The Mid-Autumn Festival The Mid-Autumn is a very important Chinese festival. It falls on the 15th day of August. A few days before the festival, everyone in the family will help to make the house clean and beautiful. Lanterns will be hung in front of the house. On the evening there will be a big family dinner. People who work far away from their homes will try to come back for the union. After dinner, people will light the lanterns which are usually red and round. Children will play with their own toy lanterns happily. At night the moon is usually round and bright. People can enjoy the moon while eating moon-cakes which are the special food for this festival. They can look back on the past and look forward to the future together. It is said that there was a dragon in the sky. The dragon wanted to swallow up the moon. To protect the frighten the dragon away. 中秋节 中秋节是中国一个很重要的节日,在八月十五号。在节日来临的前几天,家庭中的每一个人都帮着打扫房子,把房子装扮得漂漂亮亮的,灯笼挂在屋前。 晚上有一顿美餐,离家在外工作的人也要回来团圆。晚饭后,人们点亮灯笼,一般是红色的圆灯笼。孩子们会高高兴兴地玩他们的玩具灯笼。 晚上月亮又圆又大,人们在赏月的同时吃着中秋节特别的食品——月饼。人们在一起回顾过去,展望未来。据说天上有一条龙,它要把月亮吞下去。为了保护月亮,孩子们要弄出很大的响动把龙吓跑。
中秋节: The Mid-Autumn Festival (Traditional Chinese: 中秋节; Simplified Chinese: 中秋节; Korean: Ch'usǒk; Japanese: Tsukimi 月见/つきみ; Vietnamese Tt Trung Thu. In Malaysia and Singapore, it is also sometimes referred to as the Lantern Festival, similar in name to a different festival which falls on the fifteenth day of the Lunar New Year). The Mid-Autumn Festival is a popular Asian celebration of abundance and togetherness, dating back over 3,000 years to China's Zhou Dynasty. The Mid-Autumn Festival falls on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month of the Chinese calendar (usually around mid- or late-September in the Gregorian Calendar), a date that parallels the Autumn Equinox of the solar calendar. At this time, the moon is at its fullest and brightest, marking an ideal time to celebrate the abundance of the summer's harvest. The traditional food of this festival is the mooncake, of which there are many different varieties. The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the two most important holidays in the Chinese calendar (the other being the Chinese Lunar New Year), and is a legal holiday in several countries. Farmers celebrate the end of the summer harvesting season on this date. Traditionally, on this day, Chinese family members and friends will gather to admire the bright mid-autumn harvest moon, and eat moon cakes and pomeloes together. It is also common to have barbecues outside under the moon, and to put pomelo rinds on one's head. Brightly lit lanterns are often carried around by children. Together with the celebration, there appear some special customs in different parts of the country, such as burning incense, planting Mid-Autumn trees, lighting lanterns on towers, and fire dragon dances. Shops selling mooncakes, before the festival, often display pictures of Chang'e, floating to the moon. Mooncake is often eaten during the festival.Typical mooncakes are round or rectangular pastries, measuring about 10 cm in diameter and 4-5 cm thick. A thick pasty filling is surrounded by a relatively thin (2-3 mm) crust and may contain yolks from salted duck eggs. Mooncakes are rich, heavy, and dense compared with most Western cakes and pastries. They are usually eaten in small wedges accompanied by Chinese tea.