Wednesday, October 03, 2007

Mid-Autumn Festival


The Mid-Autumn Festival (Simplified Chinese: 中秋节), also known as the Moon Festival, is a popular East Asian celebration of abundance and togetherness, dating back over 3,000 years to China's Zhou Dynasty. In Malaysia and Singapore, it is also sometimes referred to as the Lantern Festival or "Mooncake Festival", which is just the same as "Mid-Autumn Festival" but with different names.
The Mid-Autumn Festival falls on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month of the Chinese calendar (usually around mid- or late-September in the Gregorian calendar), a date that parallels the Autumn Equinox of the solar calendar. This is the ideal time, when the moon is at its fullest and brightest, to celebrate the abundance of the summer's harvest. The traditional food of this festival is the mooncake, of which there are many different varieties.
The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the two most important holidays in the Chinese calendar (the other being the Chinese Lunar New Year), and is a legal holiday in several countries. Farmers celebrate the end of the summer harvesting season on this date. Traditionally, on this day, Chinese family members and friends will gather to admire the bright mid-autumn harvest moon, and eat moon cakes and pomeloes together. Accompanying the celebration, there are additional cultural or regional customs, such as:
Eating moon cakes outside under the moon, Putting pomelo rinds on one's head, Carrying brightly lit lanterns, Burning incense in reverence to deities including Chang'e, Planting Mid-Autumn trees, Lighting lanterns on towers, Fire Dragon Dances

Pics:
http://flickr.com/photos/gibin/sets/72157602251694113/


El “Festival de Medio Otoño”, también conocido como festival de la Luna, es bastante popular en Asia del Este y celebra la abundancia y la unión de personas, es una tradición de hace mas de 3.000 anos. En Singapur también es conocido como es festival del Mooncake, que son tortas especiales que se comen para estas fechas.
Es la fecha cuando la luna esta más brillante y es el festival chino más importante después del ano nuevo chino. En esta fecha, las familias chinas se juntan para admirar la luna, y comer las “tortas de la luna” o toronjas (pomelos) juntos. Otras tradiciones son: poner cascara de toronja en la cabeza de los otros, cargar linternas, quemar inciensos en honor a dioses como Chang’e, plantar árboles de medio otoño, prender linternas en torres, bailes de dragones de fuego.

Fotos:
http://flickr.com/photos/gibin/sets/72157602251694113/

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