Mid-Autumn Moon Festival

On Saturday night, people across Asia will celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival or 中秋节 (Zhōngqiūjié) in Mandarin. This holiday always occurs during the Autumnal Equinox, so people often refer to it as the Moon Festival, since the moon appears bigger, brighter and closer to earth at this time of year than at any other.

The Chinese celebrate Harvest Moon Festival by gathering together with friends and relatives during a meal. It is a time of picnics, puppet shows and fireworks or lit, little red candles. Children sometimes wear pomelo hats , walk around carrying battery-powered lanterns hanging on sticks and hope that the Moon Lady, Chang Er, grants their one-of-a-kind, unforgettable, never-before-heard wishes. Families enjoy eating mooncakes, Rabbit-in-the-Moon cookies and Bubble Tea. Everyone spends their evening eating, drinking and gazing at the moon, looking for Chang Er or the Jade Rabbit, which is the Chinese equivalent of our Man in the Moon.

Most importantly, families spend the time together thinking of relatives far away, whether geographically or in the afterlife. Carrie Kitz, author of We See the Moon, inspired me with these thoughts about the Moon Festival:

The Moon Festival is one of my favorite times of year… In China, it’s also a time where folks wish on the moon to send messages to those who aren’t able to be with them for whatever reason. If there is any time in the year that our children’s birthparents might be thinking of them, this holiday is the one. So in our house, we use the Moon Festival to remember those who aren’t with us right now, but who are a part of our families. We think of aunts, cousins, grandparents, special friends and birth family who are half a world away.

And this sums up why our family celebrates the Mid-Autumn Festival.

But what do we do exactly, since we don’t have authentic knowledge of the traditions and customs? Personally, I think doing something is better than ignoring it all together. So we try. And we learn new things every year. Last year was my first attempt at making bubble tea. The mooncakes were a bust, so we *blush* ate moon pies. (I know, I know.) We’ll be trying again, hopefully with more edible results, but – if not – the back-up moon pies are in the pantry.  We spent some time gazing at the moon, or – in the case of the Tongginator – gazing at the flashlight beam, which for some reason seemed much more interesting.  We also sent out an email yesterday to our family and friends who live far away, reminding them of this Asian holiday and ending with the sentence: “If you have time on Saturday night and the skies are clear, get outside, enjoy the moon, be still for awhile and know that we are thinking about and praying for y’all.”

On Saturday, we will attend a Fall Festival sponsored by our local Families with Children from China chapter. We also have a neighborhood celebration to attend – it’s potluck, so I’ll bring Rabbit-in-the-Moon cookies (recipe found in this book). The Tongginator typically goes to bed by 7:30 every evening, but she’ll stay up later on this special night.

(Did you know that Chinese folklore states that the later one stays up on this night, the longer one’s parents live? Not that this in any way influenced our decision. *cough, cough*)

During our special, past-bedtime family hour, we will read a few books outside, by flashlight, including We See the Moon, The Moon Lady and Round is a Mooncake: A Book of Shapes. We’ll also read two poems by Li Bai about the moon that we found in the book Maples in the Mist: Children’s Poems From the Tang Dynasty as well as this poem:

We are hoping that our new books Moon Festival and Lin Yi’s Lantern arrive in time, but I just ordered them, so we will see.  (The book Moonbeams, Dumplings & Dragon Boats: A Treasury of Chinese Holiday Tales, Activities & Recipes also has a chapter on the Moon Festival, with a few recipes and instructions for making shadow puppets.)  And we’ll probably have a few coloring pages on hand (found here) for the Tongginator, if she’s feeling the urge to color rather than create.

What will y’all do?