Happy Moon Festival!
The Moon Festival, also called the Mid-Autumn Festival or Mid-Autumn Day, is second in importance only to the Spring Festival. It falls on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month when the moon is believed to be the fullest and roundest. Members of the family gather together for a reunion dinner and to appreciate the moon while eating moon-cakes of various flavors. It is also a festival for farmers to celebrate their harvest. With more than 3,000 years of history, there are different takes on the origin of this festival. Even the most popular one, the story of Hou Yi and Chang E, has different versions.
When is the Mid-Autumn Festival?
2018 – September 24
2019 – September 13
2020 – October 1
2021 – September 21
2022 – September 10
2023 – September 29
2024 – September 17
2025 – October 6
The Mid-Autumn Festival and how to celebrate
The Mid-Autumn Festival is considered “children’s day” in Vietnam and celebrations include paper lantern fairs and lion dance parades. Meanwhile, in southern China, most people will light a lantern and eat autumn fruits such as pomelo and starfruit.
Some villages in Hong Kong still preserve the tradition of fire dragon dancing through a narrow alley.
In South Korea, the mid-Autumn Festival is a three-day holiday, a time to sweep ancestors’ tombs and wear traditional attire.
Japanese, meanwhile will eat grilled sticky rice balls called tsukimi dango (“moon viewing”) while admiring the astronomical body.
A WORLD 2 CELEBRATE 