Fall Festivals

作品賞析

The vivid barbecue meat, moon cakes, pomelos, and the moon high above will surely remind people of the Mid-Autumn Festival! Artist Ho Huey-Chih’s Fall Festivals not only depicts the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival, but also incorporates elements of the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot). Both autumn festivals center around family gatherings and celebrating the harvest. In this piece, Ho Huey-Chih, renowned for her still- life paintings, especially those featuring food, highlights this theme by arranging a variety of foods in the lower left of the composition. Included taros, water chestnuts, and persimmons from Taiwan, as well as figs, dates, and other items from Israel, symbolizing the harvest celebrations of both cultures. On the small white table in the corner, there are also four essential plants for the Feast of Tabernacles, including branches of three kinds of tree, willow, and citron fruits. The green tent, located before the golden menorah in the upper left corner is the sukkah tent that the Jews build outdoors with natural materials during the Feast of Tabernacles. The scenario seems like the family looks up at the sky through the gap in the roof, imagining the days when the Israelites left Egypt and wandered in the wilderness.