Mid-Autumn Festival II

The Gardens by the Bay is one of the places that celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival annually. Activities included in the celebrations are games and a mini carnival and food fair, Chinese cultural dance and instrumental performances, and lantern displays. Although the main events are usually on the weekend before the actual date – unless the festival falls on a weekend, the lanterns on display were put up a couple of weeks before that, and left at least a week after the festival so that people can enjoy the display. This year, the lantern display will be on until the 22nd of September.

I went down last week on a weekday, to avoid the crowds, to see this year’s display. I had a quick wander around the gardens in the late afternoon, went for dinner and had a wander around the gardens again in the evening when the lights came on.

Here are photos of some of the lanterns on display before the lights came on.

Inspiration for this centrepiece came from the rising moon and water elements of the Dragonfly Lake.

Inspiration for this centrepiece came from the rising moon and water elements of the Dragonfly Lake.

You can click on the picture for a better view.

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Mid-Autumn Festival

Today, the fifteen day of the eighth lunar month, is Mid-Autumn Festival, or Zhongqiu Jie (中秋节). It is also known as the Mooncake Festival and the Lantern Festival.

There are many folklore and legends regarding how this Festival which started some 2,000 years ago came about. The following is one that I find most believable.

The festival began, once upon a time in China. Farmers celebrate their bountiful harvest on the fifteen day of the eighth moon. Big tables of food were set up outdoors. Lanterns were crafted and hung for light. Families gathered around, a sort of reunion, and enjoyed a scrumptious dinner. After dinner, they sipped tea, ate moon-cakes and moon gazed. The moon is said to be the brightest and biggest on this day. Moon-cakes are Chinese pastries filled with bean paste, or lotus paste.

Later on, during the Yuan Dynasty, there was unrest. People planned a revolt against the ruling emperor. They hid the date of the uprising in the moon-cakes. The revolt was successful, and the new emperor declared the moon-cake festival an official annual event from then.

The moon-cake festival was introduced to Singapore when the Chinese immigrants made their way to South-East Asia in the 1900s. Since Singapore is nothing like China, the celebration of the festival here is not quite of the same scale. Organized by organisations, community centers and resident communities, residents come together to enjoy the lantern display, play games, and to enjoy the food and the moon-cakes.

This year, the two places celebrating the Mid-Autumn festival in a big way are – The Gardens by the Bay, and Chinatown. This happened over the weekend.

I went to The Gardens by the Bay to have a look at the lantern display last week. I will post about it tomorrow.

A moon-cake. This is the most common flavour. Lotus paste with salted egg-yolks.

You can click on the picture for a better view.

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A blast From The Past

Some photographs of Singapore in the past. Images are courtesy of Facebook Pages ‘The Long and Winding Road’, and ‘Heritage SG Memories’ and '十里之外'.

You can click on the picture for a better view.

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Cheeky Humour

It has been said that laughter is a prevention against depression, a truly therapeutic agent of positive self healing. So, the sensible thing would be to laugh as much as you can, when you can.

Life is short and transient. Like the passing clouds, we are here one moment, gone the next. So, don’t take life too seriously. Laugh and be merry. You will find life more bearable.

Whatever humour works for you, it is great. The important thing is to have a sense of humour. And not to lose your sense of humour no matter how tough life gets.

Enjoy today’s selection, and may your days be filled with laughter.

If I was dead, I wouldn’t know I was dead. That’s the only thing I have against death. I want to enjoy my death. - Samuel Beckett

First you forget names; then you forget faces; then you forget to zip up your fly; and then you forget to unzip your fly. - Branch Rickey

I don’t believe in the afterlife, although I am bringing a change of underwear. - Woody Allen

You know you're getting old when the candles cost more than the cake. - Bob Hope

I’m very proud of my gold pocket watch. My grandfather, on his deathbed, sold me this watch. - Woody Allen

After one look at this planet any visitor from outer space would say, “I want to see the manager.” - William S. Burroughs

I cried during my wedding, but my wife did not. That's natural, because I was losing my freedom, and she was gaining a slave. - Jarod Kintz

Stick with the optimists. It’s going to be tough enough even if they’re right. - James Reston

If a girl tells you she has a nipple ring, the only correct response is “I don’t believe you”. - Unknown

I decided as long as I was going to hell, I might as well do it thoroughly. - Edward Cullen

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That’s Life

Keep Positive. Hope for the best, be prepared for the worst, and take what comes. Sometimes, there is a reason why things are the way they are. You do not know or understand it now, but one day, everything will become clear. So hold your head high, keep smiling, and keep moving forward..

Some inspirational thoughts to bear in mind for occasions when things are not going the way you want, or hope them to be.

Not everything is supposed to become something beautiful and long-lasting. Sometimes people come into your life to show you what is right and what is wrong, to show you who you can be, to teach you to love yourself, to make you feel better for a little while, or to just be someone to walk with at night and spill your life to. Not everyone is going to stay forever, and we still have to keep on going and thank them for what they’ve given us. - Emery Allen

You’ll know you’ve made the right decision when there is peace in your heart. Stop listening to what the world says you should do. Start listening to your own heart. There are only a few people in this world who will stay completely true to you, and YOU should be one of them. Listen to your own voice, your own soul. Too many people listen to the noise of the world, instead of themselves. Deep inside, you know what you want, let no one decide that for you. - Unknown

Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up interest wrinkles the soul. You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt; as young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear; as young as your hope as old as your despair. In the central place of every heart there is a recording chamber. So long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer and courage, so long are you young. When your heart is covered with the snows of pessimism and the ice of cynicism, then, and then only, are you grown old. And then, indeed as the ballad says, you just fade away. - Douglas MacArthur

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Be Kind

Life is never easy at the best of times. We all do what we can to live a decent life while coping with the demands of life. We never know what one is going through, how one is suffering. Maybe we are not in the same boat, but we are definitely in the same storm. Therefore, it is always a good idea to be kind and understanding – something the world badly needs. And, if you can’t be kind, at least, don’t be nasty.

