Mid-Autumn Festival 2021 – What Is It and Why Do We Celebrate It?
Mid-Autumn Festival 2021 – What Is It and Why Do We Celebrate It?
The Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival or the Mooncake Festival, is a traditional festival celebrated primarily in both East and Southeast Asia. It falls on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese lunar calendar, which is in September or early October. The Mid-Autumn festival falls on 21st September this year.
The Mid-Autumn Festival has a history spanning over 3,000 years and for a long time, people have believed that worshiping the moon and eating together around a round table will bring them good luck and happiness.
In the past, the festival was celebrated only during harvest seasons. Ancient Chinese emperors worshiped the moon in autumn to thank it for the bountiful harvest. The ordinary folks took the festival to be a celebration of their hard work. In today’s modern age, people mainly celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival as a time for family reunions by eating dinner together and sharing mooncakes.
What Food Is Ate during Mid-Autumn Festival?
Mooncakes, a traditional moonlike shaped Chinese pastry, are the go to Mid-Autumn Festival food! The roundness of these mooncakes symbolizes reunion and happiness and auspicious meanings are particularly associated with round food for the Chinese.
Traditional mooncakes are circular and commonly made of lotus seed paste, salted egg yolk, red bean paste and lard - which explains why an innocent palm-sized cake can contain a whopping 1,000 calories or more.
Different regions prefer different flavors and locally, most Singaporeans like eating durian-filled mooncakes, which is considered one of the native flavors to Singapore.
How Do We Celebrate It in Singapore?
Hanging Lanterns
It's a tradition for Singaporean children to hang lanterns during the festival. Colorful and vibrant decorations are also put up in many places such as shopping malls and heartland areas around Singapore one or two weeks before the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Sending Mooncakes
For friends, relatives, or business partners, they send moon cakes to each other to express their gracious greetings and good wishes.
The Mid-Autumn Festival is an ideal opportunity to express gratitude and good wishes by sending mooncakes to business partners. Those who are fond of baking at home even bake mooncakes themselves, and send some to their friends, relatives, and colleagues.