The Mid-autumn Festival Is a Magical Way to Celebrate the Full Harvest Moon

The full moon that happens nearest to the autumnal equinox is significant to various cultures around the world. The lunar event is widely recognized as the Harvest Moon, traditionally lighting the night for farmers working in their fields. In several Asian countries, the full moon that many believe to be the brightest of the year is celebrated during the Mid-autumn Festival, with a variety of customs including family reunions, consuming ceremonial foods, and decorating and displaying colorful lanterns.

The Mid-autumn Festival is observed widely throughout China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Singapore, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month, which typically falls in mid-September or early October.

Mid-autumn Festival Traditions

First celebrated during China's Zhou Dynasty more than 3,000 years ago (although it wasn't widely recognized until about 1,500 years later during the Tang Dynasty), the festival pays homage to the moon. As in ancient times, people today honor it by burning incense, setting up ceremonial altars with offerings, lighting lanterns, and spending time with loved ones, often on rooftops under the moonlight.

While the exact customs vary by country, they were originally observed to show gratitude to the moon for a good harvest. Decorative lanterns with wishes written on them are usually made by children and are proudly displayed in trees or in houses, floated down rivers, or flown high into the air — a small candle placed inside makes the Kongming lanterns act like mini hot-air balloons.

Oftentimes, people of Chinese descent will gather together and enjoy mooncakes after sundown. These round, filled confections are elaborately decorated, often with patterns depicting the legends of the festival. People give mooncakes as gifts and serve them at family gatherings. Said to have become a Mid-autumn Festival tradition during the Ming Dynasty, the cookies symbolize the full moon, which, in turn, represents happy reunions with loved ones. Their filling may be made of traditional ingredients like lotus seed paste, egg yolk, or bean paste, or more modern flavors such as chocolate, truffles, foie gras, or ice cream.

Depending on where you are, pumpkins, crabs, and other seasonal foods of the harvest are also eaten at this time, while tea, baskets of fruit, and osmanthus wine are shared. In some places, there's even a public holiday.

• In South Korea, the celebration lasts three days, and many people travel to reunite with relatives — instead of mooncakes, the celebratory food is a type of stuffed rice cake called songpyeon.
• In Taiwan, the Mid-autumn Festival is a national holiday, and festivities include eating mooncakes and pomelo, a large citrus fruit related to grapefruit.
• In Japan, the moon is worshipped and families decorate their homes with beautiful flowers.
• In Vietnam, the Mid-autumn Festival is referred to as the “Children’s Festival,” and youngsters carry lanterns as they watch lion dances and feast on mooncakes.
• In Singapore’s Chinatown neighborhood and the Gardens by the Bay, you'll find lantern displays as well as traditional and contemporary versions of mooncakes.

The Legends of the Mid-autumn Festival

An ancient Chinese legend connected with the Mid-Autumn 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. As a thank-you, she gave him a special elixir that would enable him to ascend to the heavens and become a god.

Sadly, in an effort to protect the elixir from an evil man, Hou Yi’s beautiful wife, Chang’e, drank the potion herself and flew to the moon along with the Jade Rabbit, another legendary character who was sent to accompany her. Each year that followed, on the night of the fullest moon, the brokenhearted Hou Yi placed his wife’s favorite foods on his table in hopes that she would appear.