THE MOON FESTIVAL

THE MOON FESTIVAL

The moon festival is celebrated on the fifteenth day of the Chinese eighth month. The moon in Chinese is cosmology is the female principle. Thus, the mid-autumn festival is one for the women and is celebrated during the night. It is certainly not the most spectacular of Chinese festivals, but it is undoubtedly the most romantic.

During the time of the year, noble family make presents to one another of moon cakes and various fruits. The cakes are made of grayish flour; often fill with all kinds of spices, nuts and sugar. Pastry shops sell them, but a good housewife prefers homemade cakes; they send some to their neighbors as gifts. Candles and incense sticks are placed on the altar, together with five more plates filled with melons, pomegranates; grapes and peaches. These fruits have a special meaning this night. Melons and pomegranates have many seeds, alluding to the great number of children the family would like to have. Apples and oranges symbolize fertility, and peaches longevity. Thus the greatest hopes of the Chinese family and depicted on the altar during this festival of longevity and fertility. After moon worshippers have made their obeisance and retired, the children come out to play with their lantern.