| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
The Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Mooncake Festival, is a popular East Asian celebration of abundance and togetherness, dating back over 3,000 years to Traditionally, on this day, Chinese family members and friends will gather to admire the bright mid-autumn harvest moon, and eat moon cakes and pomeloes together. In the evenings, children gleefully carry lanterns of all shapes and sizes. The bearing of lanterns and the origin of mooncakes date back to a 14th century revolt by the Chinese against the Mongols.
Accompanying the celebration, there are additional cultural or regional customs, such as:
- Putting pomelo rinds on one’s head
- Eating moon cakes outside under moon
- Carrying brightly lit lanterns
- Burning incense in reverence to deities including Chang’e
- Planting Mid-Autumn trees
- Collecting dandelion leaves and distributing them evenly among family members
- Lighting lanterns on towers
- Fire Dragon Dances
- Shops selling mooncakes, before the festival, often display pictures of Chang’e floating to the moon.