Lantern painters and the kampung moon
Malaysia’s mooncake and lantern festival is a made thing — lanterns painted by hand, shadow play behind a lit screen, kueh laid out in rows. The pictures follow the making rather than the eating: a lantern painter at work, a shadow play mid-performance, three friends managing one lantern between them, a dragon at Malacca.
The other half is manners, in the way children actually meet them: being a polite guest, counting out the right change, cousins who help without being asked, a visitor who is homesick and what the family does about it. The last page is a lantern parade of many lands, which is the whole eight-country set in one picture and a reasonable place to finish.
