Cabramatta Celebrates Moon Festival 2018

Cabramatta hosts the annual Moon Festival, a celebration of Chinese and Vietnamese culture. The festival attracts almost a hundred thousand festive-goers, who enjoy the performances, food stalls, and handicraft shops. The festival has great significance for the Chinese and Vietnamese people, and Cabramatta shows equal exuberance and enthusiasm as the Chinese and Vietnamese do. The festival also gives children a break from their monotonous life as they join the celebrations with their families and friends. Concerns for security and safety are bound to occur, but the police personnel manage everything so well. The joy and love the festival brings in people’s hearts and brings out the artist in them as well. The hanging lanterns lightening up the surrounding is a tradition of the festival that people light flying lanterns and release those in the sky with the hope that next year would bring more luck and more joy for them.

Cabramatta celebrates Moon Festival 2018
Cabramatta, Sydney: The atmosphere at Cabramatta is electrifying as it hosts the annual Moon
Festival. Like every year, the authorities are expecting to have a gathering of almost a hundred
thousand festive-goers and they were right!
The streets are crowded with people, children accompanied by their parents, various troops
gearing up for their performances, people roaming around in dragon and other masks. As our
correspondent Mark McCarthy reached Cabramatta, the epicenter of the entire buzz in the city,
she too was engulfed in the celebrations. She was able to record the excitement of the people. On
being asked about the celebrations, a young Vietnamese woman replied while holding on to her
beautiful handcrafted hat, “I am having the time of my life here and can you imagine I am in
Australia, not in Vietnam.”
People could be seen thronging the Chinese themed gate in huge numbers to enter the main area
where entire buzz happens. They wore colorful and decorated funny hats and masks. Mostly,
they adorned their traditional hats and attire. The festive-goers were seen capturing the
performances by different Chinese groups at the venue in their cameras.
The festival also gives children a break from their monotonous life as they join the celebrations
with their families and friends. They could be seen enjoying the dangerous yet fun rides,
watching in amazement, the dragon dancers and having a bite or two at different food stalls.
Other than the children, moon festival also gives great opportunity for the vendors to up their
profit.
“I await the day each year because it not only helps me earn but also serve my homemade cake
to the people, and I love to serve”, stated an early 30s Vietnamese woman, Kim. The cakes are
beautifully decorated and equally tasty to eat as our correspondent reviewed after relishing one
of those. Shops full of handicrafts are also to be seen everywhere with people giving it all to buy
the best piece at the best price. It was interesting to note that most of the shops had women in
charge of the business, which reflected the rich culture of the Vietnamese people where women
share equal space with men.

The festival has great significance especially for the Chinese and Vietnamese people and since
Cabramatta is home to almost 70% Vietnamese, the celebrations reach another level. This makes
Cabramatta unique as it shows equal exuberance and enthusiasm as the Chinese and Vietnamese
do although the festival has nothing to do with Australia. In fact, while the Australians welcome
spring, the festival is celebrated mid-autumn to enjoy the harvest. Moon festival is also known as
the mid-autumn festival in many parts of the world.
With the festival being celebrated at such a magnitude, concerns for security and safety are
bound to occur. Through the entire city, one could see police vehicles and personnel roaming
around to make sure no mishap occur. However, one could just imagine the level of difficulty the
police personnel have to face to manage such a huge gathering. Officer Martin Brown, the
security in-charge at Cabramatta gives credit to the City Council for the systematic arrangement
of the event. “The City Council must be appreciated for organizing everything so smoothly”, he
said. However, it was easily visible that the officer was very modest because it was the police,
who was doing a great job in managing everything so well.
One of the best things about the moon festival is the joy and love it brings in people’s hearts and
brings out the artist in them as well. Through handicrafts and paintings, the children and elders
display their culture and the passion they have for the festival. As our correspondent moved
across the different shops, food stalls, and other parts of the street, she found many instances that
brought a smile in her face. The vibrant decors and jewelry, the colorful paintings, the mouth-
watering snacks – all came together to create an atmosphere that no one wants to let go.
As the sun gave way to the moon, the scenes became even more surreal with thee hanging
lanterns lightening up the surrounding. It is a tradition of the festival that people light flying
lanterns and release those in the sky with the hope that next year would bring more luck and
more joy for them.