Chuseok festival strengthens AJA bonds: A celebration of community, despite distances

By Habib Toumi

Members of the Asia Journalists Association (AJA) have once more demonstrated that long distances and time difference could not dampen their enthusiasm to celebrate as a special family Chuseok.

Led by Sang-ki Lee, AJA founder and publisher of the association multi-lingual magazine and website, the members coming from various religious backgrounds, shared pictures, comments and good wishes on Chuseok.

The bright moon veiled by clouds in South Korea (Picture by Sang-ki Lee)

Posting a picture of the moon veiled by passing clouds, Sang-ki Lee said “many, many and even more thanks for celebrating Korean Chuseok.”

He captioned the picture as “Now moon light shining shyly between the clouds.”

Ashraf Dali, the AJA President, offered from Cairo flowers to express he loved the picture.

Ivan Lim, a well-known media personality in his home country Singapore and throughout Asia, said that “Mid-Autumn Festival is celebrated as full moon night on October 1 or on the 15th day of the month in the Lunar calendar.”

“In Singapore, we call it the Mooncake Festival. The sweet pastries are round in imitation of the moon and served with green tea and pomelo.”

Ivan shared a video of how Chinatown in Singapore is impressively decorated for the occasion.

Habib Toumi, from Bahrain, more than 7,200 kilometers away, picked up on the shy moon to post that even though the shy moon was hiding behind the clouds, people could still admire her beautiful face spreading magic charm on the festive occasion. He wished everyone a Happy Chuseok.

Veteran Korean journalist and leading AJA figure Seok-Jae Kang shared his appreciation of the positivity demonstarted by the AJA members.

Bright moon in Indonesia (Picture by Eddy Suprapto)

Eddy Suprapto, from Indonesia, emphasized the significance of friendship by posting “That’s What Friends Are For”, the song first recorded in 1982 by Rod Stewart for the soundtrack of the film “Night Shift”. However, the song gained grater fame following the 1985 cover version by Dionne Warwick, Elton John, Gladys Knight, and Stevie Wonder. Eddy wished everyone a Happy Mooncake Day before posting a full moon brightly shining in Indonesia.

Continuing with spirit of the celebration and the theme of the moon, Nasir Yusoff , a veteran media figure in Malaysia who has just recently, said that “Mid-Autumn or Mooncake festival is also popularly observed in Malaysia especially among the ethnic Chinese”

“With Malaysia being a multi-racial country, the festival is also enjoyed by the Malays, Indians and other races too. Anyway, who can resist the tasty salted egg mooncake? Not me for sure,” he said, drawing on his famous wit.

Inspired by the pictures taken by Sang-ki in Korea and Eddy in Indonesia, Nasir posted a haiku:

“Mooncake melts in mouth,

Moonlite shying in the clouds,

Warmth ~ glow in my heart.”

“Happy and blessed Mid-Autumn festival to one and all,” he wished the AJA family.

Happy Mooncake Day (Picture by Eddy Suprapto)

Lan Phong shared her best wishes from Vietnam. “Happy Full-moon festival to all AJA members!” she posted.

All the way from Paris where he lives and works, Bilal Bassal, the AJA artist from Lebanon, shared his entusiasm about how AJA celebrated Chuseok together as a family.

“Great AJA family, great videos and photos. Enjoy your life always as much as you can. I wish you all the best at all times.” he posted.

With so much colorful expression of closeness in celebrating Chuseok, Sang-ki stressed that “we are all brothers and sisters.”

“We AJA should and are able to lead new-normal age hand in hand. I am sure we can do it,” he posted.