Mid-Fall Celebration, Zhongqiu Jie (中秋节) in Chinese, is additionally called the Moon Celebration or the Mooncake Celebration. It is the second most significant celebration in China after Chinese New Year. It is additionally celebrated by numerous other Asian nations, like Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines.
In China, Mid-Fall Celebration is a festival of the rice gather and many organic products. Functions are held both to offer gratitude for the collect and to empower the gather giving light to return again in the approaching year.
It is additionally a gathering time for families, similar to Thanksgiving. Chinese individuals celebrate it by social affair for suppers, venerating the moon, lighting paper lamps, eating mooncakes, and so on.
Mid-Autumn Festival Dates in 2022, 2023, 2024…
Mid-Pre-winter Celebration customarily falls on the fifteenth day of the eighth month of the Chinese lunar schedule, which is in September or early October on the Gregorian schedule. As, customarily, the four seasons each have three lunar months, day 15 of month 8 is “the center of harvest time”, subsequently the celebration’s lunar date. For more, perceive How the Date of Mid-Fall Not set in stone.
In 2022, the Mid-Harvest time Celebration falls on September tenth (Saturday). Chinese individuals have a 3-day public occasion from September tenth to twelfth.
| Year | Date | Public Holiday |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | September 21 (Tuesday) | Sep. 19 to 21 |
| 2022 | September 10 (Saturday) | Sep. 10 to 12 |
| 2023 | September 29 (Friday) | Sep. 29 |
| 2024 | September 17 (Tuesday) | Sep. 17 to 18 |
| 2025 | October 6 (Monday) | Oct. 6 |
| 2026 | September 25 (Friday) | Sep. 25 |
Why Mid-Autumn Festival is Celebrated?
Mid-Pre-winter Celebration has a past filled with more than 3,000 years. It was gotten from the custom of revering the moon in pre-winter to say thanks to it for the gather.
During the time spent social/verifiable turns of events, Mid-Fall Celebration has been imbued with additional implications, including families assembling and appealing to God for good wellbeing and bliss.
In present day times, individuals principally observe Mid-Pre-winter Celebration as a period for family gatherings. It is said the moon on this day is the most brilliant and roundest, which has come to mean family gathering. In light of the focal subject of family gathering, now and again the celebration brings out correlation with Thanksgiving in the U.S.
How People Celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival
As the second most significant celebration in China, Mid-Pre-winter Celebration (Zhongqiu Jie) is commended in numerous customary ways. Here are the absolute most well known customary festivals.
Enjoying a Dinner with Family
The roundness of the moon addresses the gathering of the family in Chinese personalities. Families will eat together on the night of Mid-Fall Celebration.
The public occasion (normally 3 days) is predominantly for Chinese individuals working in better places to have sufficient opportunity to rejoin. Those remaining excessively far away from their folks’ home as a rule get along with companions.
Eating Mooncakes
Mooncakes are the most representative food for Mid-Autumn Festival. Their round shape and sweet flavor symbolize completeness and sweetness. At the Mid-Autumn Festival, people eat mooncakes together with family, or present mooncakes to relatives or friends, to express their love and best wishes.
Appreciating the Moon
The full moon is the image of family gatherings in Chinese culture. It is said, wistfully, that “the moon the evening of Mid-Pre-winter Celebration is the most splendid and the most lovely”.
Chinese individuals generally put everything out on a table external their homes and sit together to respect the full moon while getting a charge out of scrumptious mooncakes. Guardians with young children frequently tell the legend of Chang’e Traveling to the Moon. As a game, kids make an honest effort to track down the state of Chang’e on the moon.
There are numerous Chinese sonnets applauding the wonders of the moon and communicating individuals’ yearning for their loved ones at Mid-Pre-winter.
Worshiping the Moon
As per the legend of Mid-Harvest time Celebration, a pixie lady named Chang’e lives on the moon with a charming bunny. The evening of the Mid-Harvest time Celebration, individuals put everything out on a table under the moon with mooncakes, bites, natural products, and a couple of candles lit on it. Some trust that by venerating the moon, Chang’e (the moon goddess) may satisfy their desires.
