How long is the mid-Autumn Festival?
What is it?
Imagine a festival that brings together the magic of a full moon and the joy of celebrating the harvest – that’s the Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as 中秋节 (Zhōngqiū jié) in Chinese. It’s like a big lunar party that has been going strong for over 3000 years!
When is it?
This festival falls on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month in the Chinese calendar, which usually lands around the autumn harvest season and also the time of the full moon.
How long is it?
In China, it’s not just a one-day affair. The festivities can stretch up to 8 days! This year (2023), the party kicks off on September 29th and rolls all the way to October 7th. Why? Well, it happily merges with China’s National Day on October 1st. Talk about an extended celebration!
In places like Singapore and Malaysia, there’s no official holiday – you’ve got to juggle the festivities with your daily routine.
Meanwhile, in Taiwan, the public holiday falls on Friday, September 29th, 2023, so the public holiday lasts 3 days.
How to celebrate it?
For Singaporeans, the Mid-Autumn Festival is all about the mooncakes and lanterns.
But for Taiwanese, it’s a barbecue extravaganza! The whole week becomes a BBQ paradise with supermarkets stocked up on all the goodies you need for a sizzling grill session. The air across Taiwan is infused with the aroma of BBQ delights.
It’s said the tradition originated from a BBQ sauce advertisement dating back to1986. The famous slogan of the commercial was “一家烤肉萬家香 / 一家烤肉万家香 (Yì jiā kǎo ròu wàn jiā xiāng) / One family is barbecuing, but 10,000 families smell the fragrance.”
In many places, the Pomelo 柚子（yòu zi）is the traditional fruit eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival and grandparents often use the pomelo skin to make a silly pomelo helmet for the children!
And of course, everywhere amongst ethnic Chinese communities, it’s always customary to drink tea, eat mooncakes and recite a poem or two.
Regardless of how you’re celebrating it, the Mid-Autumn Festival is all about coming together with friends and family.
