Mid-Autumn Festival

Written by Karen Lin and edited by Melanie Kuo

In East and Southeast Asian communities, the Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival or Mooncake Festival, is celebrated by many people. It is mostly celebrated in the countries of China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand. This festival is usually celebrated on the 15th day of the eighth month on the Chinese lunar calendar and is believed to fall on the brightest full moon of the year. This is converted to the months of mid-September or early October in the Gregorian calendar. The celebration of this traditional festival includes family gatherings, lighting lanterns, and eating mooncakes.

The Mid-Autumn Festival began during the Zhou Dynasty (1045-221 BC). In ancient China, emperors worshipped the moon in autumn, thanking it for the harvest and believing that doing this would bring them an abundant harvest the following year. During the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD), the Mid-Autumn Festival became a traditional celebration in China and also very prevalent. Not only did emperors and rich merchants appreciate the moon, but the citizens also began doing so. The festival was officially established and was first celebrated as a national festival during the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD). This became a tradition and custom ever since and is extremely popular today. Despite the traditional festival deriving from worshipping the moon, it is primarily celebrated as a time for family reunions. Additionally, eating mooncakes as a traditional part of the festival began in the Yuan Dynasty, and are given to family members and friends as gifts during the time of the festival.

The most widely held and known legend of the Mid-Autumn Festival is Chang’e Flying to the Moon and is also believed to be what began the festival. It begins by saying that Earth had ten suns, and the heat of them brought drought to the world. A mythological archer named Hou Yi shot down nine of the ten suns, saving lives on Earth. Because of this, he was given an elixir of immortality, which he wanted to give to his wife, Chang’e, who is considered a moon goddess in this legend. However, while Hou Yi was away hunting, his apprentice, Feng Meng, wanted to steal Hou Yi’s elixir. Since Chang’e wanted to keep the elixir away from Feng Meng, she drank it and was then ascended to the heavens. Since the moon is the nearest place to Earth in heaven, she flew to the moon. Hou Yi began placing foods that Chang’e liked on the day of the full moon. This became a custom that was later followed by other people and prayed to Chang’e for good luck and formed the Mid-Autumn Festival.

The Mid-Autumn Festival became just as popular as Chinese New Year during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 AD) and the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912 AD). It symbolizes a time for families to gather, with the moon representing reunion. The festival’s customs and traditions vary and have similarities throughout different countries in East and Southeast Asia. In South Korea, many people reunite with their families with the celebration of the festival lasting for three days. In Vietnam, the Mid-Autumn Festival is considered the “Children’s Festival,” in which children celebrate with lanterns, eating mooncakes, and watching lion dances. People in Taiwan consider the Mid-Autumn Festival a national holiday and celebrate by eating mooncakes and pomelo, a large citrus fruit resembling a grapefruit. Similarly, most people in southern China also eat pomelo during this festival and display and light lanterns to celebrate. In Hong Kong, this festival is celebrated with the tradition of fire dragon dancing. One of them is the Tai Hung Fire Dragon Dance, which originated in the 19th century from the Tai Hung community and was believed by villagers to keep bad luck away.

Overall, the festival is widely celebrated throughout Asia with family gatherings. It is known to be an important celebration originating from China with numerous traditions and customs held during this time by other Asian countries and is celebrated when the moon is in its brightest and fullest state.

Sources:

Cover Photo by Billy Kwok on Unsplash

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