mid-autumn festival
mid-autumn festival 2011 moon festival 2011
mid-autumn festival is also called moon festival
For other harvest festivals that may be known as Mid-Autumn Festival, see Mid-Autumn Festival (disambiguation).
For the Chinese New Year Lantern Festival known as Yuan Xiao, Chap Goh Meh, Yuen Siu, Shang Yuan, and Tết Nguyên Tiêu", see Lantern Festival.
Mid-Autumn Festival
The Mid-Autumn Moon Festival is also celebrated in Chinese communities such as the San Francisco Chinatown.
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese 中秋節
Simplified Chinese 中秋节
[show]Transliterations
Hakka
- Romanization Chung ciu tset
Mandarin
- Hanyu Pinyin Zhōngqiūjié
Min
- Hokkien POJ Tiong-chhiu-chiat
Cantonese
- Jyutping Zung1 cau1 zit3
Min name
Chinese 八月節
[show]Transliterations
Min
- Hokkien POJ Peh-go̍eh-cheh
- Min-dong BUC Báik-nguŏk-cáik
Vietnamese name
Quốc ngữ Tết Trung Thu
Chữ nôm 節中秋
Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations in Victoria Park, Hong Kong
Mooncakes are often eaten during the festival.
Mid-Autumn Festival at the Botanical Garden, MontrealThe Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival or Zhongqiu Festival (traditional Chinese: 中秋節; simplified Chinese: 中秋节; pinyin: Zhōngqiūjié; Vietnamese: Tết Trung Thu), 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.[1] In Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines, it is also sometimes referred to as the Lantern Festival or Mooncake 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 (Chinese: 嫦娥; pinyin: Cháng’é)
Erect the Mid-Autumn Festival.(树中秋，竖中秋，in China,树 and 竖 are homophones）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
In Taiwan, since the 1980s, barbecuing meat outdoors has become a widespread way to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Shops selling mooncakes before the festival often display pictures of Chang’e floating to the moon.
