Music, dance, mooncakes to spice up August fest

A traditional Lion Dance performed at last year's August Moon Festival in Quincy. (Quincy Asian Resources)

The August Moon Festival, a traditional East Asian holiday with a growing local following, will take over the streets of Quincy this month.

The celebration, set for Aug. 24 this year, recognizes the harvest season, honors families, cements friendships, and often proves a convenient occasion for a romantic rendezvous, according to legend.

It's also a day for "mooncakes" - the holiday's signature food. Samples of mooncakes, rich pastries with lotus seed or other food pastes inside, will be offered by Kam Man Food, the Asian supermarket, said John Brothers of Quincy Asian Resources Inc., known as QARI, the festival's organizer.

"They're incredibly rich," Brothers said. "You eat them in little slivers." Because of their richness, tradition calls for them to be shared with others, cementing bonds of family and friendship.

In addition to mooncakes, the festival will offer children's activities, entertainment from traditional Chinese instrumentalists to young hip-hop dancers, and plenty of food from the city's wealth of international cuisines.

Food from India, Japan, and several styles of Chinese cooking will be on the holiday menu, Brothers said. Hong Kong Eatery, a local restaurant that specializes in Chinese family style (rather than American restaurant style) offers jellyfish, cold duck, spicy squid, and barbecued pork among other dishes.

The restaurant is donating its profits from the day to QARI, Brothers said.

Restaurants on the three blocks of Hancock Street closed to traffic for the festival will also be open, including Taste of Taiwan and Little Q Hotpot, located in the Quincy Fair building food court. Taste of Taiwan offers regional specialties not widely available elsewhere. Little Q offers traditional Mongolian hotpot-style cuisine.

The festival's two entertainment stages will showcase Asian music, dance, martial arts demonstrations, and a young song-and-comedy duo called Young Asian Drivers. Popular performers include Japanese Taiko drummers, Chinese dance troupes performing the Dragon Dance and Lion Dance (Asian traditions emblematic of good luck), Indian and Filipino dancers, and a Cantonese pop and hip-hop dance ensemble including area university students.

Irish step-dance performers from the Forbes School, a standby in previous festivals, and classical Chinese musicians performing on traditional stringed instruments will also take the stage.

Younger children will be invited to design their own buttons and bead bracelets, learn beginner origami (the art of paper folding) and fan making, play carnival games, get tattooed, have their faces painted, and play on a moonwalk. Special activities for older kids include intermediate and advanced origami. The festival will also feature vendors, booths, contests, and games.

With the mooncakes come a bit of Chinese national history.

According to tradition, after a century of rule by a Mongolian-controlled dynasty, the Chinese planned an uprising in 1368. Knowing that the Chinese would be eating mooncakes, and their rulers wouldn't, bakers were told to send mooncakes to all Chinese households with a message inside to rise up against their rulers on the night of the August Moon family gathering. According to legend, the revolt was successful and established the Ming dynasty.

The August Moon Festival runs from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Aug. 24. Free parking is available in nearby municipal Ross garage and the Hancock Street parking lot.

Robert Knox can be contacted at rc.knox@gmail.com.