Photo: Joan May Cordova

I remember as a kid growing up in Ohio walking to the neighborhood July 4th parade every year. It seemed like our whole neighborhood was out, we wore goofy hats, watched the floats, waved the flag and had our annual tasting of water ice. Even though my sister and I complained at getting up so early to find a seat curbside, my parents were proud and determined to be part of a uniquely American celebration.

But there were other celebrations, of sorts, for our family which weren’t quite as clearly celebratory. Every year in the fall, my mom would stay up all night to make a particularly elaborate Korean dinner, we’d take out photos of her family and light candles and bow. My mom would call her family in Korea, and we’d hear her on the phone for hours laughing, but then she’d come out of her room in tears and there would just be my sister and me feeling awkward while my dad tried to comfort her. As a kid I never knew that this was one of the most important holidays in Korea – Chusok – when the whole nation shuts down and families go to visit one another.

In fact, I didn’t really know about Chusok until Asian Americans United began its own celebration at this time – the Chinatown Mid-Autumn Festival. Fifteen years ago, middle school-aged immigrant youth in our leadership program expressed concern about the loneliness their elders felt during Mid-Autumn time. They talked about the lack of public space in Chinatown, the lack of places for celebration for immigrant families who worked so hard that it became challenging to maintain family, much less community, connections. So in 1995 the youth put on their first festival – songs, skits, and stories – and 400 people showed up in a church parking lot.

Today, more than 5,000 people – along with 100 artists and performers and 130+ volunteers – gather along three blocks for a day-long celebration when a community – one that has always fought for its voice and place in Philadelphia – comes together to remember, honor, and celebrate. Mid-Autumn Festival is a time when children re-establish their roots, when families have a feeling of community, and our elders embrace memories and discover the power of passing down traditions.

It’s hard to measure the value of this festival. Sure there’s economic value, but how do you cost out the value of the photo above – when Sifu Cheung, who’s been teaching Hung Gar Kung Fu in Philadelphia Chinatown for over 30 years, talks to a young student about the role of the lion dance in community celebrations before she goes onstage to perform?

These days my whole family has become part of this tradition. My children look forward to Mid-Autumn when Chinatown becomes their personal playground and a place to watch everything from skilled New York Chinese Opera performers to high school dance teams to their favorite college acapella groups. And afterwards, we've created our own Chusok tradition with my parents and our family.

We know that for communities to be whole, we need places and times where people can linger, interact and engage with each other in meaningful ways. Festivals are times when the powerless become powerful – when families and community members take over the streets and when ordinary people have the chance to be part of art making and tradition making.

It’s a long way of saying thanks to City Council, particularly Councilwoman Maria Quinones Sanchez, and to the Philadelphia Cultural Traditions Fund, Congressman Bob Brady and the Lenfest Foundation, for recognizing and finding ways to preserve these sacred places for communities both big and small in our city.

Philadelphia Folklore Project, 735 S. 50th Street, is currently running a photo exhibit on the Chinatown Mid-Autumn Festival: “Under the Autumn Moon: Reclaiming Time and Space in Chinatown” through the fall. Read about the exhibit here. The 2010 Chintown Mid-Autumn Festival will be held Saturday, September 18th from 1-10 p.m. along 10th Street in Chinatown. The festival is free and open to the public.