Happy Mid-Autumn Festival or Moon Festival
(中秋快乐).
Hi Im in Siam Reap in Cambodia where I took this great shot of the Moon where the statue of Buddha looks like he's actually holding the moon in the palm of his hand.
The last few days there has been a cheerful festive buzz around town, when I asked the locals what was going down and they told me it was the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Mid-Autumn Festival is a harvest festival, celebrated in most of South East Asia. Anywhere that has ethnic groups of Chinese. Including Indonesia, Vietnam and Cambodia. The festival takes places on month 8, day 15 of the Chinese calendar. In 2018 it's on September 24th!! Yeah right place at the right time for a change.
It is the second most important festival in China after Chinese New Year. To the Chinese, the festival means family reunion and peace.
Also called the Moon Festival or MooncakeFestival, it is celebrated when the moon is believed to be the biggest and fullest, and mooncake is the main food eaten at the festival.
Mooncakes are the must-eat Mid-Autumn food in China. They are a kind of traditional Chinese pastry. Chinese people see in the roundness of mooncakes a symbol of reunion and happiness.
Other foods eaten during the festival are harvest foods, such as fresh fruit, pumpkins, pomeloes, and grapes and Durian fruit. All freshly plucked from the trees and plants during the harvest.
Chinese emperors worshiped the sun and moon every year, to pray for a good harvest, since the earliest recorded times. They believed the sun and moon are in charge of the universe. The festival has history of over 3,000 years. Emperors and common people alike, believed worshipping the moon and eating together round a table would bring them good luck and happiness.
Chinese people celebrate the festival with many traditional and colourful activities, such as eating dinner with family, hanging lanterns, setting off fireworks and dragon dances, and worshipping the moon.
In other countries, such as indonesia, Vietnam and Cambodia which have also been influenced deeply by Chinese culture, new celebrations have been derived from their unique cultures.
So 中秋快乐 I hope the moon brings you all good fortune.
