What Is Mid-Autumn Festival

Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the most celebrated festivals by Chinese ,this festival can be traced back as far as Shang Dynasties when people were worshipping the moon. it is also called the harvest festival since most of the crops had been harvested by this time. It’s celebrated on the 15th day in the eight month of the Chinese calendar, which falls around late September or early October. During this festival families usually gather together to light lanterns and eat moon cakes and admire or appreciate the round moon. It is also the night where the moon appears in its fullest and brightest. My former student told me that the round moon symbolizes for unity especially among families and it is also the time for reunion. Mid-Autumn is not complete without the moon cake, we received three boxes of moon cakes for this festival. There are many varieties of mooncakes, it usually made of lotus seed paste, with cooked duck egg yolk in the middle or nuts.

 

 

This year the Mid-Autumn festival falls on October 3, the Chinese government declared holiday from October 1 which is the national day till October 8.  It’s my first mid-autumn here. We just stayed home since my husband was not feeling well, we even did not go to church yesterday because he was still sick. Tomorrow he has to return to work.

 

The festival is a pagan practice,  but i believed this custom can still be redeemed in a way that glorifies the Lord. This practice may be originated from paganism but it can be transformed or redeemed by finding Christian meaning through adapting or creating forms which are consistent with the Chinese culture. I think for younger generations, this is just a perfect day for a family reunion, if you are a Christian and you still want to celebrate this festival, instead of thinking that it is a time to worship the moon, why not take this opportunity to share the love of Christ to your family, relatives and friends.  It can be a day for thanksgiving for God’ faithfulness in our life, a day for praising and glorifying the Lord. A day for retreat. You can celebrate it the way that glorifies the Lord. My husband is a Chinese we did not celebrate the festival the way Chinese celebrate it, we just stayed home and watched movie. We thanked the Lord for this time of rest, a time where we spent more time together.

© 2009 the emissary’s feet