Hey, you! 😊
The Mid-Autumn Festival is also known as the Moon Festival and is celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month of the Chinese lunisolar calendar. Each year, its date may vary but it is usually in mid-September to early October. On this day, the Chinese believe that the Moon is at its brightest and fullest size, coinciding with harvest time in the middle of Autumn.
But I don't really follow all of that. I have to be completely honest with you - come September, I just google, "when is the mid-autumn festival this year?" and I have the date. 😆
Growing up, my family never celebrated the Mid-Autumn Festival, although we would hear of it all the time thanks to the huge Chinese community present in the Philippines.
As an adult, I decided to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival because I love eating Mooncakes and this is the only time in the year I have some. If there's a celebration with food, consider me present. Thanksgiving, Lunar New Year, La Chandeleur, just to name a few.
Eating mooncakes is one part of this celebration as the moon is the symbol for this festival.
A Mooncake is a golden crusty pastry with a dense calorie-laden filling such as lotus paste or red bean but they can vary in size, shape, and ingredients depending on where they are made. Symbolically, the roundness of the mooncake signifies completeness is associated with family reunion. Often family members give mooncakes to one another, or cut and distribute pieces from the same mooncake.
The Husband bought the Mooncake from our local Asian store and it wasn't good at all (sorry! 🙁). It was bland and rather stale. I think I will look for recipes for next year.
Another part of this celebration is displaying lanterns or lantern parades as well as moon-gazing. We tried to look for the moon last night, but we couldn't find it anywhere in our cloudy sky. I hope this won't affect our fortune and prosperity for the year. 😅🤞
Do you celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival?
xoxo Elodie
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