A full moon during the fall may be an ordinary sight to some, but in certain cultures, it is a telltale sign of an important holiday: the Mid-Autumn Festival. Written in Simplified Chinese as 中秋节 (Zhōng qiū jié; pronounced Jong chu jee-eh), the festival is celebrated annually on the fifteenth day of the eighth month of the Chinese lunisolar calendar in various East and Southeast Asian countries. According to the Gregorian calendar, the holiday generally falls between September and October. The Mid-Autumn Festival has roots in ancient Chinese myths, and in the modern day, several traditions are linked to the festival, including eating mooncakes and admiring the full moon with family.
Although stories vary across cultures, for the Chinese, the Mid-Autumn Festival originates from the legend of Chang’e and her husband, Hou Yi. The story tells that once, there were 10 suns in the sky, causing all the water on Earth to evaporate and all the plants to die. Hou Yi, an archer, shot down nine of those suns, leaving only one in the sky as we see today. He was rewarded for his heroic acts with a set of two pills granting immortality, one for him and one for his wife. One day, a thief made their way into Hou Yi and Chang’e’s home, attempting to steal the immortality pills. To stop him, Chang’e, who was in the house, swallowed both of the pills herself so the thief couldn’t steal them. However, swallowing both pills caused Chang’e to float up to the moon, where she was destined to stay forever. Hou Yi missed her dearly and laid out mooncakes in her honor, gazing up at the full moon, which inspired the traditions associated with the Mid-Autumn Festival.
“For me, Mid-Autumn Festival means family reunion and longing for home,” Mei Chiu, a member of the Chinese diaspora community, said.
An essential part of the festival is mooncakes, a rich and dense Chinese pastry. The traditional way to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival is to watch the moon with family while eating mooncakes. Some families buy mooncakes while others make their own, turning it into a family activity. Though there are many different styles of mooncakes, the most popular are Cantonese-style mooncakes, characterized by a golden-brown outer crust with a design pressed into the top of it. It is paired with a dense filling, and many different flavors are available, including red bean paste, lotus seed paste, five-kernel and salted egg yolk.
“A few days before the festival, I also made mooncakes with my family. One of our traditions is sharing those mooncakes with relatives and friends to express good wishes and blessings to everyone,” Chiu said.
Today, several traditions are observed during the Mid-Autumn Festival, varying across cultures and individual family preferences.
“My family buys mooncakes to eat, and then we go outside to admire the moon,” Wade Zhang ‘27 said.
“My family and I gather together… [and] celebrate by splitting and eating mooncakes with family, trying new flavors of moon cakes as well, like taro and oolong tea,” Sabrina Nguyen ‘28 said.
Along with the legend of Chang’e and Hou Yi, many other tales are connected to the Mid-Autumn Festival. For example, the legend of the mooncake rebellion tells of the use of mooncakes to secretly send messages between rebels in order to overthrow the Yuan Dynasty. According to the story, during the Mongol-ruled Yuan Dynasty, many of the oppressed Chinese wanted to rebel. In order to transmit secret messages without getting caught, rebel leader Zhu Yuanzhang hid information inside of mooncakes, telling people to revolt on the Mid-Autumn Festival. On that night, the people rebelled and overthrew the Yuan Dynasty.
Observed in various countries spread across East and Southeast Asia, including China, Vietnam, South Korea, Japan and Singapore, the holiday represents unity and family. Often dubbed the “Chinese Thanksgiving,” the Mid-Autumn Festival is a time for family reunion, admiring the moon, and celebrating the harvest.
