Mid-Autumn Festival

This festival is synonymous with moon cakes and lanterns. This year it falls on 15 September and the Chinese community no matter where they live, will celebrate by eating moon cakes while looking at the beautiful full moon.  Children will be carrying colorful lanterns in their neighborhood.

The legend of the moon goddess is still very much alive today. People try to look for her silhouette in the moon and also for her companion, the rabbit
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The story goes like this.  Chang Er was a very beautiful woman whose husband Hou Yi, an archer par excellence, shot down nine of the ten suns that were tormenting and destroying life on Earth. He was rewarded with an elixir that would give him immortality. He gave it to his wife for safe keeping. While he was away hunting, one of his students tried to seize the elixir from Chang Er. To prevent him from getting it, she drank the elixir.

She then floated away into the sky and landed on the moon where she became an immortal and was known as the Moon Goddess.  Her companion, the rabbit was sent there by the God of Heaven after she sacrificed her life for him.

That’s why we can see lanterns in the shape of a rabbit among other designs.

The moon cakes are of many varieties and each year the bakeries come up with new cakes of different tastes and fillings. However, the popular ones are still those that have salted egg yolks in them, either a single or double yolk as the round egg yolk symbolises the moon.

 Shopping malls have set up stalls to sell mooncakes and lanterns.

To those who celebrate this festival, have a very Happy Mooncake Festival and enjoy the beautiful full moon.