Yin Yu Tang: A Chinese Home 20th Anniversary Celebration | Mid-Autumn Moon Festival
Schedule
Sat Sep 30 2023 at 10:00 am to 04:00 pm
Location
Peabody Essex Museum | Peabody, MA
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Saturday, September 30, 2023 from 10 am-4 pmJoin us to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival! In Chinese tradition, this festival involves gathering together with family to mark the end of the harvest season, admire the beauty of the full moon and eat holiday foods, including mooncakes. Enjoy tours, special cuisine, storytelling, drum performances and much more!
The Mid-Autumn Moon Festival is part of PEM’s year-long celebration of the 20th Anniversary of Yin Yu Tang: A Chinese Home.
Yin Yu Tang—translated as “Hall of Plentiful Shelter”—was home to the Huang family for nearly two hundred years. For the past 20 years, Yin Yu Tang has been a gateway into understanding the art and culture of generations of families living and working in rural Southeastern China. Since 2003, over 850,000 people have visited this unique, immersive environment at PEM.
TOURS OF YIN YU TANG: A CHINESE HOME
10 am–4 pm
Same-day tickets required, limited availability. Tickets available at the Information desk.
Explore the history of Yin Yu Tang and the Huang family with an enhanced guided tour.
Accessibility-friendly tours available beginning at 2:15 pm.
(Earlier tours are not wheelchair accessible and require a step up to enter.)
SPECIAL CAFE MENU: REGIONAL CUISINE
10 am - 4 pm | Atrium Cafe
Enjoy a selection of food at our Atrium Café, inspired by Huizhou cuisine from Yin Yu Tang’s home region.
PERFORMANCE
Boston Drums & Dulcimer Ensemble
9:45–10:00 am | Main Entrance (161 Essex Street)
Before the museum opens its doors for the day, our Mid-Autumn Moon Festival kicks off with a drum performance by the Boston Drums & Dulcimer Ensemble, a group of young Chinese-American musicians led by Program Director Shirley Wong.
STORYTELLING
Chinese Folktales with Limin Mo
10:30–11:00 am | East India Marine Hall
Join us for a special program with award-winning writer and artist Limin Mo, who will transform the East India Marine Hall with a storytelling performance.
ART MAKING
Lantern Making with Limin Mo
11:00–12:30 pm | East India Marine Hall
In Chinese culture, lanterns are a symbol of family reunion and good fortune, and are an important part of the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival. Make your own lantern to take home and light up your own celebrations with family and friends!
PERFORMANCE
Boston Drums & Dulcimer Ensemble
12:30–1:30 pm | Main Atrium
Watch the same troupe of youth performers that opened our festival day fill the Main Atrium with the sounds of drums and hammered dulcimer. Stick around after their performance to touch the instruments and meet the musicians!
DROP-IN ART MAKING
Play Dough Mooncakes
1:00–4:00 pm | Create Spaces Studios
Mooncakes are a Chinese dessert enjoyed during the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival and symbolize family unity. Stop by the Create Space Studios to make play dough mooncakes that honor this celebration!
FILM SCREENING
Over the Moon (2020)
2:30–4:00 pm | Morse Auditorium
Same-day tickets required. Tickets available at the Information desk.
When Fei Fei misses her mother, she decides to build her own rocket and travel to the moon to enlist the help of a legendary goddess. Cathy Ang, Phillipa Soo, Ken Jeong, John Cho and Sandra Oh star in this animated musical directed by Glen Keane.
Runtime: 1 hour, 40 minutes. Rated PG. Courtesy of Netflix. Please note this film explores themes of grief and loss, and is recommended for children 6 years and up. Caregiver discretion is advised.
ABOUT THE COLLABORATORS
Boston Drums & Dulcimer Ensemble
Shirley Wong started learning the drums and dulcimers at the age of three from Professor Zhang of the Beijing Conservatory of Music. She has spent over 24 years studying the instruments and countless years in performing along with her own students in hopes of promoting Asian culture through the art of Music. The Chinese Hammered Dulcimer has 4 octaves and we teach a wide range of pieces from traditional Chinese pieces to classic pieces by Mozart/Saint Saens and more! All of the dulcimer students also learn Chinese drumming as part of their lessons and they have been performing both throughout the New England area.
Limin Mo is an award-winning writer and acclaimed artist and storyteller. She creates performance art incorporating painting, singing and writing into video productions. Mo was born in Shanghai and made her way to the U.S. in the 1960s. For four decades, she has lived and worked in Cambridge, MA, where she raised three children. She previously worked with Peter Schuman's Bread and Puppet Theatre and studied with Reality Theatre-Gurdinieze, Japanese Kyogen Players and Joan Halifax. She holds an MA in Theater and Education from Goddard College and an MFA from Emerson College in Creative Writing. She is also a passionate gardener and an accomplished chef.
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Where is it happening?
Peabody Essex Museum, Peabody, United StatesEvent Location & Nearby Stays:
