Mooncakes consumed during the celebration have also been modified to tailor to local palettes, such as the halal kaya flavored mooncakes that are safe for Muslims to consume in Malaysia. The disparity in practice is the reason why lanterns are commonly sold during the Mid-Autumn Festival in Southeast Asia, as the majority of the Chinese immigrants to the tropical countries originate from the southern Chinese provinces of Fujian, Canton and Teochew. Thus, the Mid-Autumn Festival was created to bring families together once again under the full moon to enjoy the harvest. As the Chinese word for circle is a homophone of the Chinese word for unity, the full moon in the middle of autumn is the metaphorical representation of wholeness, because mid-autumn is when the moon is at its fullest and brightest all year. So what does the autumn moon have to do with the harvest? Unlike the other orb dangling above our heads unwaveringly all day long, the moon changes its face throughout the month. As a result of historical and cross-cultural influences, most Asian harvest festivals like the Tsukimi include the viewing and appreciation of the full moon, as the tradition originated from the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival, which is also known as the Mooncake Festival in English-speaking Asia. The more well-known harvest festivals today include the international celebration of Halloween, the Tsukimi Festival in Japan, the Chuseok in Korea, and the Mid-Autumn Festival that is celebrated in parts of Asia populated by the Chinese. A harvest often gives farmers a huge growth in food and wealth, which gives birth to numerous autumn harvest festivals to various civilizations. It’s also a time when farmers plant their crops and tend their fields so that they may harvest the bounty of their hard work in the autumn. However, aside from the spring holiday, there is another festival on the lunar calendar that is widely recognized in the East, and whose significance is quite similar to the New Year: The Mid-Autumn Festival.Īs with all cultures, the season of spring is not only a time when flowers bloom. Currently, the Lunar New Year is the most well-known and important Chinese holiday, as it heralds the coming of spring, and is celebrated with week-long festivities where friends and families are encouraged to visit one another. A number of countries in the west have even incorporated certain Chinese celebrations as government holidays, with New York being the latest city to officially recognize the Chinese Lunar New Year as a day of celebration within the city. Throughout its 5000 years of rich history, and as a result of selective assimilation of certain cultures into the various dynasties, each with their own, differing culture, the Chinese celebrate a variety of festivals following the Gregorian calendar, which is referred more commonly in Asia as the lunar calendar.ĭue to the historical influence that China once had on neighboring countries such as Korea, Japan and Vietnam, as well as over the large population of Chinese expatriates to Southeast Asian nations like Malaysia and the Philippines, Chinese festivals are now celebrated nearly ubiquitously all around the world. The cake is round in shape and symbolizes the reunion of family, thus making it a very appropriate representation of the traditions surrounding the Mid-Autumn Festival! Ask your student what his/her family does to celebrate this holiday.Have you ever heard of Mid-Autumn Festival or Moon Festival? If this is the first time you hear the term, this article is the all-in-one you need! Read to find out about the origin, meaning, and how to celebrate one of the three major holidays of Chinese culture! A Taiwanese twist will also add up the attraction if you are lucky enough to be travelling in Taiwan at this season. Moon cakes are a kind of cookie that come with various fillings such as nuts, sugar, sesame, ham, and egg yolk. To celebrate this holiday, people present to moon cakes to their relatives and friends to wish them a long and happy life. Universally, it is a time to appreciate the bright round moon, think of family members who live far away, and eat heartily while enjoying one another’s company. Different regions in China have their own unique ways to celebrate this traditional festival. The holiday’s name owes to its position within the season, and the time of the year when the moon is bright and full. Mid-Autumn Festival, or Moon Festival, which usually falls in September, is on the fifteenth day of the eighth month of the Chinese lunar calendar.
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