Mid-Autumn Festival

The Mandarin Bilingual students at Midnapore celebrate a traditional Chinese festival each year: the Mid-Autumn Festival.

The Mid-Autumn Festival (in Chinese: 中秋节), also known as the Moon Festival or Mooncake Festival, is a popular lunar harvest festival celebrated on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month. It is the second most important festival after the Spring Festival to Chinese people. The festival is celebrated extensively across the country, and is one of the few reunion holidays for Chinese families. On this day, Chinese family members come home from all over the country and stay together for dinner, admiring the full moon while enjoying mooncakes. It is believed that the moon is at its roundest on this date. In Chinese culture, the full moon is a symbol of peace and prosperity for the whole family. Its roundness symbolizes wholeness and solidarity.

The main traditions of the Mid-Autumn Festival are appreciating the moon, eating moon cakes together and making Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival lanterns. Celebration of the Mid-Autumn festival has a history of over 3000 years, dating back to the moon worship in Shang Dynasty (1766 BC - 1122 BC). It then became an established festival during the Song Dynasty, and has become as popular as the Spring Festival since the Ming and Qing Dynasties (1368–1644).

Remembrance Day

Each year, our school gives thanks for all we have in Canada that is made possible by those who fought and continue to fight for peace and freedom around the world. We hold a Remembrance Day Ceremony in the gymnasium and all parents and family members are invited to attend. Poppies will be given to each student before the Ceremony. 

We encourage students to make a donation to the Poppy Fund. As part of Midnapore School’s focus on character and citizenship, we encourage every child, staff member, parent and guest at the Remembrance Day Ceremony to bring at least one non-perishable food item. Several students in various grades will be boxing the collected donations.

Chinese New Year

Each year Midnapore School celebrates Chinese New Year with an evening concert.  The Chinese New Year celebration is the most important event in the Chinese calendar.  Chinese New Year is also known as the lunar new year because it falls at the start of a new moon.  Chinese New Year is also known as the Spring Festival, although in Calgary there is usually a long wait from that day until we see actual signs of spring.

For the past two years, our students and staff have collaborated with the staff and students from Harold Panabaker School to organize and perform in the evening Chinese New Year celebration.  Our collaboration is organized to showcase the development of Mandarin language skills from Kindergarten through middle school with displays of music, dancing and storytelling. 

In addition to the evening performance, Midnapore School students participate in an in-school Chinese New Year activity day focused on the Mandarin culture and language.  The activities are organized by a dedicated group of parent volunteers and all students (Mandarin and regular program) participate.  The Chinese New Year celebrations are cultural events that our students, families and staff look forward to each year.

Orange Shirt Day 

Orange Shirt day is an opportunity for First Nations, local governments, schools and communities across Canada to come together in the spirit of reconciliation. It grew out of Phyllis’s account of having her shiny new orange shirt taken away on her first day of school at the William's Lake Residential School and it has become an opportunity to keep an discussion on all aspects of residential schools. 

September 30 has been declared Orange Shirt Day annually, in recognition of the harm the residential school system did to children's sense of self-esteem and well-being, and as an affirmation of our commitment to ensure that everyone around us matters. This date is significant because it is the time of year in which children were taken from their homes to residential schools, and because it is an opportunity to set the stage for anti-racism and anti-bullying policies for the coming school year. 

Good Game | Poem by Lily K. Grade 3

Go Team Canada, go, go go !

You trained for years, rain or snow.

You wear many metals that you deserved.

You played with many people that said “Good Game”.

And those games were the best games.

Win or lose.

Fancy or terribly tattered outfits, blind or deaf, these people all

belong in Canada, and the Olympics.

The Olympics are about bringing different countries together.

Not to see who’s better at bobsledding or speed skating,

but  to play a game, a harmless game, a game that any country can compete in.

Olympics are fun, but it is always better with 2 words.  Good Game !!!!