traditional letterpress equipment to create their own block prints. 

They will also get a chance to learn more about the local history of letterpress printing and understand the processes that go behind it.

The workshop will be held on Sep 3, from 10.30am to 5pm, and will cost $15 per pax. Tickets to the workshop can be purchased here. 

Visitors can also attend the Tales of Mid-Autumn Festival storytelling session to learn more about Chinese stories.

During the sessions, both local authors and veteran storytellers will share more about renowned Chinese legends. Each session will feature a different story.

The storytelling session will be held on Sep 3 from 11.30am to 12.30pm and on Sep 4 from 2pm to 3pm, in Chinese and English respectively. Admission to the sessions are free.

Other activities visitors can partake in include Lantern Riddles Guessing, where participants can gain tips to solve Chinese riddles alongside experts and a drop-in craft station that allows visitors to make their own clay mooncake and mini rabbit origami lantern.

Visitors can also enjoy live performances by independent community choir The Joyful Voices and magician Mr Bottle, also held at the hall’s lawn.

The Wan Qing Mid-Autumn Festival runs from 10am to 9pm daily. Those interested can visit the memorial hall’s website for the full list of festival programmes, schedules and admission fees.