Moon Festival (Mid-Autumn Day)
Mid-Autumn Day is the 15th day of the eighth lunar month. According to the Chinese lunar calendar, the eighth lunar month is the middle month of autumn, thus called Mid-Autumn Day.
- Chinese Name: Zhōngqiū Jié 中秋节
- English Names: Mid-Autumn Day, Moon Festival, Moon-cake Festival, Reunion Festival
- Date: 15th day of the 8th lunar month (somewhere between early September and early October)
- Customs: eating moon-cakes, enjoying the full moon
Mid-Autumn Day is also known as Moon Festival, Moon Cake Festival, or Reunion Festival, as the moon on that night is very full and bright. Chinese family members will get together and reunite on that day to enjoy the full moon and eat moon cakes.
Mid-Autumn Day is also known as Moon Festival, Moon Cake Festival, or Reunion Festival, as the moon on that night is very full and bright. Chinese family members will get together and reunite on that day to enjoy the full moon and eat moon cakes.
Origin
The origins of the centuries-old Moon Festival are lost in myth. However, the Book of Rites reads that the custom of Chinese people is to worship the God of the Moon on autumn evenings in the Western Zhou Dynasty, 3,000 years ago. Zhou People prayed for blessing from the God of the Moon on Mid-Autumn Day, and the celebration became popular during the Tang Dynasty.
Accompanying the celebration, there are additional cultural or regional customs, and one is eating moon cakes, which first appeared in the Ming Dynasty, and became a tradition of Mid-Autumn Day.
Legendary Story - Chang E Flies to the Moon
The Moon Festival is full of legendary stories and one of the most widely-known stories is that of the fairy Houyi shooting down the suns and Chang E flying to the moon.
The legend states that Chang E was the wife of Houyi, a skilled and famous archer. Houyi was rewarded a pill that granted eternal life from the emperor because his archery skill in shooting down 9 of the 10 suns to protect the earth from burning.
Pengmeng heard about the pill and broke into Houyi’s house to steal it when Houyi was absent. In order to protect the pill, Chang E swallowed it and she unexpectedly flew to the moon. Houyi missed Chang E very much. He gazed at the moon, where his wife Chang E lived, and worshiped her with her favorite cookies and fruits.
Local people heard about the stories and worshiped Chang E in the same way. Hence, the tradition spread throughout the whole nation.
Cutsoms
Today Mid-Autumn Day has become an occasion for families to get together and reunite. Family members sit under the bright full moon and eat moon cakes, a kind of cookie with fillings of sugar, fat, sesame, walnut, the yoke of preserved eggs, ham or other materials.
The custom of paying homage to the fairy is gone, but the moon cakes are showing improvement every year. There are hundreds of varieties of moon cakes on sale months before the arrival of the Moon Festival every year. It is one of the few most important holidays for Chinese people.