Moon Cake Festival

From what I understand, the Moon Festival is a time to celebrate family and friends. If you want more info on the holiday itself, google it. In Xiamen, at this time of year, they also have a special dice game, BoBing.

Friday, in observance of the holiday, my colleagues took me to dinner and we played the dice game. Basically you have a bowl and 6 dice. You drop the dice into the bowl, then based on what you roll, you win something or not. The better your roll, the better your prize. I understand the rules, more or less, but don’t quite know which dice combos mean what.

Anyway, there were about 25 people from my company that came to dinner so there were a heap of prizes. I found them to be very interesting. In the US, I would expect the smallest prizes to be something like pens, candy, chewing gum, etc; the mid level prizes to be something like body lotion or candles, maybe some DVDs and the top prizes to be a $50 gift card to the local gas station or certificate for a massage… you get the idea.

That was not at all the case at this event… - The top prizes were a crock pot, rice maker and special pillows. (not too unexpected)
- The middle prizes were body wash, shampoo, toothbrushes, toothpaste and the small glass bowls that were apparently free with the purchase of a tube of Colgate.
- The small prizes were dish soap, laundry detergent and tissue.

When I came into the office on Monday, they had also used one of the offices to store some additional prizes. I assume they’ll be used for other departments. They were similar stuff.

I find it really interesting that the prizes they give here are not only functional, but are the basics in function. The most popular prizes were the dish soap and Dove body wash. I won a Dove body wash, tissue, detergent, toothpaste and bowl (now my oatmeal bowl).

In the US, I think a lot of people would feel slighted if they came home with a bottle of Palmolive and a bar of Safeguard, but here people were almost excited to get dish soap. I saw the same brand at the store the other day. I’m tempted to buy one just to see what the big deal is all about.