Mid-Autumn Festival

Hi everybody,
since it's time for Autumn, I will share a few things about Mid-Autumn Festival, since I was celebrated those event.

Let's check it out !!

 Making and sharing mooncakes is one of the hallmark traditions of this festival. In Chinese culture, a round shape symbolizes completeness and unity. Thus, the sharing of round mooncakes among family members signify the completeness and unity of families.In some areas of China, there is a tradition of making mooncakes during the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival.The senior person in that household would cut the mooncakes into pieces and distribute them to each family member, signifying family reunion.In modern times, however, making mooncakes at home has given way to the more popular custom of giving mooncakes to family members, although the meaning of maintaining familial unity remains.Although typical mooncakes can be around a few inches in diameter, imperial chefs have made some as large as several feet in diameter, with its surface impressed with designs of Chang'e, cassia trees, or the Moon-Palace.One tradition is to pile 13 mooncakes on top of each other to mimic a pagoda, the number 13 being chosen to represent the 13 months in a full lunar year.

The festival celebrates three fundamental concepts which are closely tied to one another:

• gathering, such as family and friends coming together, or harvesting crops
•  thanksgiving, to give thanks for the harvest, or for harmonious unions
• praying (asking for conceptual or material satisfaction), such as for babies, a spouse, beauty, longevity, or for a good future

Traditions and myths surrounding the festival are formed around these three concepts, although traditions have changed over time due to changes in technology, science, economy, culture, and religion.

 The Mid-Autumn Festival is also known by other names, such as:

•  Moon Festival, because of the celebration's association with the full moon on this night, as well as the traditions of moon worship and moon gazing.
•  Mooncake Festival, because of the popular tradition of eating mooncakes on this occasion.
•  Lantern Festival, a term sometimes used in Singapore and Malaysia, which is not to be confused with the Lantern Festival in China that occurs on the 15th day of the first month of the Chinese calendar.
•  Reunion Festival, because in olden times, a woman in China would take the occasion to visit her parents before returning to celebrate with her husband and his parents.
•  Children's Festival, in Vietnam, because of the emphasis on the celebration of children.
•  Harvest Moon and Chinese Thanksgiving, terms used in the Chinese diasporic community to describe this as a harvest festival

The Mid-Autumn Festival is held on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese calendar—essentially the night of a full moon—which is in September or early October in the Gregorian calendar. In 2013 the Mid-Autumn Festival fell on September 19. It will occur on these days in coming years:

• 2014: September 8
• 2015: September 27
• 2016: September 15
• 2017: October 4
• 2018: September 24
• 2019: September 13
• 2020: October 1
• 2021: September 21

Source: Mid-Autumn Festival