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Every year at the end of November, the City of Burnaby hosts the grand Festival of Lights at the Edmonds Community Centre, inviting families to celebrate the holiday season together. Starting at 2:30 PM, dozens of community groups set up booths offering various crafts, displays, and fun activities. The indoor festivities conclude at 5:00 PM, followed by an outdoor lighting ceremony where the mayor personally lights the decorative lights on the large Christmas tree in the plaza behind the community center, signaling the beginning of the year-end holiday season.
Tzu Chi Burnaby has been invited to participate in the Festival of Lights every year since 2017, bringing joy and blessings to local families. Volunteers planned booths featuring a sky lantern prayer area, handmade eco-friendly spinning tops, and information on Tzu Chi and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Preparation of materials began a month in advance, all with the hope of creating happy memories for families in the community.
Family Fun at the Community Centre
On the day of the event, November 29, the area surrounding the community center was filled with lighthearted and joyous Christmas music. Decorations featuring reindeer, bears, and candy canes were cute and eye-catching, creating a rich Christmas atmosphere.
Before the indoor activities began at 2:00 PM, many people were already queuing at the entrance, with the front area packed with strollers. Inside, there were musical performances, photo opportunities with Santa Claus, cartoon characters like the Snow Princess, activities from other organizations, as well as game and face-painting booths.
Tzu Chi volunteers, wearing red Christmas hats, greeted everyone warmly with smiles. The Tzu Chi booth was one of the seven featured stations on a special passport card. Children collected stickers by visiting each booth; a completed passport allowed them to enter a lucky draw. The winning child would join the mayor in the lighting ceremony.
Prayer Lanterns and Words of Wisdom
Tzu Chi’s handmade prayer sky lantern booth was bustling from start to finish. Shu-Zhen Zhao, taking on the role of craft coordinator for the first time, was well-prepared and taught the children with great patience. Volunteer Xin-Ling Zhang created a step-by-step signboard for the lanterns, which proved very effective, allowing visitors to clearly see how to proceed step-by-step and making the process easy to pick up.
Volunteer Ze-Mei Ma participated in the Festival of Lights for the first time. While assisting visitors in making lanterns, she shared tips she had discovered herself, making the process smoother for everyone. After assembling the main body of the lantern, children selected a small card featuring a Jing Si Aphorism to hang underneath, completing a special lantern ornament that could be hung on their Christmas trees at home.
Volunteer Zhen-Hua Chen noted that the children were very interested in making the crafts themselves. When they chose a Jing Si Aphorism card, she took the opportunity to guide them in reading the aphorism aloud. Every child said “thank you” before leaving, which she found very heartwarming.
Additionally, volunteers designed a special sky lantern prayer area. The prayer board bore the message: “Praying for peace and a world free of disasters.” Many visitors picked up markers to write down their blessings and wishes on small cards. The board was gradually covered with notes reading “Happy Holidays,” “Wishing for health,” “A year of peace and luck,” and “World Peace.” A Ukrainian volunteer, who had connected with Tzu Chi through community refugee distributions, also took a moment to write down a wish: “Hoping for peace for my country and family, and no more war.”
Eye-Catching Eco-Friendly Tops
The materials for the traditional paper spinning tops were cut from recycled paper boxes and cardboard. Before the event, several volunteers cut over three hundred circular paper discs from cardboard. Yuan-Ming Huang punched holes in all three hundred discs. The paper rolls inserted into the center of the tops were also pre-rolled from recycled paper to ensure the activity ran smoothly.
The Tzu Chi craft booth was buzzing with excitement. Yuan-Ming Huang observed the children drawing intently, each creating a unique design with different colors. When they inserted the paper spindle, glued it in place, and finished the top, they would give it a spin. As the top whirled, they eagerly called their parents to watch, their faces filled with the joy of accomplishment—a delight the volunteers shared in.
Shu-Jun Huang, a teacher at the Tzu Chi Academy, brought her son, Rex Yu, to the Festival of Lights for the first time last year. This year, attending for the second time, Rex acted as a “little instructor” in the eco-spinning top booth, teaching other children how to make them.
There were quite a few new volunteers this year. William, who recently arrived in Canada from Indonesia, searched for Tzu Chi himself and signed up online to volunteer, as his mother is a certified Tzu Chi commissioner in Indonesia. Ukrainian volunteers Olesia Drozd and her son Vlodek Volodymyr, who connected with Tzu Chi through community refugee aid, felt fortunate to have received help and came to give back by volunteering. The pair helped at the spinning top booth, and Vlodek later learned to make the sky lanterns and moved to assist at that booth as well.
Introducing Tzu Chi and Building Good Connections
In addition to general Tzu Chi introductions, the Tzu Chi information booth this year featured information about the Tzu Chi College of Traditional Chinese Medicine and the Tzu Chi TCM Clinic. Dr. Eric Wei, Director of the Tzu Chi TCM Clinic, and Dr. Wei-Ting Li were personally present at the booth to answer inquiries, hoping to raise awareness of Tzu Chi’s TCM mission.
Local representatives from three levels of government—Anne Kang (BC Minister of Municipal Affairs), MP Wade Chang, and City Councillor James Wang—all visited the Tzu Chi booth to greet the volunteers and commend Tzu Chi’s contributions to the community.
At 5:00 PM, the indoor activities ended, and everyone moved outside to gather in the plaza. Although the temperature was low, the singing, laughter, and positive energy warmed the cold winter evening. Santa Claus drew the name of the luckiest child to assist the Mayor with the lighting. Amidst music and carols, the tall Christmas tree in the plaza suddenly sparkled with lights, filling the scene with joy and warmth!
Finally, all the volunteers worked together to clean up the venue and took a group photo to commemorate the event. As the Jing Si Aphorism says, “With a heart of love, you will have the strength to serve.” The Tzu Chi Burnaby Festival of Lights activity concluded successfully. The volunteers’ loving heart brought festive joy and goodwill to the community, forming good connections with over 600 attendees.