Our first Mid-Autumn Festival

A holiday filled with lanterns and mooncakes… and that’s where my knowledge about the Mid-Autumn Festival ended. I wanted to understand more about the festival because it is such a beautiful time, so I did a bit of research and wanted to share it here with you!

What is Mid-Autumn Festival?

In short, it is also known as the “moon festival” or the “mooncake festival,” and it’s a celebrated time when the moon is the fullest, roundest, and the brightest and signifies the start of the fall harvest season (wheat and rice are often harvested around this period). The full moon is considered to be a symbol for family reunion (hence the round mooncakes as well), as family and friends would come together to harvest the crops. Many of the stories surrounding the Mid-Autumn Festival are folklore, but the most common centers around “Chang,e”, the Chinese goddess of the moon (and her immortal pet rabbit), whose story is celebrated during this Festival.

Okay…let’s start with the mooncakes

Mooncakes are a sweet, flaky pastry (similar to pie crust texture) with a sweet or savory filling.

Traditionally, you slice up each mooncake into 8 pieces and share them with loved ones. Here are some of the mooncakes that my husband and I enjoyed during this holiday… I think we ate enough to last us until next year (but since learning that you should only be having a small slice of each one…I understand why we were so full after…live and learn!).

Most of them were so kindly gifted to us from friends. Traditionally mooncakes are often gifted to family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, and employees to express love and best wishes.

The flavors we tried this year, the traditional white lotus seed paste with double egg yolks, custard, matcha, earl grey, and custard with egg yolk and kumquat. Shockingly my favorite flavor was the custard with kumquat…I know…it sounded odd to me too, but it was lovely and one I will actively seek out next year.

*I linked them here. Mainly for myself for when I forget by this time next year so I can refer back to this post…but also for you if you’re curious to check them out! They’re quite beautiful.

Now for the lanterns

When we went to Victoria Park for the Mid-Autumn Festival lantern celebration, we saw many children holding homemade lanterns illuminated by light as well as the beautiful lantern displays that came in many shapes and sizes. I believe the tradition was to write a wish inside the lantern for the coming year, light the paper lanterns with candles, and allow them to float into the sky, but that has transitioned over time due to safety and environmental concerns. I’ve tried to find the true meaning of the lanterns during this Festival and got a different answer each time I searched, so I’ll just share the most beautiful sentiment that I’ve stumbled across…the lanterns are symbolic to light an individuals path to prosperity and good fortune.

My husband and I went to Victoria Park to see the lantern display.

Lantern lighting is another popular celebration during this Festival

This was by far my favorite display at Victoria Park

But my favorite moment of the night

I was having the craziest day (the kind of day where you run around trying to get everything done and feel like you accomplished nothing at all kind of day), and my husband and I were meeting for dinner (a tasty vegan ramen spot) and I happened to arrive a few minutes early. I’m so thankful for those few minutes because it felt like I had a moment to breathe… and for a moment it seemed as if time had stopped.

Right across the street was a tiny temple, and I noticed two men feeding the fire and caring for it. So, I took a few moments to sit on the steps and just observe. It was such a peaceful moment surrounded by a street lined with restaurants and bars. I had no idea what I was watching and no clue about the history of this temple, so of course I did a deep dive online to see what I could find. I just had an inner feeling that something about it was special, and I’m so glad I was able to learn more, so naturally, I’ll share that with you.

Hong Kong Islands smallest temple, Sam Ji Gwan Miu, at the end of Wo On Lane

The temple is dedicated to Sam Ji Gwan, is the Earth God

There is no official “temple keeper”, so the care of the temple is left to neighborhood worshippers, who unofficially care for the building. The temple has been standing for at least over a century and is older than any living memory which is quite fascinating because it is surrounded by a constantly developing neighborhood of bars, restaurants, and high rises. Over 15 years ago the temple was threatened with a demolition notice, but thankfully no one has acted on that yet. According to a translation I found online, the rhyming couplets on the front of the temple say ‘if the good fortune spreads through the whole world, the virtuous land becomes gold’ (please don’t quote me on this though!).

*Traditionally during Mid-Autumn Festival, people will commonly place fruits and sweets on open air altars for Chang’e to bless.

My favorite display during Mid-Autumn Festival

Although the display at Victoria Park had more creative lanterns, my favorite display was at Lee Tung Avenue in Wan Chai on Hong Kong Island. It is a 200-meter pedestrian-lined walkway decorated with traditional lanterns and it was truly breathtaking. It’s something I would truly recommend and will 100% go back to see next year.

What I hope to experience next year

Unfortunately, The Fire Dragon Dance has been canceled for two years in a row due to the pandemic. It seems like such a fun celebration to experience, and I hope we will get to see it! Thankfully on a long hike to the southern part of Hong Kong Island a few weeks ago my husband and I stumbled upon this display of Fire Dragon Heads created by locals in Pok Fu Lam Village.

The Fire Dragons are over 10 meters long (about 32 feet) constructed with wire, straw, and bamboo, and villagers adhere burning incense sticks to the dragon. The dragon is then danced throughout the village to bless the villagers and their families and it is believed to bring peace and luck and sweep away plague and disease (feels like this might have been one of the most appropriate years for the fire dragon dance unfortunately…). But let’s hope that next year we get to see this magnificent tradition back and better than ever.