Mid-Autumn Festival (Mooncake Festival): Greetings, Traditions, Food, Stories…

 Mid-Autumn Festival, Zhongqiu Jie (中秋节) in Chinese, is also called the Moon Festival or the Mooncake Festival. It is the second most important festival in China after Chinese New Year. It is also celebrated by many other Asian countries, such as Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines.

In China, Mid-Autumn Festival is a celebration of the rice harvest and many fruits. Ceremonies are held both to give thanks for the harvest and to encourage the harvest-giving light to return again in the coming year.

It is also a reunion time for families, a little like Thanksgiving. Chinese people celebrate it by gathering for dinners, worshiping the moon, lighting paper lanterns, eating mooncakes, etc. 

Mid-Autumn Festival Dates in 2023, 2024...

Mid-Autumn Festival traditionally falls on the 15th day of the eighth month of the Chinese lunar calendar, which is in September or early October on the Gregorian calendar. As, traditionally, the four seasons each have three lunar months, day 15 of month 8 is "the middle of autumn", hence the festival's lunar date. For more, see How the Date of Mid-Autumn Festival Is Determined.

In 2023, the Mid-Autumn Festival falls on September 29th (Friday). Chinese people have a 2-day public holiday September 29th and 30th.

Year	Date	Public Holiday
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-Autumn Festival has a history of over 3,000 years. It was derived from the custom of worshiping the moon in autumn to thank it for the harvest.

In the process of cultural/historical developments, Mid-Autumn Festival has been infused with more meanings, including families gathering together and praying for good health and happiness.

In modern times, people mainly celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival as a time for family reunions. It is said the moon on this day is the brightest and roundest, which has come to mean family reunion. Because of the central theme of family reunion, sometimes the festival evokes comparison to Thanksgiving in the U.S.