Mid-Autumn+Festival

Mid-Autumn Festival
Welcome to the my wiki spaces, your chance to find out what's going on at my Wiki spaces this week! In China we're about to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Full-Moon Holiday, on September 19th. Tongxuemen might be interested to hear a little about the holiday and some of the more interesting traditions and foods associated with it. First, the basics: Mid-Autumn festival, or Full-Moon Festival is celebrated during the full moon in September or early October. The date is calculated using the traditional Chinese calendar which is lunar, and the celebration comes close to the autumnal equinox. It was originally celebrated as a harvest holiday, and is a tradition shared by Vietnam and the Filipino-Chinese community in the Philippines. Much like Thanksgiving in the west, Mid-Autumn Festival focuses on three concepts: gathering, thanksgiving, and prayer. Whereas traditionally this would have meant gathering crops, now one gathers with family and friends to give thanks. In the past one would make offerings to the full moon as a sign of rejuvenation, though in some parts of China the moon worship part of the holiday was exclusively practiced by women. The contemporary holiday is marked by certain types of foods and the lighting of lanterns. There are many types of lanterns, on towers, and floating either in the air or water. The lanterns symbolize fertility and have now taken on a life of their own as a symbol of the festival itself. The most popular and well-known food associated with the holiday is the moon cake. Moon cakes are given as gifts, but not bought for oneself. The roundness symbolizes unity and the cyclical nature of the world. The interesting thing about moon cakes are the types of fillings used. There could be anything from cooked egg yoke, to lotus seed paste, red bean paste, or nuts and seeds with savory syrup. Not all westerners enjoy certain types of filling, so if you find yourself in front of a plate of moon cakes be sure to ask what the filling is. Another tradition is that workplaces may give their employees or clients decorative boxes filled with moon cakes. It is a transitional holiday signaling the end of summer and the start of fall in earnest. So tongxuemen, while you're on your day off from work, be sure to try a moon cake and taste a bit of Chinese culture in the process.