We all like it when people show us kindness, and we do not like it when people are rude or nasty to us. Bear this in mind, and remember, the next time you feel like being nasty, don’t. Be kind instead.

Being kind is not always easy when dealing with rude people. Kindness is a sign of a person who has done a lot of personal work and has come to a great self-understanding and wisdom. Kindness shows great self-discipline and strong self-esteem. Choose to be kind over being right, and you’ll be right every time because kindness is a sign of strength. - Unknown

At the right time, a kind word from a stranger or encouragement from a friend, can make all the difference in the world. - Doe Zantamata

Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust, and hostility to evaporate. - Albert Schweitzer

Kindness has a beautiful way of reaching down into a weary heart and making it shine like the rising sun. - Unknown

Beginning today, extend to everyone all the care, kindness, and understanding you can muster, and do it with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same again. - Og Mandino

When we fail to be kind to all man, we destroy our own peace of mind. The jewelled pivot on which our lives must turn is the realization that every person we meet during the day is a dignified essential personality of the human family. - K. Sri Dhammananda

Kindness is more important than wisdom, and the recognition of this is the beginning of wisdom. - Theodore Isaac Rubin

If you want to live in a world of peace, encourage kindness, both in yourself and in those around you. - Ayamanatara

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Out And About In Chinatown

Some photos from my visit to Chinatown, a couple of weeks ago. Chinatown is easy to get to. The train stops at the underground station right below Chinatown.

The shophouses are looking bright and clean. Some of them look like they have been given a new coat of paint recently.

Some lovely wall murals. They sure add colours to the place and brighten it up.

A busy corner in Chinatown town.

This is the food street, where there used to be food stalls selling Singapore food. During the pandemic, the whole place was very dead, and they never recovered from that. In the end, whoever is behind the venture had to give up the business. It has been empty for a couple of years. But, the good news is that there is a new organization taking over the place and they hope to have the place up and running soon. They are asking the public for feedback as to what they would like to see in the new place.

The streets are lined with restaurants, eateries, bars and lounges. There are also many hotels in the area. The area bustles in the evenings.

You can click on the picture for a better view.

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Truisms

As long as we are alive, there will always be things to learn. As such we are all students, and will be students all our lives. In school, we were taught the basics of an education. It is after we left school, when we start working in society – that’s where real learning about life starts.

Spare a few moments to give some thoughts to these aphorisms. They teach Life lessons not taught in school. If you can understand them, you will have a better idea of what life is all about. They will help you in the Mastery of Life.

Some of these aphorisms are centuries old. They are the wisdom of sages, philosophers, poets, writers, and people who have been through the hard knocks of life. Learn from them. They will make you a better person – be it in dealing with life or people.

What a man believes may be ascertained, not from his creed, but from the assumptions on which he habitually acts. - George Bernard Shaw

People are usually more firmly convinced that their opinions are precious than that they are true. - George Santayana

Let us follow our destiny, ebb and flow. Whatever may happen, we master fortune by accepting it. - Virgil

Be a free thinker and don't accept everything you hear as truth. Be critical and evaluate what you believe in. - Aristotle

Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love, this is the eternal rule. - The Buddha

An idea, to be suggestive, must come to the individual with the force of a revelation. - William James

Health is the first muse, and sleep is the condition to produce it. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Freedom and constraint are two aspects of the same necessity. - Antoine de Saint-Exupery

When stupidity is considered patriotism, it is unsafe to be intelligent. - Isaac Asimov

A man never tells you anything until you contradict him. - George Bernard Shaw

In every parting there is an image of death. - George Eliot

The world has the habit of making room for the man whose actions show that he knows where he is going. - Napoleon Hill

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Don't Judge

Don’t judge another. Instead, try to understand why people do what they do. Perhaps, if you were in their shoes, you would be doing what they are doing. We are all different, and we do things differently. Every one of us has our reasons for doing the things we did. Each of us has our own problems, and we deal with them differently – sometimes with the only way we know how.

Don’t judge what you don’t understand, or when you don’t have all the facts. Everyone has untold stories of pain and sadness that make them love and live a little differently than you do. We can never know what the other person is going through or dealing with. So, before you judge another, think of your own last mistake.

To sit alone with my conscience will be judgment enough for me. - Charles William Stubbs

Don’t judge someone’s story by the chapter you just walked into. - Unknown

How little do they see what is, who frame their hasty judgments upon that which seems. - Robert Southey

Judge not thy friend until thou standest in his place. - Rabbi Hillel

In judging others, it’s always best to see with the heart as well as the eyes. - Unknown

There is little room left for wisdom when one is full of judgment. - Malcolm Hein

When you judge another, you do not define them, you define yourself. - Wayne Dyer

None are more unjust in their judgments of others than those who have a high opinion of themselves. - Charles Haddon Spurgeon

If you judge people too often, you will never learn very well. You will be too occupied with others’ faults to notice your own. - Unknown

The truest test of independent judgment is being able to dislike someone who admires us, and to admire someone who dislikes us. - Sydney J. Harris

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