Mid-Autumn Festival

The Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival or Mooncake Festival, is a harvest festival celebrated in Chinese culture. It occurs on the 15th day of the 8th month of the Chinese lunisolar calendar and can fall between 7 September and 8 October (inclusive) of the Gregorian calendar. On this day, the Chinese believe that the moon is at its fullest and brightest, coinciding with the time of harvest in the middle of autumn.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the most important holidays and celebrations in Chinese culture. The history of the festival dates back over 3,000 years. Similar festivals are celebrated by other cultures in East and Southeast Asia.

During the festival, lanterns of all sizes and shapes – symbolizing beacons that light the path toward prosperity and good fortune for the people – are carried and displayed. Mooncakes, a rich pastry typically filled with sweet-bean or lotus-seed paste, are eaten during this festival. The Mid-Autumn Festival is based on the legend of Chang'e, the Moon goddess in Chinese mythology.

It is an official holiday in both the PRC and Taiwan. The day after Mid-Autumn Festival is an official holiday in both Hong Kong and Macao. Singapore has no official holiday connected to Mid-Autumn Festival.

Etymology

The festival is so-named as it is held around the autumn equinox on the 15th of the 8th lunisolar month in the Chinese calendar. Its name varies among Sinitic languages, with the most common one being Mid-Autumn Festival or simply Mid-Autumn (中秋), as well as its traditional calendar date, either Fifteenth of the Eighth Month or Half of the Eighth Month, which is more regional. Other regional names include Eighth Month Festival, used in places such as Northeast China, Southern Fujian, and Jianghuai; Festival of Unity (simplified Chinese: 团圆节; traditional Chinese: 團圓節; Wugniu: doe²-yoe²-ciq⁷; Nanjingese: tuang² üän² zie⁵), used in Shanghai and Nanjing; and Mooncake Festival (simplified Chinese: 月饼节; traditional Chinese: 月餅節; Jyutping: jyut⁶ beng² zit³), used in Guangdong and Hong Kong. Outside China, there are several other names for the festival:

• Chuseok (추석; 秋夕; lit. 'autumn eve'), Korean festival celebrated on the same day in the Chinese and other East Asian lunisolar calendars.
• Tsukimi (月見; lit. 'moon viewing'), Japanese variant of the Mid-Autumn Festival celebrated on the same day in the Chinese lunisolar calendar.
  • Moon Festival or Harvest Moon Festival, because of the celebration's association with the full moon on this night, as well as the traditions of Moon worship and Moon viewing.
• Tết Trung Thu (節中秋 in Chữ Nôm), in Vietnam.
  • Also known as The Children's Festival in Vietnam. Most festival songs are sung by the children.
• Lantern Festival, a term sometimes used in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, which is not to be confused with the Lantern Festival in China that occurs on the 15th day of the first month of the Chinese calendar.
  • However, 'Mid-Autumn Festival' is more widely used by locals when referring to the festival in English and 'Zhōngqiū Jié' is used when referring to the festival in Chinese.
• Bon Om Touk, or The Water and Moon Festival in Cambodian. The festival is held each year in November for 3 days.

Meanings

The festival celebrates three fundamental concepts that are closely connected:

• Gathering: Such as family and friends coming together, or harvesting crops for the festival. It is said that the Moon is the brightest and roundest on this day which means family reunion. Consequently, this is the main reason why the festival is thought to be important.
• Giving thanks: To give thanks for the harvest, or for harmonious unions through activities like giving mooncakes to each other.
• Praying (asking for conceptual or material satisfaction): Praying for things such as babies, a spouse, beauty, longevity, or a good future

Traditions and myths surrounding the festival are formed around these concepts, although traditions have changed over time due to changes in technology, science, economy, culture, and religion.

Origins and development

The Chinese have celebrated the harvest during the autumn full moon since the Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BCE). The term mid-autumn (中秋) first appeared in Rites of Zhou, a written collection of rituals of the Western Zhou dynasty (1046–771 BCE). As for the royal court, it was dedicated to the goddess Taiyinxingjun (太陰星君; Tàiyīn xīng jūn). This is still true for Taoism and Chinese folk religion.

The celebration as a festival only started to gain popularity during the early Tang dynasty (618–907 CE). One legend explains that Emperor Xuanzong of Tang started to hold formal celebrations in his palace after having explored the Moon-Palace.

By the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the Mid-Autumn Festival had become one of the main folk festivals in China. The Empress Dowager Cixi (late 19th century) enjoyed celebrating Mid-Autumn Festival so much that she would spend the period between the thirteenth and seventeenth day of the eighth month staging elaborate rituals.

Moon worship

An important part of the festival celebration is Moon worship. The ancient Chinese believed in rejuvenation being associated with the Moon and water, and connected this concept to menstruation, calling it "monthly water". The Zhuang people, for example, have an ancient fable saying the Sun and Moon are a couple and the stars are their children, and when the Moon is pregnant, it becomes round, and then becomes crescent after giving birth to a child. These beliefs made it popular among women to worship and give offerings to the Moon on this evening. In some areas of China, there are still customs in which the "men do not worship the moon and the women do not offer sacrifices to the kitchen gods."

In China, the Mid-Autumn Festival symbolizes the family reunion and on this day, all families will appreciate the Moon in the evening, because it is the 15th day of the eighth month of the Chinese lunisolar calendar, when the moon is at its fullest.

Offerings are also made to a more well-known lunar deity, Chang'e, known as the Moon Goddess of Immortality. The myths associated with Chang'e explain the origin of Moon worship during this day. One version of the story is as follows, as described in Lihui Yang's Handbook of Chinese Mythology:

In the ancient past, there was a hero named Hou Yi who was excellent at archery. His wife was Chang'e. One year, the ten suns rose in the sky together, causing great disaster to the people. Yi shot down nine of the suns and left only one to provide light. An immortal admired Yi and sent him the elixir of immortality. Yi did not want to leave Chang'e and be immortal without her, so he let Chang'e keep the elixir. However, Peng Meng, one of his apprentices, knew this secret. So, on the fifteenth of August in the Chinese lunisolar calendar, when Yi went hunting, Peng Meng broke into Yi's house and forced Chang'e to give the elixir to him. Chang'e refused to do so. Instead, she swallowed it and flew into the sky. Since she loved her husband and hoped to live nearby, she chose the moon for her residence. When Yi came back and learned what had happened, he felt so sad that he displayed the fruits and cakes Chang'e liked in the yard and gave sacrifices to his wife. People soon learned about these activities, and sympathetic to Chang'e, they also participated in these sacrifices with Yi.

"when people learned of this story, they burnt incense on a long altar and prayed to Chang'e, now the goddess of the Moon, for luck and safety. The custom of praying to the Moon on Mid-Autumn Day has been handed down for thousands of years since that time."

Handbook of Chinese Mythology also describes an alternate common version of the myth: