Mid-Autumn Festival 2019 Picture 4

Free Vegetarian Event at Boxhill Town Hall Melbourne to commemorate Mid-Autumn Festival 2019

Free Vegetarian Event at Boxhill Town Hall Melbourne to commemorate Mid-Autumn Festival 2019

Mid-Autumn Festival 2019 Picture 4

The Mid-Autumn Festival, which is also widely known as the Moon Festival, is one of the essential traditional festivals in China that people celebrate for thanksgiving at the end of the autumn harvest. It is also a time for families and friends to come together for a family reunion.

In commemoration of the Mid-Autumn Festival 2019 and the 70th Anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, a large scale vegetarian charity event was held on the 29th September 2019, at the Boxhill Town Hall Melbourne, jointed Sponsored and organized by  the World Cultural Exchange Association Melbourne Branch and the World Chinese Diabetes International.

The purpose of holding such a large-scale vegetarian event is to promote an awareness of being compassionate as taught by Master Jun Hong Lu, the Chairman of the Australia Oriental Media Buddhist Charity Association, President of 2OR Australia Oriental Radio and the Australian Chinese Buddhist Research Centre (ACBRC). The event also provides an excellent opportunity to increase people’s knowledge and understanding of traditional Chinese culture.

The event was off to a good start with guests started arriving as early as 3:00 pm, and by about 4:00 pm the hall was already filled with people. More than 1,000 people have turned up for the event. Among the distinguished guests present on that day was the Councillor for Monash City for Mount Waverley Ward – Cr. MT Pang Tsoi, President of the Whitehorse Chinese Association – Mr Da Renqing, Secretary-General of the Melbourne Sichuan Association – Ms Sandy Feng and many friends from the various overseas Chinese groups and associations.

The Masters of Ceremony for the event welcomed the attendees at 4:50 pm and provided a brief introduction of the event followed by the welcome speech by Mr. Ding who is the Head of the World Cultural Exchange Association Melbourne Branch. Mr Ding had provided a brief introduction of the significance of the celebration of the Mid-autumn Festival and the activities undertaken by the World Cultural Exchange Association to share the traditional Chinese culture and its role in spreading the traditional Chinese culture to the community in Australia. He had also thanked the performers and volunteers who had selflessly contributed to make this event an enjoyable evening for the attendees.

The Master of Ceremony had then invited one of the distinguished guest, the Councillor for Monash City for Mount Waverley Ward, Cr. MT Pang Tsoi to address the crowd. Cr. MT Pang Tsoi gave special thanks to the organizers for their selfless contribution in promoting the Chinese culture and promoting charitable activities like organizing the free vegetarian events in his speech.

The attendees were then treated with a wide variety of cultural performances which were the beginning of a night to remember. Below was the list of the programs on show at the event that night:-

The performance has garnered high applause and compliments from the attendees.

Apart from the entertaining performances, another key highlight of the event is the delicious vegetarian food that was served. The volunteers from Guan Yin Citta Dharma Door Melbourne branch had prepared a wide variety of delicious dishes for the guests to taste. The food was served while they were enjoying the cultural performances. These yummy vegetarian cuisines earned high praise from the attendees and made them aware that vegetarian food can indeed provide a compassionate meatless alternative to meals without the need to inflict pain and suffering to animals.

After the performances had ended, the performers gathered around the stage for the group photo sessions with the other performers and the organizers of the event. Lucky draws were then given out to the lucky winners at the end of the event. The event was concluded around 6:40 pm, and we have got fantastic feedback from the attendees. One of the first time attendee Hue from Vietnam who brought along her family members to attend the Vegetarian Carnival event had described the event as “truly amazing”. Most of them were very thankful and pleased with the superior standard of performances and the great quality and wide varieties of the vegetarian food served during the event. It is an event that not only provided entertainment to the attendees but also satisfied their taste buds.

Some of them also took the opportunity to understand more about Buddhism and took home some complimentary books, CDs and DVDs by Master Jun Hong Lu that were on display at the back of the event hall. Some guests have even expressed their interest to come to attend Master Jun Hong Lu’s Public Talk which will be held on the 8th December 2019 at the Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre. Hopefully, more beings will be able to gain a better understanding of the traditional Chinese culture, start adopting the compassionate vegetarian diet as well as start learning about the Buddhism way of life to improve and change their lives. This event was indeed a great success in all of its measures.

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Master Jun Hong Lu

Master Jun Hong Lu

Jun Hong Lu is the chairman and Director of Australia Oriental Media Buddhist Charity Association registered under United Nations Global Compact as NGO-Non Government Organisation since July 2015.