I'm not a very "Chinese" Chinese. And living in Australia doesn't help improve that. I don't have a lunar calendar at home so I have no idea what festival is up soon, until I saw some Chinese shops in Box Hill selling mooncakes.
Yes, mooncakes are easily available in Melbourne. Still, something is lacking. The mood is not there. Perhaps it's the absence of lanterns adorning the shops. I haven't seen any in Box Hill, although the population is 90% Chinese.
And if the Mid Autumn Festival is just around the corner, that means it's now the 7th month in the Lunar Calendar - the month when Hell's gate is supposedly open, the month where spirits of the departed roam freely on Earth, the month that you really should watch your back lest some lost soul decides to follow you home.
Now, that spooky feeling is entirely missing here. Why? Probably because I don't see anyone burning hell money or offering food by the roadside to starving, wandering spirits . You know how your hair sometimes stand up and you feel a chill running down your spine as you walk past those offerings at night in the 7th month. Well, not a tiny weeny bit of that feeling here.
Also, I don't have to endure all those advertisements over Astro's Wah Lai Toi on this month's ghoulish offerings. Gosh, I nearly ODed the last time. I bet the cinemas in Malaysia are sending creepy messages to their Chinese audience there too - all in the spirit of making the occasion more, errr, hungry-ghost like.
No such spirit here. Out of sight, out of mind. I'm more convinced than ever that this hungry ghost hoo-haa is all in your head.
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