Celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival in London Chinatown
The Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival and the Chinese Lantern Festival, is held on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese lunar calendar. This usually occurs around late September or early October when the moon is supposedly at its fullest and roundest.
The Mid-Autumn Festival is the most important festival in the Chinese calendar, apart from the Chinese New Year and Winter Solstice (also known as Dongzhi Festival), and is a national holiday in some countries.
Traditionally, during the Mid-Autumn Festival, farmers celebrate the end of the summer harvesting season on this date. Chinese family members and friends gather to admire the bright mid-autumn harvest moon, and enjoy moon cakes and pomelos together.
Overthrow of Mongolian rule
According to Chinese folklore, the Moon Festival commemorates an uprising in China against the Mongolian rulers of the Yuan Dynasty (1280-1368) in the 14th century. Group gatherings were forbidden by the Mongolian rulers and it was impossible to orchestrate a rebellion.
As the Mongolians did not partake in the eating of moon cakes, the rebel leaders came up with the idea of timing the rebellion to coincide with the Moon Festival. They distributed thousands of moon cakes to the Chinese residents in the city and cleverly inserted inside each moon cake a piece of paper with the message: “Kill the Mongolians on the 15th day of the 8th month.”
On the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, the rebels successfully attacked and overthrew the Mongolian government. Following the overthrow of the Mongolian government was the establishment of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). As a result of the successful rebellion, the Mid-Autumn Festival was celebrated with moon cakes on a national level.
