![]() Mooncakes are the iconic food of the Mid-Autumn Festival. How is it celebrated?Īctivities include Fire Dragon dancing, enjoying the displays of lanterns, and eating moon cakes. Upon hearing this, people developed the custom of watching the moon and eating moon cakes annually on this day. He hurriedly took cakes and succade (preserves in sugar, whether fruits, vegetables, or confections) as offerings to his wife. Looking up at the moon one night, he saw a figure like his wife. Knowing that his wife had now been separated from him, Hou Yi was crazed with grief. She flew to the moon, and from there watched her husband. Unfortunately, Hou Yi's disloyal apprentice forced Chang Er to swallow the elixir. He did not want to consume the elixir and leave his beautiful but very mortal wife, Chang Er, so he gave the elixir to his wife for safekeeping. He was then bestowed with the elixir of immortality by the Queen Mother of the West. A hero names Hou Yi saved his people by shooting down the other nine suns that burned his people to death. This festival originated in a fairy tale. If the day after Mid Autumn Festival holiday falls on a Sunday, the following Monday will be a national holiday in Hong Kong. stage, volunteer coordination, carnival, fundraising, arts activities, media etc).The Mid Autumn festival starts on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month. This core of young people and young adults meet twice a month for seven months leading up to the festival day and are coordinators or co-coordinators of all aspects of the festival (e.g. CYOP and AAU Summer youth leaders also continue their involvement with AAU through the Festival Coordinating Committee. ![]() The core leadership of this festival is now young adults and youth who have come up through the festival starting as child attendees and/or one-day high school volunteers and growing into positions of increased responsibility. Youth give a day of service, restaurants donate food, artists offer their talents, businesses and organizations chip in money – hundreds of people work together to make the festival our own. Closing down 10th Street, community members reclaim old traditions and establish new ones in an expression of community pride and collective responsibility. ![]() This homegrown festival was initiated in 1996 by AAU middle school students and is a large annual event in Chinatown, actively involving more than 200 high school volunteers and reaching 5,000 festival-goers who gather under the full moon to celebrate. It is important that the tradition continues so that Asian Americans can place some priority into cultural traditions that are at risk of fading away. Mooncakes magically appeared once a year.” AAU’s Mid Autumn festival started as a way for homesick Chinese Americans to partake in celebrating a holiday that they would have had back in China. As Zen Vuong puts it, “As a child, I didn’t know anything about the Mid-Autumn Festival. Since parents work, there is not enough time to cook a large feast, and even the number of stores that sell mooncakes have dwindled. ![]() The holiday has become very popular throughout Asia, and is a favorite tradition for many.Īs Asian Americans acclimate into a new country, there is not as much of a focus on the holiday. After some time, the Mid Autumn Festival became associated with other traditions and objects such as lanterns and mooncakes. According to legend, Emperor Xuanzong explored the Moon-Palace, and afterwards started to host formal celebrations. This lead to familial traditions such as moon-gazing and having feasts in response to the end of the harvest season. In ancient China, the moon was seen as a source of life because plants were seen glowing under the moonlight, and as such the moon became connected in many facets of Chinese culture. In Chinese culture, there has always been a fascination with the moon.
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