Mid-Autumn Festival 中秋

The Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival or Zhongqiu Festival ( 中秋节), is a popular harvest festival celebrated by Chinese and Vietnamese people, dating back over 3,000 years to moon worship in China’s Shang Dynasty. It was first called Zhongqiu Jie (literally “Mid-Autumn Festival”) in the Zhou Dynasty. In Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines, it is also sometimes referred to as the Lantern Festival or Moon cake Festival.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is held on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese calendar, which is in September or early October in the Gregorian calendar. It is a date that parallels the autumnal equinox of the solar calendar, when the moon is at its fullest and roundest. The traditional food of this festival is the mooncake, of which there are many different varieties.
The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the few most important holidays in the Chinese calendar, the others being Chinese New Year and Winter Solstice, and is a legal holiday in several countries. Farmers celebrate the end of the fall harvesting season on this date. Traditionally on this day, Chinese family members and friends will gather to admire the bright mid-autumn harvest moon, and eat moon cakes and pomelos under the moon together. Accompanying the celebration, there are additional cultural or regional customs, such as:
Carrying brightly lit lanterns, lighting lanterns on towers, floating sky lanterns
Burning incense in reverence to deities including Chang’e (嫦娥)
Erect the Mid-Autumn Festival (树中秋,竖中秋)It is not about planting trees but hanging lanterns on the bamboo pole and putting them on a high point, such as roofs, trees, terraces, etc. It is a custom in Guangzhou, Hong Kong, etc.
Collecting dandelion leaves and distributing them evenly among family members
Fire Dragon Dances

中国传统节日介绍——中秋节

“一年月色最明夜,千里人心共赏时”“海上生明月,天涯共此时”
天上明月,人间情怀,中秋明月这一特殊天象形成了中国人特有的月亮节、团圆节。
每年农历八月十五日,是我国传统的中秋佳节。这时是一年秋季的中期,所以被称为中秋。早在唐时中秋就正式成为节日,是中国仅次于春节的第二大传统节日,至今已有千余年历史。2008年,中秋节与清明节、端午节成为国家法定节假日。
中秋节的命名来源于中国的农历,农历中一年分为四季,每季又分为孟、仲、季三个部分,因而中秋也称“仲秋”。
中秋节有许多别称:因为它的节期在八月十五,所以称为“八月节”、“八月半”;又因八月十五的月亮要比其他几个月的满月更圆、更亮,中秋节的主要活动都是以“月”为内容的,所以又叫做“月夕”、“秋节”、“仲秋节”、“八月会”、“追月节”、“玩月节”、“拜月节”等等。中秋节这一天的月亮格外晶亮、圆润,被人们看成是合家团圆的象征,因此,又被人们叫做“团圆节”