Mooncake Festival

22.09.2010
The Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival which is a popular harvest festival celebrated by Chinese dating back over 3,000 years to moon worship in China's Shang Dynasty. It is also sometimes referred to as the Lantern Festival or Mooncake Festival. The Mid-Autumn Festival is held on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese calendar, which is usually around late September or early October in the Gregorian calendar. It is a date that parallels the autumnal equinox of the solar calendar, when the moon is supposedly at its fullest and roundest. The traditional food of this festival is the mooncake, of which there are many different varieties.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the few most important holidays in the Chinese calendar. Traditionally on this day, Chinese family members and friends will gather to admire the bright mid-autumn harvest moon, and eat moon cakes under the moon together.

中秋節，是春節的第二大傳統節日。中秋之夜，古人把圓月視為團圓的象徵，因此稱八月十五為"團圓節"。古往今來，人們常用"月圓"、"月缺"來形容"悲歡離合"、客居他鄉的遊子，更是以月來寄託深情。
關於中秋節的起源，中國各地都有不同的說法，也流傳著如"嫦娥奔月"、"月神生日"等神話故事。古代帝王有春天祭日、秋天祭月的祭典，民間也有中秋祭月之風。對於秋天豐收的喜悅和感恩，酬神祭祖，向月神祈年、祈生育，將月神女性化、大母神化和秋分之夜望月占年，都是構成後世中秋節習俗的重要內容，並先於戰國時代的楚國形成雛形。中秋賞月的風俗在唐代極盛，許多詩人的名篇中都有詠月的詩句，宋、明、清諸朝宮廷和民間的拜月賞月活動更具規模。到了後來，賞月重於祭月，嚴肅的祭祀變成了輕鬆的歡娛。每當中秋月亮升起，人們將月餅、石榴、棗子等瓜果供於桌案上，拜月後，全家人圍桌而坐，邊吃邊談，共賞明月，歡度佳節。