Happy and Sweet Lantern/Mooncake Festival 2007!
But since - can't remember when - I stopped celebrating it. More like since me and my cousins have grown up, we stopped playing with lanterns and candles.
I remember me, koko, Jenny and Kelvin used to "celebrate" it at granny's. Girls playing with the lanterns and boys playing with the candles - more like fire :P
It used to be fun, pretending to walk in the dark holding the lantern and flashing it around. I used to have many of them, granny would always get us one each of our choice. And I remembered she got Jenny and me Sailor Mars (only that particular sailor) once. And since we were then very much crazy about Sailormoon then, we treasured it to the max.
And then we grew out of it. Times passes like a candle in the wind. And after several years, I don't even know when would the Lantern Festival take place. The only sign I have was the upcoming sale of mooncakes - which I didnt even like eating at all.
I sit here in my cold air-conditioned room typing along as I speak inwardly to myself. And I begin to wonder on this very day, what is it that drives me to think of it? To remember it? To acknowledge it? Why now? On this very day itself?
Was it because of the fond childhood memories with my brother and cousins along with the love of my grandmother? Maybe so? But there was something more. Something that touched my heart in the smallest but warmest way.
Then it hit me, some old and small fragments of the past. Memories that never did die.
I once remember not too long ago, back when this festival meant nothing to me (aside from the childhood memories).
A couple of years ago, I told this (lantern festival thingie) to a friend. It was nothing special or to remember in particular then, but several days later, she showed up at the parking lot of my old apartment and handed me something wrapped up in a white plastic bag.
I opened it to find this rabbit shapped lantern (with a keychain of my birth date).
I could not remember the last time I had a lantern. It was aeons ago. And somehow getting one out of the blue was just more than a pleasant surprise.
And it just blew me away then with warmth and happiness. It seemed like a small present but somehow it meant so much. I could almost feel the token of heart in it.
And the small moment, thought, present, care and heart meant so much.
It's amazing how something so simple can be a blessing to one's life.
And I guess that's what made me remember today. :)
And eventhough I have not seen or heard from her in a long time and she's far away and may have forgotten me, that small gift gave me one of the warmest and sweetest memory I have with this Lantern Festival.
That's the lantern.
The only one I've kept after all these years.
Errrr... the "SWEET LOVE" heart-shapped thingie is not of any romatic purposes, lol. My mum gaved it to me on Valentine's Day (yes, true - cause I no Valentine ma, she took pity on me, lol) and my maid just hung it there cause it kept dropping from my violin stand (where I originally hung it).
I hope you have a pleasant memory for the Lantern Festival.
God bless and *huggies*
