Happy Mooncake Festival Mid Autumn 2012

The Mid-Autumn Festival (simplified Chinese: 中秋节; traditional Chinese: 中秋節; pinyin: zhōngqiū jié), also known as the Moon Festival orMooncake Festival or Zhongqiu Festival, is a popular lunar harvest festival celebrated by Chinese and Vietnamese people. A description of the festival first appeared in Rites of Zhou, a written collection of rituals of the Western Zhou Dynasty from 3,000 years ago. The celebration became popular during the early Tang Dynasty. The festival is held on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese calendar, which is in September or early October in the Gregorian calendar, close to the autumnal equinox. The Government of the People's Republic of China listed the festival as an "intangible cultural heritage" in 2006, and it was made a Chinese public holiday in 2008. It is also a public holiday in Taiwan.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the most important holidays in the Chinese calendar, the others being Spring Festival and Winter Solstice. Accompanying the celebration, there are additional cultural or regional customs, such as:

1. Eating Mooncakes.

2. Matchmaking. In some parts of China, dances are held for young men and women to find partners. "One by one, young women are encouraged to throw their handkerchiefs to the crowd. The young man who catches and returns the handkerchief has a chance of romance.

3. Carrying brightly lit lanterns, lighting lanterns on towers, floating sky lanterns.

4. Burning incense in reverence to deities including Chang'e

5. Fire Dragon Dances.

6. Moon rabbit is a traditional icon.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is held on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese calendar, which is in September or early October in the Gregorian calendar. In 2012 the Mid-Autumn Festival will fall on September 30th. It will occur on these days in coming years:

2013: September 19

2014: September 8

2015: September 27

2016: September 15

2017: October 4

2018: September 24

2019: September 13

2020: October 1

Date of Mid Autumn Festival 2012/ Mooncake Festival 2012/ Chinese Lantern Festival 2012

When is Mid Autumn Festival 2012/ Mooncake Festival 2012/ Chinese Lantern Festival 2012?
The Mid-Autumn Mooncake Festival 2012 falls on Sunday, 30 September 2012. Please note that in Hong Kong, the official holiday date is the day after the festival, thus in 2012, the official holiday for mooncake festival in Hong Kong is on Monday, 1 October 2012.

Mid-Autumn / Lantern Festival Mooncake

Mooncakes are Chinese pastries traditionally eaten during the Lantern Festival. They are round or rectangular pastries, measuring about 10 cm in diameter and 4-5 cm thick. Mooncakes are usually eaten in small wedges accompanied by Chinese tea.

Most mooncakes consist of a thin tender skin enveloping a sweet, dense filling. The mooncake may contain one or more whole salted egg yolks in its center to symbolize the full moon. Very rarely, mooncakes are also served steamed or fried. A thick filling usually made from lotus seed paste is surrounded by a relatively thin (2-3 mm) crust and may contain yolks from salted duck eggs.

Traditional mooncakes have an imprint on top consisting of the Chinese characters for “longevity” or “harmony” as well as the name of the bakery and the filling in the moon cake. Imprints of the moon, the Chang’e woman on the moon, flowers, vines, or a rabbit (symbol of the moon) may surround the characters for additional decoration.

Mooncakes are considered a delicacy; production is labor-intensive and few people make them at home. Most mooncakes are bought at markets and bakeries.

Moon Festival Around The World

The Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival, Zhongqiu Festival, or in Chinese, Zhongqiujie (中秋節), is a popular harvest festival celebrated by Chinese and Chinese descendants around the world. It is a legal holiday in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau. The Moon Festival is also a widely celebrated festival in Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Vietnam, Japan and Indonesia.