The Mooncake Festival is on! What is Mid-Autumn Festival?

MANILA, Philippines — The Mid-Autumn Festival, better known as Mooncake Festival or Moon Festival, is a traditional festival celebrated by Chinese communities worldwide.

It celebrates the end of the autumn harvest with activities like lantern lighting, dragon dances, fireworks, mooncake making and gift-giving, and takes place on the 15th day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar, which falls on September 29 this year. The celebration lasts for eight days and will therefore stretch to October 6, but it really depends on the country. Some have three-day celebrations, others are contented with a one-day merry-making, and then in some places like the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, it is not a public holiday but is freely celebrated.

Why on the 15th day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar? It is because the moon is at its roundest and brightest on that day. Full moon. And a round and bright moon symbolizes unity and togetherness to the Chinese.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is oftentimes referred to as the Mooncake Festival because a Chinese delicacy, the mooncake, is at the center of the celebration. A small but rich and compact molded crust cake that is often round but sometimes square, the mooncake has a red bean or lotus seed paste filling with a salted egg yolk. Modern versions of the mooncake now make use of different fillings, including mixed nuts and seeds as well as black bean paste, and the number of egg yolks found in one mooncake can range from one to four.

Mooncakes are given to family, relatives, friends, colleagues, and business partners and associates as good wishes and are best eaten in small wedges only.