The Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival, is an official public holiday in China and the second most important festival after Lunar New Year.
It is a harvest festival and is held on the 15th day on the 8th month of the lunar calendar. This means similar to Lunar New Year, the date changes and can range from mid-September to early October. A full moon is celebrated on the night.
During this time, similar to Thanksgiving, people tend to reunite with families and gather for dinner, light lanterns and eat or make mooncakes.
Did you know that Mainland China will have an 8-day public holiday break during this time?! (We could only imagine!)
This festival is celebrated in many other countries as well, such as Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Korea and Japan.
Mooncakes are a dense and rich pastry filled with a variety of pastes, such as sweet-lotus, red bean, green tea, salted egg yolk etc. There are a lot of creative flavours that are made.
These cakes are named after the shape of the full moon. The meaning behind them is worship of the full moon, reunion and harmony with family members.
You may see some celebrations around your area and some lantern decorations being hung up.
Have you eaten mooncakes before?
![Link to Catalogue record for Modern Asian Baking at Home [electronic resource] : Essential Sweet and Savory Recipes for Milk Bread, Mooncakes, Mochi, and More / Kat Lieu](https://secure.syndetics.com/index.php?isbn=9780760374290/lc.jpg&client=cocplb "Modern Asian Baking at Home [electronic resource] : Essential Sweet and Savory Recipes for Milk Bread, Mooncakes, Mochi, and More / Kat Lieu")
Find some mooncake recipes in your Library!
Or if e-books are more your thing, we have books online too.
Dumplings are always a no-brainer and great at gatherings.
