Students celebrate the mid-Autumn Festival and New Zealand Chinese Language Week

To celebrate the mid-Autumn Festival and New Zealand Chinese Language Week, Macleans College were honoured to invite the teachers from Tui Tuia to organise a cultural activity for Year 10 students.

The mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival or Mooncake Festival, is a harvest festival celebrated in Chinese culture. Lanterns of all shapes and sizes, which symbolise beacons that light people’s path to prosperity and good fortune, are carried and displayed. Mooncakes are traditionally eaten during this festival.

Under the Tui Tuia teacher's introduction and guidance, the students completed their own shadow puppets and performed a shadow play.

Shadow play, also known as shadow puppetry or lantern shadow play, is a representative of traditional Chinese culture. It involves using characters carved from animal hides, which are flat, jointed and manipulated by rods. These puppets are placed between a light source and a translucent screen, with the story being narrated through a combination of script, music and dialogue.

Through this activity, the Year 10 students enriched their understanding of Chinese opera culture and developed their hands-on skills.