The Mid-Autumn Festival （中秋节）is originally a harvesting festival celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar during a full moon – which usually takes place in September or October.
The Chinese National Tourist Office and Hong Kong Tourism Board describes this day as the day of the year in which the moon is roundest and brightest. Traditionally, families pray to the moon, offer sacrifices to the moon and express yearning for the loved ones who live afar.
The Mid-Autumn Festival emphasizes family gathering, thanksgiving, and praying for a prosperous and good life. On this day, Chinese, Vietnamese, Singaporean, Indonesian, Malaysian, Taiwanese families gather and eat special traditional mooncakes called Yue Bing （月饼）filled with egg yolk or lotus seed paste.
Legend has it that the celebration when the Moon goddess of immortality, Chang’E, drank overdosed on the elixir of life. The drink was intended for her husband, Houyi, who shot nine out of ten suns out of the sky. Chang’E unwillingly floats to the moon (not too far from earth), leaves her husband and had to become immortal. Her husband loves her so much and displayed his wife’s favorite foods and fruits as sacrifice to the moon. Another historical legend has it that mooncakes originated in the Yuan Dynasty when revolutionaries passed on messages to organize an uprising against Mongol rule.
The round shape of the mooncakes symbolize reunion and familial unity. Traditionally, the senior family member would cut the mooncake and give a slice to each family member. In recent times, family members gift each other mooncakes. After talking to some locals, they mention giving and receiving too many mooncakes to eat from different family members and family friends. This gesture reminds locals of the importance of family unity.