Making and Carrying Mid-Autumn Festival Lanterns
Lamps are a prominent piece of Mid-Pre-winter Celebration. Individuals make lamps, convey lights to do moon looking, balance lamps in trees or houses, discharge sky lamps, or visit public lamp shows, subsequently it is even be known as a light celebration (in no way related to the Light Celebration on the full moon after Chinese New Year).
Lamps have for quite some time been related with the celebration since the Tang Administration (618-907), perhaps due to their conventional symbolization of karma, light, and familial fellowship.
Mid-Fall lights have many shapes and can look like creatures, plants, or blossoms. A custom is to compose conundrums on lamps so that individuals can appreciate settling them with companions or family.
In current times, other than customary exercises, numerous Chinese individuals send WeChat red envelopes and additionally go going during the 3-day public occasion to commend the celebration.
Mid-Autumn Festival in other Asian Nations
In many Asian communities besides China, Mid-Autumn Festival is widely celebrated. Many interesting activities with unique local features are held.
In Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines — three countries with many ethnic Chinese citizens — the celebrations are more Chinese, such as lighting lanterns and dragon dances. The date is also the same as in China, but there is no public holiday.
The Story of Chang E — Chinese Goddess of the Moon
The origin of the Mid-Autumn Festival is associated with the popular legend of Chang’e (嫦娥), the goddess of the moon…
Hou Yi, the husband of Chang’e, was rewarded with an elixir of immortality by the Queen Mother when he shot down nine of the ten suns and saved people from their smoldering heat. He did not drink it straight away because he did not want to gain immortality without his wife. So, he asked Chang’e to keep it safe for him.
Unexpectedly one mid-autumn day, while Houyi was out hunting, an evil person tried to force Chang’e to hand over the elixir. Chang’e swallowed the elixir however and flew higher and higher. She then chose the moon as her immortal abode, to be close to her beloved husband and look down on him on Earth. Hou Yi was very sad and made sacrifices to Chang’e with incense, cakes, and fruits.
Along with the legend, the custom of worshipping the moon on Mid-Autumn day has been passed down from generation to generation.
The Story of the Jade Rabbit
Legend has it that there is a rabbit on the moon, white as jade, so it is called ‘jade rabbit’. In Chinese folklore, the jade rabbit is a companion of Chang’e. It constantly pounds the elixir of immortality. As time passed, the jade rabbit became synonymous with the moon in Chinese culture. Get to know the Top 5 Interesting Things about the Jade Rabbit.
Mooncakes and Other Mid-Autumn Festival Foods
Praising the reap is one of the most conventional implications of Mid-Fall Celebration, consequently gather food varieties are inclined toward during the bubbly time frame.
Mooncakes are the must-eat Mid-Fall food in China. They are a conventional Chinese cake. Chinese individuals see the roundness of mooncakes as an image of gathering and bliss.
Different food sources eaten during the celebration are gather food varieties, like crabs, pumpkins, pomelos, and grapes. Individuals appreciate them at their freshest, most nutritious time, and partake in their favorable implications that are especially connected with round food sources.
Mid-Autumn Festival Greetings: Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!…
Mid-Fall Celebration is a period of kindness. Numerous Chinese individuals send Mid-Fall Celebration cards or short messages during the celebration to communicate their all the best to loved ones.
The most well known hello is “Blissful Mid-Pre-winter Celebration”, in Chinese 中秋节快乐 — ‘Zhongqiu Jie kuaile!’.
Other well known truisms are generally connected with the moon or gathering. For instance:
‘Wishing us a long life to share the elegant evening glow, however many miles separated.’
但愿人长久，千里共婵娟
Dàn yuàn rén chángjiǔ, qiānlǐ gòng chánjuān
‘Cheerful Mid-Pre-winter Celebration! May the round moon present to you a cheerful family and an effective future.’
祝福中秋佳节快乐，月圆人圆事事圆满.
Zhùfú Zhōngqiū jiā jié kuàilè, yuè yuán rén yuán shìshì yuánmǎn.
