Mid Autumn Festival: Celebrations & Traditions

When Is Mid Autumn Festival in 2024

The Mid Autumn Festival is a popular Chinese festival celebrated during fall. Numerous festivities observed after the first day of fall. If you are excited to know about Chinese culture, this is going to be a great information for you. The festival brings moon shaped cookies, family dinners, colourful lanterns, and cassia wines along. This year, this autumn moon festival falls on 17th of September 2024, Tuesday.

A host of festive activities are involved in the celebration of this mooncake festival. We are listing and elaborating some of them. Similar festivals are also observed in other parts of South East Asia. We will learn about them in a separate post we will publish soon.

Moon Worshipping

Being a major Moon Festival, moon worshipping is an important tradition. Change is a beautiful lunar deity in Chinese Mythology. She gained immortality and is seen in the sky as moon. The day is observed on the full moon night of the 8th month of Chinese calendar. There is a tradition of offering prayers to the Moon for good luck, safety and prosperity. This tradition is believed to be thousands of years old. Many mythological stories about Moon exist in different mythologies including Greek, Indian, and Chinese.

Lighting Lanterns

Colourful lanterns are the most noticeable during this festival. The lanterns are mostly red, yellow, and orange to make them look like the Moon. Lanterns are popular decorations used during different festivals to denote positive vibes, fertility, and joy. Lanterns are also used to celebrate festivals including Diwali in India and Halloween in Western countries.

Family Dinners & Food

Dining together with friends and family is yet another important tradition. People take time to spend quality time with their loved ones with delicious food including mooncakes. No matter what you eat as usual, but this celebration calls for the most authentic traditional Chinese dishes. Apart from the very popular moon shaped cakes and cookies, people love to feast on traditional wines, tea cups, and fruits.

This festival also celebrates romantic unions and marriages. As the means of communication altered, millions of people exchange their wishes. Messages and texts to wish loved ones a very happy mid-autumn festival is sent. We will be bringing interesting information on other festivals celebrated in different regions.