Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations outside China

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The full moon is nearing and mooncake preparations are already in full swing!

As millions of Chinese people await a night of quality time with family and moon gazing amid festive celebrations during the Mid-Autumn Festival, other countries are also marking the occasion – in their own special way.

But despite the many interpretations and names of the festival, the sense of community, the feeling of gratitude and all-you-can-eat homemade meals are cross-border, being shared by everyone getting ready for the full moon.

South Korean women making rice cakes to celebrate Mid-Autumn/ China Daily photo

South Korea: Happy Thanksgiving!

Mid-Autumn Festival in South Korea is also known as Chuseok or Thanksgiving Festival, one of the major festivities in the country. During the three-day holiday, Koreans typically visit their hometown to give thanks to their ancestors and share a feast of traditional Korean food with family members.

Those who work, study or live far from home will get the chance to reunite with their loved ones to mark the occasion. In the early morning, every family member will prepare food before everyone gets together and drink to show respect for the ancestors.

Songpyeon is a must-have traditional food for Mid-Autumn Festival in South Korea. / Photo via Korea Times

A variety of foods are prepared during Chuseok to celebrate the bountiful harvest of the year, and one of the most significant items on any menu is songpyeon.

On the eve of Chuseok, families gather to make this must-have traditional delicacy. An old Korean anecdote says that the person who makes beautifully-shaped songpyeon will meet a good spouse or give birth to a beautiful baby.

Japanese eat tsukuimi dango during Tsukimi Festival. /China Daily Photo‍

Appreciating moon in Japan

In Japan, Tsukimi, which literally means moon gazing in Japanese, is the name of the festival that celebrates the harvest moon. Families decorate their homes with susuki grass near a window that faces east, and make offerings of seasonal crops.

Although the Japanese nowadays no longer use the lunar calendar like in the past, they still visit pagodas and organize many festivals to celebrate the full moon night on the eighth month of the lunar calendar.

People making tsukimi dango cake to celebrate the harvest moon on Japan's Moon-Viewing Day. / China News Photo

Appreciating the moon in Japan began about 1,000 years after China started celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival and the legend about a jade rabbit living on the moon with the goddess Chang’e was introduced in the country.

The Japanese version of the folklore tale comes with a twist – the rabbit also makes rice cakes on the moon called tsukimi dango. And making the cake collectively is a long-kept tradition seen as an occasion to bond between family members or even colleagues.

Children celebrating Vietnam's Mid-Autumn Festival, also Children's Day. / China Daily Photo

Children’s Day in Vietnam

In Vietnam, the Moon Festival or the Mid-Autumn Festival is the happiest day for children, when parents buy them snacks and lanterns. On this occasion, children wear masks, take their star lanterns for a walk on the street, and perform lion dances to the beat of drums.

Vietnamese also offer cakes and fruits to worship the moon.

Though Vietnamese celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival by eating mooncakes just like Chinese do, the meaning behind the festival is vastly different. Rice is harvested before the festival, and during the festival, households will make offerings to the God of Earth. As parents are often busy with harvest around the year, this festival would be the best time for them to enjoy some quality time with their offspring.

Thai people and foreign tourists gather to release 10,000 floating lanterns to celebrate the full moon in Chiang Mai. / CFP Photo

Praying to the moon in Thailand

Thai people call the occasion the "Pray-Moon Festival”, when everyone participates in the celebrations to worship the moon.

According to a Thai legend, on the night of the festival, the Eight Immortals in the country's folklore go to the Moon Palace to send peach-shaped cakes and birthday greetings to Buddha. As a custom, Thai people sit around a tray full of fruits and cakes such as peaches, durians and mooncakes, pray to the moon and exchange best wishes.

Devotees listening to chants during the Poson period. /China News Photo

Commemorating Buddhism introduction in Sri Lanka

As the second most important religious festival in Sri Lanka, Poson Poya, also called Poson Full Moon Day, falls on the full moon day of the month of June annually. And a week-long period is usually declared as the National Poson Celebration Week.

The festival is celebrated with great fervor throughout the island nation to mark the arrival of Buddhism in Sri Lanka in 3rd Century BC, which later made the country a stronghold of Theravada Buddhism.

Devotees listening to chants during the Poson period. /China News Photo

Buddhists and devotees across the country visit temples and sacred places during the Poson period. Dressing in white, listening to temple chief priests chanting the eight precepts one after the other, and other sermons and discourses throughout that day are important aspects of this festival.