Mid-Autumn Festival | |
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![]() Festival decorations in Beijing | |
Also called | Moon Festival, Mooncake Festival |
Observed by | Chinese people |
Type | Cultural, religious |
Significance | To commemorate and celebrate the end of the autumn harvest |
Celebrations | Lantern lighting, mooncake making and sharing, courtship and matchmaking, fireworks, family gathering, dragon dances, family meal, visiting friends and relatives, gift giving |
Observances | Consumption of mooncakes and cassia wine |
Date | 15th day of the 8th month of the Chinese lunar calendar |
2023 date | 29 September |
2024 date | 17 September |
2025 date | 6 October |
Frequency | Annual |
Related to | Chuseok (Korea), Tsukimi (Japan), Tết Trung Thu (Vietnam), Uposatha of Ashvini or Krittika (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Thailand) |
Mid-Autumn Festival | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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![]() "Mid-Autumn Festival" in traditional (top) and simplified (bottom) Chinese characters | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Traditional Chinese | 中秋節 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Simplified Chinese | 中秋节 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Literal meaning | "Mid-Autumn Festival" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Calendar date name | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 八月十五/八月半 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Literal meaning | "Fifteenth/Half of the Eighth Month" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Regional name | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Traditional Chinese | 八月節 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Literal meaning | "Eighth Month Festival" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival or Mooncake Festival, is a harvest festival celebrated in Chinese culture. It is held on the 15th day of the 8th month of the Chinese lunisolar calendar with a full moon at night, corresponding to mid-September to early October of the Gregorian calendar.[1] 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.[2]
The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the most important holidays in Chinese culture; its popularity is on par with that of Chinese New Year. The history of the festival dates back over 3,000 years.[3][4] Similar festivals are celebrated by other cultures in East and Southeast Asia.
During the festival, lanterns of all size and shapes – which symbolize beacons that light people's path to prosperity and good fortune – are carried and displayed. Mooncakes, a rich pastry typically filled with sweet-bean, egg yolk, meat or lotus-seed paste, are traditionally eaten during this festival.[5][6][7] The Mid-Autumn Festival is based on the legend of Chang'e, the Moon goddess in Chinese mythology.
The festival, celebrated on the 15th day of the eighth month of the Chinese calendar, has no fixed date on the Western calendar, but the day always coincides with a full moon.