Bringing Warmth to a Cold Winter, the 2020 Blessing Chocolatte – Coffee and Chocolate Festival
The coldness of New Zealand’s coldest morning at minus 2 degrees Celsius evaporated when the fragrance from the hot coffee and chocolatte melted the hoarfrost and brought warmth to the people, boosting their low morale. On 25th July 2020, Fo Guang Shan (FGS) South Island held its ‘2020 Blessing Chocolatte – Coffee and Chocolate Festival’. This was the biggest non-governmental event in New Zealand held after the 2 months COVID-19 pandemic lockdown and it attracted 1500 visitors from the local populace. FGS New Zealand Abbess Venerable Manshin led Buddha’ Light International Association (BLIA) North and South Islands Committee members, and 70 BLIA members and volunteers to plan and prepare for the event. With this Festival, FGS hoped to be able to transmit the good positive energies to the people to help rekindle the caring and trusting nature in them.
The Event that day saw the participation of Dale Stephens of National Party; Candy Zhang, Diversity and Inclusion Advisor at Office of Ethnic Communities; Christchurch City Councillor Jimmy Chen; Canterbury Police District Commander Superintendent John Price; National Strategic Ethnic Advisor, Police Inspector Rakesh Naidoo; and Retired Police Detective Superintendent Virginia Le Bas. In her speech, Venerable Abbess Manshin pointed out that FGS New Zealand’s objective behind organising such a big Event was to propagate Master Hsing Yun’s concept of ‘4 Givings’. At the same time, through this Event, FGS hoped to offer to the local community, their service, their contribution and their creativity, with the hope of channelling positive energy into post-lockdown New Zealand Society.
The programme of the Festival was rich and varied. It included Singing Performance by famous Christchurch Choir, Dance Performance, Live Demonstrations by copper wire artist Leonore Ashby and scratch board artist Esther Gane, Talk by New Zealand’s famous SHE (Spiritual Human Evolution) Chocolate, Arts Exhibition in the FGY Art Gallery, Praying and Sutra Transcription in the Main Shrine, and Food Fare in the Courtyard and Carpark. The visitors were pleasantly surprised to find such string of exciting activities. The Zen-styled Flower Arrangement by Abbess Manshin specially caught the eyes of a record-breaking number of admirers.
At the Buddha Hall, a special Blessing area was set up to let devotees recite Master Hsing Yun’s ‘Prayer for Safety from the COVID-19 Outbreak’ and to perform Light offering. Devotees could also create their own Blessing cards to bless COVID-19 victims from all over the World. The Sutra Transcription area at the Buddha Hall was well patronized and people were able to gain inner peace by participating in the transcription. On top of all the above activities, many visitors rejoiced in picking Master Hsing Yun‘s ‘Words of Wisdom’. According to record, more than 1100 visitors took part in the picking activity. They were all deeply touched by Master’s wisdom.
16 stalls took part in the Food Fare, including Aoroki Coffee owned by New Zealand’s Top Coffee Barister Ken Shi, SHE Chocolate, Cocoa Trader Chocolate, Green Bear Coffee, Hipi Cheese, Kuka Bakery, and ViBERi Organic. To promote vegetarianism, FGS South Island temple specially prepared 20 varieties of vegetarian food and delicacies to cater to the locals’ palates. At the same time, temple earnestly invited the public to take part in the coming Vege ‘A’ Project.
The scenario that day was a sea of enthusiasm and joyfulness. The visiting public, the participating vendors and the volunteers, all rejoiced in the success of the event. The public were elated to be able to participate in a Festival of such grand scale in Christchurch after the pandemic, allowing them to mingle freely in a harmonious way like they did before the pandemic. They were grateful to FGS for holding such a meaningful event, and they looked forward to FGS’s next activity.