It is the Mid-Autumn Festival, or Moon Festival, or Mooncake Festival, which is celebrated on the 15th day of the eighth month of the Chinese lunar calendar.
In 2021, the Mid-Autumn Festival falls on September 21st (Tuesday). Chinese people have a 3-day public holiday from September 19th to 21st.
The festival is said to be derived from the custom of moon worship during the Zhou Dynasty more than 3,000 years ago.
A well-known festival story tells the tale of Chang'e and her husband Houyi, an expert archer. When ten suns rose together threatening the Earth, Houyi saved the planet from burning when he shot down nine of them. He was rewarded with an elixir for this heroic deed.
A devious disciple tried to steal the elixir but was foiled by Chang'e. She drank the entire bottle of elixir and floated higher to the sky. In order to stay close to her husband still on the Earth, she chose to make the moon her home. Chang'e became known as the Goddess of the Moon and was worshiped by people for peace and luck.
The Mooncake Festival is the second most important festival in China after Chinese New Year. Chinese people celebrate it by gathering for dinners, worshiping the moon, lighting paper lanterns, eating mooncakes, etc.
Wish you a perfect life just like the roundest moon in Mid-Autumn Festival!
(By Fanying)
