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What You Need to Know about Chinese Moon Festival
What You Need to Know about Chinese Moon Festival
Mooncake Festival? The Moon Festival? Mid-Autumn Festival? We start to hear about this traditional eastern holiday in September or October every year. Moreover, we begin to see something called mooncakes in supermarkets and Chinatown bakeries everywhere in the States, Canada, Europe, Australia…. Hey, don’t get me wrong, the mooncakes taste great! But is there more to this festival than the cakes?
If this is also what you are wondering about, you’ve come to the right place. We’ve put together an infographic about the Mid-Autumn Festival (aka the Moon Festival) with an article below outlining what you need to know about the Chinese Moon Festival. For easy understanding, we also arrange the information in an easy question-answer table format. Hope you enjoy!
Click on the image to see the full-sized graphic, and feel free to share it on social media or your websites! You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Google+ or Twitter where we frequently share what we learn with our followers.
What is the Story Behind the Mid-Autumn Festival?
According to the legend, there were once ten bright suns in the sky. The sea and rivers on Earth were dry; animals, plants, and people were slowly dying under the burning suns. One day, an archer named Hou Yi took the courage and shot down 9 of them and saved the Earth. People were in awe of Hou Yi’s strength and his mastery of the art of archery. Soon enough, many became his students hoping to learn his craft, among which a clever thief named Peng Meng.
During this time, Hou Yi also married the love of his life – Chang’e, who is known for her kindness, bravery, and beauty. One day, Queen of Heaven Wangmu gifted Hou Yi an elixir of life which once drank will make Hou Yi a God in Heaven and live forever. Excited but not wanting to leave Chang’e alone on Earth, Hou Yi decided to have Chang’e hide this elixir. This was found out by thief Peng Meng.
One day, waited until Hou Yi has left with his students to practice archery, Peng Meng held a sword to Chang’e asking for the elixir. To stop Peng Meng, Chang’e drank the elixir and levitated to the moon.
Hou Yi came home to crying maids telling him what had happened. Heart-broken and desperate, Hou Yi looked up to the moon and realized how beautiful, round, and bright the moon has become and a little shadow on it that resembles his wife Chang’e.
Since then, Hou Yi and people have been worshiping the moon every year to remember Chang’e and pray for a prosperous coming year.
What and Why and Where
| What is Mid-Autumn Festival/Moon Festival? | On the 15th day of the 8th month on the lunar calendar, which is often a full moon day, Mid-Autumn Festival is a harvest festival celebrated across China. The name came from the fact that the festival is celebrated in the middle of fall. It is also widely known as the Moon Festival around the world. |
| Why is Mid-Autumn Festival so important? | The Moon Festival is traditionally considered the second most important festival in China right next to Chinese New Year (Spring Festival). A full moon symbolizes family union and happiness. With warm and beautiful fall weather, Chinese take this opportunity to celebrate the end of the harvest season with their family and wish for another fruitful and prosperous year. The significance is quite similar to Thanksgiving in western countries. |
| Which countries celebrate the Moon Festival? | China, Japan, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, The Philippines, South Korea |
Legends and Stories
| Who is Chang’e? | The Goddess that lives on the moon after drinking his husband’s elixir to stop it being stolen by thief Peng Meng. |
| What did Hou Yi the archer shoot down? | He shot down the extra nine suns in the sky according to the legend. |
| What is the Jade Rabbit? | The Jade Rabbit is the bunny that lives with Chang’e on the moon due to her altruism by killing herself to feed three hungry beggars. |
| What does the mooncake symbolize? | Family reunion and happiness in life. The round mooncakes also resemble the shape of the moon. |
The Jade Rabbit
Chang’e is not the only person living in the Moon Palace. She also has a cute and fluffy white bunny that follows her everywhere. And this little bunny is too an unordinary altruistic figure in the folk story.
The story is that three Gods dressed up like old homeless beggars went into the forest and asked the fox, the monkey, and this little bunny for food. Both the fox and the monkey shared their food with them, except this bunny who doesn’t have anything to share. Desperately trying to help these three old men, the bunny said, “You can have me to suppress your hunger!” and jumped into the fire.
Moved by the little bunny, the Gods decided to send this cute fluffy bunny to the Moon Palace and live an immortal life.
Now the bunny is known as the Jade Rabbit, which means the Rabbit God in Chinese.
Activities
| How is Moon Festival celebrated? |
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| What are the new activities during Mid-Autumn Festival? | Traveling has been a popular choice for many since Mid-Autumn Festival became a 3-day public holiday since 2008 in mainland China |
Read more about Chinese festivals such as Chinese New Year, which includes a lot of the same activities as the Moon Festival. Together with the Mid-Autumn Festival, these two are the most important holidays in China.
Moon Cakes
| What are the different types of mooncakes? |
Traditional:
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| How many calories are in a mooncake? | Due to the high content of fat and sugar, mooncakes, in general, are high calorie treats that range from 500 calories to way over 1000 calories each based on the size and type. Traditionally in China, people rarely eat a whole mooncake by oneself but cut each mooncake equally into eight pieces so that family members can share and taste more different flavors. |
| How much do mooncakes cost? | Over the years, mooncakes have slowly joined the list of expensive gifts together with Chinese rice wine and cigarettes. With extensive gift packaging and new and innovative ways to make soft, tasty, and exquisite looking mooncakes, the price of one single mooncake can be as high as 1,500 yuan ($225). While most families can buy a box of mooncakes in China for 100 yuan ($15) or less, mooncakes in tin boxes are also available for sale in supermarkets in western countries for $10 - $30 right around the festival season. |
| Why is there such a hype regarding mooncakes in China? | Traditionally mooncakes are enjoyed with a cup of Chinese tea on a beautiful fall night with family gathered around together and gazing upon the starry sky with a bright round full moon on this special day. It is the iconic food of the Moon Festival and gradually became a favorite gift during this season. Through massive advertising campaigns and great innovations among different mooncake companies, a wide variety of heavily packaged new mooncakes also came into the market causing a “mooncake storm” across the country every year. |
Read more about the different iconic foods in northern and southern China during Chinese New Year.