Chinese students celebrated a family holiday with their ISU “family” Sunday night.

The Chinese Students and Scholars Friendship Association held its annual Mid-Autumn Party at the Memorial Union. The party celebrated a traditional festival with a program featuring various aspects of the Chinese culture.

The celebration serves as a way for students to come together and for new students to feel connected to home, said Chang Liu, president of the CSSFA.

“They might feel a little bit lonely,” he said. “It’s nice to have something to make them feel a little more at home.”

Chinese students celebrate together because most are far from their families and are unable to celebrate in the traditional way.

“Chinese students are able to come together in a foreign country, a foreign culture. It’s a blessing,” said Jim-Carl Ng, member of the Guanghua Lion Dance Team.

Traditionally, the festival is a chance for family to gather. Family members come to share dinner and if possible, they find an open area where they can experience the light of the full moon, Ng said.

“You have bright moonlight so everyone can enjoy it,” he said. “It’s a very peaceful, a harmony environment.”

The festival is one of several in Chinese culture that celebrate the moon. It is held each year on the night of the full moon in the eighth month of the Chinese lunar calendar, Liu said.

On the Western calendar, the festival falls between the second week of September and the second week of October.

Like many holidays, one tradition of the Mid-Autumn Festival involves food.

“We have some traditional foods, like cake. That’s the first thing for the Mid-Autumn Festival,” Liu said.

For this festival, families enjoy moon cakes together. Moon cakes are small, circular cakes, somewhat similar to fruitcake.

The night’s program began with the traditional lion dance, with two colorful lions twisting and jumping around the stage. The acrobatic dance is used at happy occasions in the Chinese culture, like festivals. Two dancers form the legs of the lion as they control the head and the tail. The two dancers will do different stunts, Ng said.

“Those are mainly the crowd pleasers,” he said.

The show, conducted in Chinese, featured traditional songs, folk dances and fashions.

A Korean band entertained with a Korean pop song and brought American culture to the show as well with a cover of Guns N’ Roses’ “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.”

A Chinese language class used the skills they are learning to perform a traditional song. Students also sang medleys of Chinese operas and moon songs.

Members of the ISU Karate Club demonstrated tae kwon do and broke boards using their fists and feet.

Most of the attendees were Chinese students, their friends and those who are interested in the Chinese culture.

In the future, Liu said he would like to have more Americans attend. He said he would make changes including publicizing the event more widely on campus and having an English translation for those who don’t speak Chinese.