Mid-Autumn Festival 2024
What is the Mid-Autumn Festival?
Illustration by Amber Duan
The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of four major traditional holidays in China – second only to Lunar New Year. It is celebrated on the 15th of the eighth month on the lunar calendar, when the moon is said to be especially round.
Outside China, the Mid-Autumn Festival is celebrated in many East Asian and Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam, Korea, Japan, Malaysia, and others. This year, the Mid-Autumn Festival lands on Tuesday, September 17, 2024.
In general, the Mid-Autumn Festival symbolizes unity and harmony through a day of remembrance of loved ones, hopeful wishes, and time with family. Similar to Thanksgiving, family and friends come together to enjoy a feast and celebrate through several traditions. Some people also celebrate this day to honor a successful period of harvest.
Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations vary from region to region. Some notable traditions include:
Worshipping and admiring the moon
Lighting up sky lanterns
Solving riddles
Eating mooncakes, which are round like the moon and symbolize reunion
Eating fresh, seasonal, and dried fruits
Admiring osmanthus & drinking osmanthus wine
Several legends, including Chang'e and Hou Yi, and the Jade Rabbit, are associated with the Festival.
Legend of the Jade Rabbit
It is said that the Jade Rabbit now lives with Chang'E, the goddess of the moon.
One day, the Jade Emperor sent three divine beings to Earth in search of someone to create elixirs of immortality. The three immortals believed that humans were corrupt and untrustworthy, so they searched for an animal instead.
The immortals, disguised as starving beggars, went into the forest to find the worthy animal willing to help them. Three sympathetic animals, a monkey, fox, and rabbit, came forward. Both the monkey and fox returned with food, but the rabbit couldn’t. Feeling guilty, the rabbit sacrificed itself as food.
The selfless act moved the three immortals, so the rabbit was brought to the moon, where it mastered medicine making. The Emperor was delighted by the rabbit’s hard work and granted it a layer of dazzling, snow-white fur – creating its name, the Jade Rabbit.
What are mooncakes?
Mooncakes are round pastries with a lotus paste filling, and sometimes have egg yolks – they can be sweet or savory! We eat mooncakes to celebrate the annual Mid-Autumn Festival. The round shape symbolizes the harvest moon.
The traditional style of the pastry is imprinted on top with Chinese characters for longevity and harmony. Sometimes they can also feature the moon, flowers, and rabbits – all important motifs from the Legend of the Jade Rabbit.
From red bean and lotus to snow skin and salted egg yolk, celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival this month with an endless number of mooncake flavors. Check out the different types of mooncakes that people eat and where to pick up this delicacy in Chinatown.
Sources: Travel + Leisure, TimeOut, Time, China Travel, China Travel Guide
Regional Mooncakes
From left to right:
Cantonese Mooncakes: Golden brown pastries with intricate designs, filled with lotus seed paste and cured egg yolk
Yunnan Mooncakes: Hard flour crusts, filled with ham, lard, honey, and sugar
Suzhou Mooncakes: Flaky crusts with sweet (nuts and bean paste) or savory (pork, ham, shrimp) filling
Shanghai Mooncakes: Crisp and crumbly crusts, filled with date or red bean paste
From left to right:
Hokkien Mooncakes: White pastry with a red stamp, filled with candied winter melon, tangerine peel, and sugar
Hopia: Small with thin, flaky crust, and filled with mung bean paste, purple yam, or azuki bean paste
Snow Skin Mooncakes: A newer type of unbaked mooncake with a delicate skin, filled with fruit sago, purple yam, etc.
Teochew Mooncakes: Flaky, colorful crusts filled with lotus paste
Source: Types of Mooncake (Moon Festival Blog), 10 Types of Mooncakes (Bakestarters), 8 different mooncakes to celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival (Goldthread)
Where to Buy Mooncakes in Chinatown
You can find fresh mooncakes — primarily the traditional Cantonese style — in Chinatown
Go Believe Bakery (239 Grand St)
Audrey Bakery and Cafe (12 Chatham Sq)
Tai Pan Bakery (194 Canal St)
Bake Culture USA (48 Bowery)
Double Crispy Bakery (230 Grand St)
Nice One Bakery (47 Bayard St)
Fay Da Bakery (83 Mott St)
Lucky King Bakery (280 Grand St)
Wing Wah Bakery (246 Grand St)
M&W Bakery (85A Bayard St)
Chiu Hong (161 Mott St)
