Mid-Autumn Festival（中秋节）

“Zhong Qiu Jie”, which is also known as the Mid-Autumn Festival, is celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar. Mid-Autumn is a time for family members and loved ones to congregate and enjoy the full moon – an auspicious symbol of abundance, harmony and luck. Adults will usually indulge in fragrant mooncakes of many varieties with a good cup of piping hot Chinese tea, while the little ones run around with their brightly-lit lanterns.

“Zhong Qiu Jie” probably began as a harvest festival. The festival was later given a mythological flavour with legends of Chang-E, the beautiful lady in the moon.

According to Chinese mythology, the earth once had 10 suns circling over it. One day, all 10 suns appeared together, scorching the earth with their heat. The earth was saved when a strong archer, Hou Yi, succeeded in shooting down 9 of the suns. Yi stole the elixir of life but to save the people from his tyrannical rule, his wife, Chang-E drank it. Thus started the legend of the lady in the moon to whom young Chinese girls would pray at the Mid-Autumn Festival.

中国农历每年8月15日是传统的中秋节。在这天，每个家庭都团聚在一起， 一家人共同观赏象征丰裕，和谐，和幸运的圆月。此时，大人们吃着美味的月饼，品着热腾腾的香茗，而孩子们则在一旁拉兔子灯玩。

或许最早中秋节是一个丰收的节日，后来，月宫里美丽的仙女嫦娥的神话故事赋予了它神话色彩。传说古时后，曾有10个太阳绕地球旋转。一天，这10个太阳同时出现，酷热难挡。弓箭手后翌射下了其中9个太阳，拯救了地球上的生物。他偷了长生不死药，却被妻子嫦娥偷喝下，此后，嫦娥，这位在中秋节时，少女们都要向之祈福的仙女的传说便流传开来。