Mooncakes are usually cut into small wedges to share among friends and family with tea or special wine. Historically they were used to pass secret messages (printed on the outside of the cake). Mooncakes are made of a very rich pastry and are typically filled with sweet-bean, egg yolk, meat or lotus-seed paste. Another tradition involving lanterns is to write riddles on them and have other people try to guess the answer! Lanterns are a symbol of lighting your path to prosperity and good fortune. Kids and adults alike carry lanterns of all shapes and sizes around the city at night. If you’ve been in Hong Kong for this festival, you’ll know it involves lanterns and mooncakes, among other traditions. Mid-Autumn Festival is a truly magical and beautiful festival. The huge dragon, made of rope, straw and rattan, is 67m long and has thousands of incense sticks burning on its body and firecrackers lighting the surrounding area! Mooncakes, lanterns and gifts If you have a chance to check it out, you won’t be sorry. Today it continues to be an impressive tradition during the Mid-Autumn Festival in Hong Kong. The fire dragon was used in the parade and was made of straw and joss sticks (incense) which were set alight at night. There’s a legend that in the 1880s, the residents of Tai Hang Village in the New Territories region of Hong Kong warded off a typhoon and a plague on the eve of the Mid-Autumn festival with a fire dance that lasted three days and three nights. Since Hou Yi was a hero to all for saving them from drought, the people joined in the festival to support him and they prayed to the moon for a good harvest each year. In order to catch a glimpse of his beloved wife, Hou Yi arranged a special feast on the day the moon was at its fullest and he did this each year. She became immortal and drifted up to the moon, never to return. When Hou Yi’s apprentice tried to steal the potion for himself, Hou Yi’s wife Chang’e drank it in an attempt to save it. For his heroism he was granted a potion, giving him immortality. The story goes that an archer named Hou Yi shot down 9 of the 10 suns in order to save all the crops. There is a delightful myth about the Mid-Autumn Festival. On this day, it is believed that the moon is at its fullest and it happens at harvest time in the middle of Autumn. This typically occurs in mid-September to early October of the Gregorian or solar calendar. When do we celebrate mid-Autumn festival?Īccording to history, the Mid-Autumn Festival is held on a full moon on the 15th day of the 8th month of the Chinese or lunar calendar. The festival has carried on since this time as a way of gathering families and friends together to show appreciation, give thanks and admire the moon when it is at its fullest, perhaps similar to the Thanksgiving traditions in North America where families and communities gather to celebrate the harvesting season. The ancient Chinese believed that the moon and water were associated with rejuvenation. By the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the mid autumn festival had become one of the main folk festivals in China.Īn important part of the Mid-Autumn Festival celebration throughout history has been moon worship. One story explains that Emperor Xuanzong of Tang started to hold formal celebrations in his palace after having explored the Moon-Palace. However, the celebration as a festival only started to gain popularity during the early Tang dynasty (618–907 CE). The Chinese have celebrated the harvest during the autumn full moon since the Shang dynasty (1600–1046 BCE). Harvest time was a time to celebrate the bounties of the crops and to bring people together. Why do we celebrate mid-Autumn festival?Ĭhina’s emperors worshipped the moon for bountiful harvests with a history dating back 3,000 years. Read on to learn more.Įnjoy sharing the wonderful Mid-Autumn holiday with your family on 10 September 2022. Next to history, knowing where you can buy the best mooncakes, ideas on where to celebrate and a simple how-to guide to make your own lantern at home are not to be missed. Reading Time: 5 minutes The Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Lantern Festival or Moon festival, is Jūng-chāu Jit (中秋節) in Cantonese and Zhōngqiū Jié (中秋节) in Mandarin. With the festival just around the corner, start your celebrations early by learning some interesting history about this momentous celebration.
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