2015 Mid-Autumn Festival falls on September 27th. The holiday lasts from September 26th to 27th and is like a UK bank holiday.
Falling on the 15th day of the 8th month according to the Chinese lunar calendar,
It takes its name from the fact that it is always celebrated in the middle of the autumn season. The day is also known as the Moon Festival, as at that time of the year the moon is at its roundest and brightest.
The history of the Mid-Autumn Festival is an inherited custom of moon sacrificial ceremonies. The ancient Chinese observed that the movement of the moon had a close relationship with changes of the seasons and agricultural production. Hence, to express their thanks to the moon and celebrate the harvest, they offered a sacrifice to the moon on autumn days. The Moon Cake is the special food of Mid-Autumn Festival. On that day, people sacrifice moon cakes to the moon as an offering and eat them for celebration.
The Modern celebrations are a bit different too those of ancient China, today people celebrate by;
Burning incense in reverence to deities
Performance of dragon and lion dances, which is mainly practiced in southern China and Vietnam.
A notable part of celebrating the holiday is the carrying of brightly lit lanterns, lighting lanterns on towers, or floating sky lanterns, One tradition involving lanterns, is to write riddles on lanterns and have other people try to guess the answers.
