About a month before the Mooncake Festival or Lantern Festival as some will call it, provision shops in and around my village, during the sixties, would be hanging up in front of their shops colourful lanterns of all shapes and designs for sale. At every opportunity I had when I passed by these shops, I would tugged hard at my mother's samfu to make her stop and buy me one of those lanterns, especially the one that was of a butterfly shape , made of painted translucent red paper and with a set of twirling antennae. Yet, my mother refused to give in to my persistent demands and at one time , I had tugged her samfu so hard that the press studs nearly broke open to reveal her upper body. That made her very angry indeed and after that, I knew better to keep quiet about buying any of the lanterns on display.
Finally, I had to be happy with a very ordinary cheap paper one of oval shape because my mother thought it would be a waste of money to get it burnt in the process of playing with it. No matter how I argued with her, no matter how I tried to convince her that I would be careful, my mother was adamant on not spending more money to buy the lantern that I had spotted hanging up in so and so's shop.
On the one or two nights before the night of the festival, my friends and I would bring out our lanterns to play. My mother had helped to fix a stick to the handle of the lantern so that I could carry it without burning my hands. I noticed my best friend and her siblings had the same kind of lanterns that my mother had bought me. I was happy about that. Prior to that, I was grumbling about my cheap lantern and had refused to bring it out to play. We had them lit with candles and we would walk slowly and carefully lest they got burned. One of the bigger boys suggested that the group of us walk to the furthest end of the village which was quite dark because it was where a farm was located. At first some of us were quite apprehensive about it but after some coaxing and convincing that we were all going together and that there was nothing to be scared of, we finally gave in.
We sang as we walked there ceremoniously. Everyone was proud to be in the group. The bigger boys were well ahead and the younger ones were trying hard to keep up with the pace. When we were almost there, someone shouted about something spooky in the bushes and before the younger ones knew what was going on, they saw the ones who were in the front turning back to run. Someone stumbled and fell. There was crying and a lantern was burning on the ground. The remainder of the group was running back to where they came from screaming their heads off. The adults who were sitting on stools and resting outside their houses got up to investigate. It did not take them very long to realise that the older boys had just played a prank on the younger ones, making them crying and screaming in fright.
The night ended with the younger children wailing and the bigger boys sobbing after being scolded by their fathers.or mothers. Everyone went back into their houses to wash up and soon there was quietness in the village as the children fell fast asleep, tired after the night's activity.
Finally, I had to be happy with a very ordinary cheap paper one of oval shape because my mother thought it would be a waste of money to get it burnt in the process of playing with it. No matter how I argued with her, no matter how I tried to convince her that I would be careful, my mother was adamant on not spending more money to buy the lantern that I had spotted hanging up in so and so's shop.
On the one or two nights before the night of the festival, my friends and I would bring out our lanterns to play. My mother had helped to fix a stick to the handle of the lantern so that I could carry it without burning my hands. I noticed my best friend and her siblings had the same kind of lanterns that my mother had bought me. I was happy about that. Prior to that, I was grumbling about my cheap lantern and had refused to bring it out to play. We had them lit with candles and we would walk slowly and carefully lest they got burned. One of the bigger boys suggested that the group of us walk to the furthest end of the village which was quite dark because it was where a farm was located. At first some of us were quite apprehensive about it but after some coaxing and convincing that we were all going together and that there was nothing to be scared of, we finally gave in.
We sang as we walked there ceremoniously. Everyone was proud to be in the group. The bigger boys were well ahead and the younger ones were trying hard to keep up with the pace. When we were almost there, someone shouted about something spooky in the bushes and before the younger ones knew what was going on, they saw the ones who were in the front turning back to run. Someone stumbled and fell. There was crying and a lantern was burning on the ground. The remainder of the group was running back to where they came from screaming their heads off. The adults who were sitting on stools and resting outside their houses got up to investigate. It did not take them very long to realise that the older boys had just played a prank on the younger ones, making them crying and screaming in fright.
The night ended with the younger children wailing and the bigger boys sobbing after being scolded by their fathers.or mothers. Everyone went back into their houses to wash up and soon there was quietness in the village as the children fell fast asleep, tired after the night's activity.
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