Guide To Mooncake Festival

The Mid-Autumn Event, also known as the Moon Festival or Mooncake Festival, is China's second most important festival after Chinese New Year, with a 3,000-year tradition of kings worshipping the moon for good harvests. The event occurs on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month in the Chinese lunisolar calendar, which corresponds to late September to early October in the Gregorian calendar. The Chinese believe that the moon is at its fullest and brightest on this day, which also happens to be harvest time in the middle of Autumn. Lanterns of various sizes and shapes are carried and displayed as omens of good fortune and success. This time of year, mooncakes, a decadent pastry filled with sweet bean or lotus seed paste, are available. The celebration was a time to honour the moon with food offerings after a successful rice and wheat harvest. Eating mooncakes and gazing at the moon, a symbol of peace and unity, is a tradition that is still practised today at outdoor gatherings ...