Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival

The Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋节 zhōng qiū jié), also known as the Moon Festival, is a significant traditional festival celebrated in East Asian countries, like Mainland China, Korea, Singapore, Vietnam, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, and the Chinese diaspora worldwide. It is observed on the 15th day of the 8th month in the lunar calendar, when the moon (月亮 yuè liàng) is believed to be at its fullest and brightest.

People celebrate the festival by appreciating the full moon's beauty, sharing meals, eating mooncakes (月饼 yuè bǐng), lighting lanterns, and watching traditional performances.

Reunion and Harmony: It's a time for families to come together, akin to a harvest festival, celebrating the abundance of the summer harvest. The full moon symbolizes unity and togetherness.

Mooncakes: Mooncakes are round pastries filled with sweet lotus seed paste, salted egg yolks, red bean paste, mixed nuts, pineapple paste, or other fillings. The mooncakes symbolize the full moon. Chinese people like to give or share mooncakes during the festival.

Lanterns: People light colorful lanterns, often in various shapes and sizes, to signify good luck and hope. People enjoy parading in parks which are decorated with a variety of beautiful lanterns.

Folklore and Myths: One famous story about the origin of the Mid-Autumn Festival is the legend of Chang'e (嫦娥 háng é), who consumed an elixir of immortality and ascended to the moon, residing there with a rabbit (玉兔 yù tù), and became the Moon Goddess. Interestingly, the Chinese lunar-orbiting spacecraft “Chang’e” and the lunar rover “Yutu” were named after this legend.

The Mid-Autumn Festival holds deep cultural and emotional significance, emphasizing the importance of family, unity, and thankfulness for the harvest, much like Thanksgiving (感恩节 gǎn ēn jié), but it also has strong cultural ties to moon worship and folklore about the moon.