Mid-Autumn Festival
The Mid-Autumn Festival is a popular celebration of the changing of the seasons. It is also known as the Mooncake Festival and Moon Festival, and is celebrated in China and other parts of East Asia. Traditionally, the festival is a time for family and friends to gather and share good fortune. The festival is celebrated throughout China, but it is also celebrated in Korea, Vietnam, and other countries in East Asia.
It is also a time to give gifts to family and friends. This tradition brings people closer together and is celebrated by sharing delicious food, decorative lanterns, and rousing music. In addition to food, the festival also celebrates the harvest. Many farmers celebrate the onset of harvest bliss on the eighth day of the lunar calendar. By participating in the celebrations, farmers express gratitude to the moon god and ask for protection.
The Chinese believe that the festival has mythical origins. The Moon Goddess Chang'e was a young woman who was blessed by her husband with an elixir of immortality. In exchange, the moon goddess rewarded her husband by shooting down nine of the ten suns and saving the world from smoldering heat. This was done after she drank an elixir from heaven, which made her light enough to float to the moon.
The Mid-Autumn Festival has thousands of years of history. The earliest form of moon worship dates back to the Zhou dynasty in China (1045-221BC). Ancient Chinese Emperors would worship the moon, believing that it would bring abundant harvests. Later, the Mid-Autumn Festival became popular among the common people.
As a celebration of the moon, the Mid-Autumn Festival is a time for family gatherings, special foods, and offerings to the moon. In South Korea, the festival is a three-day long national holiday 中秋節到會2022. In Taiwan, the festival is a major celebration. In Singapore, the city's Chinatown is decorated with lanterns, while Gardens by the Bay is home to the traditional mooncake.
In ancient China, the Moon was worshipped as the goddess of fertility, Chang'e. Women also worshipped the moon during the Mid-Autumn Festival night, a popular activity among women in ancient times. During this time, the moon was said to have the shape of a rabbit holding a mortar.
A special treat during the Mid-Autumn Festival is the mooncake. This sweet treat is made from wheat or rice flour and sugar. A variety of fillings are used, including lotus, red bean, and watermelon seed paste. Mooncakes vary in design from region to region. For example, the Cantonese version has a pork or duck filling, while the Beijing version has a light sweetness.
Mid-Autumn festival is celebrated on the fifteenth day of the eighth month of the Chinese calendar. The moon is at its fullest on this day. The festival is a time for family reunions. People gather with friends and relatives, and some even present mooncakes to family members and loved ones.