Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!
” For Chinese families, it’s a day we stick together and enjoy a great time… We can look back on the past and look forward to the future together.”
China celebrated its Mid-Autumn Festival this past weekend, a holiday that has been a Chinese tradition for over 3,000 years. It is also known as the Moon Festival, because it is celebrated when the moon is supposedly at its fullest.
The Mid-Autumn Festival always falls on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese calendar, so we had Thursday and Friday off from teaching and a long weekend to relax! I asked my Chinese friends Emily, Mervin, Gari, Andy, Skyler, and Hebe to tell me more about the Mid-Autumn festival.
Why is the Mid-Autumn Festival so important to China?
Emily: Because it has a long history. People from ancient times would celebrate the mid-autumn harvest, so we still follow this tradition. People will eat mooncakes, a special food for the Mid-Autumn festival.
Skyler: Family reunion is so important for China. We will make a big meal and all the family members eat together. Some people in the city will hike somewhere or travel.
Mervin: *Copies internet article and sends it to me*
Hebe: For the Chinese families, it’s a day we stick together and enjoy a great time. Everyone in the family will help make the house clean and beautiful. Lanterns will be hung in front of the house. We can look back on the past and look forward to the future together.
How did you celebrate the Moon Festival?
Hebe: I went back to my home and helped my mom do some dishes, and then did nothing. It was relaxing. We just stay with family members and have a small talk. We can see each other and feel each other, and that means everything.
Mervin: I had dinner with my family and watched the TV celebration
Skyler: As you know, we like to eat the mooncakes and CRABS!!!! I just had a big meal with my family.
Gari: Chinese people celebrate by watching the moon because the moon is so round. The weather is very comfortable. I just called several of my friends who I have not contacted for a long time, and then I continued my work.
Emily: My school is too far away from my home, so I didn’t have enough time to travel home. I celebrated the festival with my roommate and I cooked lunch for us to share together. I also went to the New Campus and broke my friend’s motorbike. (Me: You broke a motorbike??) Yes, it is so sad. I really wanted to enjoy happy activities to celebrate this festival.
What is your favorite kind of Mooncake?
Emily: The mooncake with fruit. I don’t like the meat kind!
Mervin: Lotus seed paste and red bean.
Skyler: The egg yolk filled kind of moon cake.
Hebe: Snow skin mooncake. It is make by sugar and rice and is not traditional style.
I read that people will celebrate romance and love during this time, so there is a place for single people to go dance and meet a girl or meet a boy.
Emily: Really? I don’t know this!
Hebe: I’ve never heard that before. (Laughs)
(I think maybe that article was made up or those things just don’t happen in Hengyang…none of them had heard of this.)
I love learning about Chinese traditions, and my students and friends are ever so helpful in teaching me more about their culture. To celebrate the holiday I had dinner with Emily and Mervin and the other Americans and ate way too much good Chinese food. I hope you all had a happy Mid-Autumn festival and are enjoying the cooler weather!
Stay tuned for more Hengyang News…
Love,
Rachel
Rachel Meets China 
Send me a moon cake pls
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