Mid-Autumn Festival (Mooncake Festival) 2022: Greetings, Traditions, Food, Stories…
Mid-Autumn Festival, Zhongqiu Jie (中秋节) in Chinese, is also called the Moon Festival or the Mooncake Festival. It is the second most important festival in China after Chinese New Year. It is also celebrated by many other Asian countries, such as Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines.
In China, is a celebration of the rice harvest and many fruits. Ceremonies are held both to give thanks for the harvest and to encourage the harvest-giving light to return again in the coming year.
Enjoying a Dinner with Family
The roundness of the moon represents the reunion of the family in Chinese minds. Families will have dinner together on the evening of Mid-Autumn Festival.
The public holiday (usually 3 days) is mainly for Chinese people working in different places to have enough time to reunite. Those staying too far away from their parents’ home usually get together with friends.
Eating Mooncakes
Mooncakes are the most representative food for Mid-Autumn Festival. Their round shape and sweet flavor symbolize completeness and sweetness. At the Mid-Autumn Festival, people eat mooncakes together with family, or present mooncakes to relatives or friends, to express their love and best wishes.
Appreciating the Moon
The full moon is the symbol of family reunions in Chinese culture. It is said, sentimentally, that “the moon on the night of Mid-Autumn Festival is the brightest and the most beautiful”.
Chinese people usually set a table outside their houses and sit together to admire the full moon while enjoying tasty mooncakes. Parents with little kids often tell the legend of Chang’e Flying to the Moon. As a game, kids try their best to find the shape of Chang’e on the moon.
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