Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival is coming

The Mid-Autumn Festival is also called the Moon Festival or the Mooncake Festival. It traditionally falls on the 15th day of the eighth month of the Chinese lunar calendar, which is in September or early October on the Gregorian calendar. In 2021, the Mid-Autumn Festival falls on September 21st (next Tuesday).

The Legend of the Autumn Full Moon Festival

An ancient Chinese legend connected with the festival involves a hero named Hou Yi who shot down nine of the 10 suns that were overheating the earth, earning himself a reward from the Goddess of the Heavens. She gave him a special elixir that would enable him to ascend to the heavens and become a god. Hou Yi’s wife

Chang’e drank the elixir while protecting it from a greedy apprentice, but became so light that she floated to the moon. Missing his wife, Hou Yi prepared a feast every year on the day when the moon is at its fullest, hoping to get a glimpse of his wife’s shadow.

Just how famous is this story? The Chinese Lunar Exploration Program, an ongoing series of robotic Moon missions by the China National Space Administration, is named after the Chinese moon goddess Chang’e.

Chinese people celebrate the festival in many traditional ways: Enjoying Family Reunions

The roundness of the moon represents the reunion of the family in Chinese minds. Families will have dinner together on the evening of the Festival. The public holiday (usually 3 days) is mainly for Chinese people working in different places to have enough time to reunite. Those staying too far away from their parents’ home

usually get together with friends.

Appreciating the Moon

It is said, sentimentally, that “the moon on the night of Mid-Autumn Festival is the brightest and the most beautiful”. Chinese people usually set a table outside their houses and sit together to admire the full moon while enjoying tasty mooncakes. Parents with little kids often tell the legend of Chang’e Flying to the Moon. As a game, kids try their best to find the shape of Chang’e on the moon.

Eating Mooncakes

Mooncakes are the most representative food for the Mooncake Festival, because of their round shape and sweet flavor. Family members usually gather round and cut a mooncake into pieces and share its sweetness. Nowadays, mooncakes are made in various shapes (round, square, heart-shaped, animal-shaped) and in various flavors, which make them more attractive and enjoyable for a variety of consumers.