Mid-Autumn Festival’s Auspicious Symbol

Mid-Autumn Festival, namely “Zhong Qiu Jie” in Mandarin is one of the

traditional Chinese Festivals. Chinese celebrate it on the 15 th day of the 8th month

according to the Chinese lunar calendar. It is the second most significant festival after the

Chinese New Year to Chinese. On the Mid-Autumn Festival’s night, the moon will

become the biggest, roundest and brightest. Chinese believe that full moon symbolises

reunion, harmony and peace. Based on this, Chinese regard Mid-Autumn Festival as

another “Day of Reunion” after the Eve of Chinese New Year. It is also celebrated in

variety ways by Chinese, depends on the particular region or ethnic group. There are

some traditions and food which symbolise family reunion, blessings and good fortune

used to celebrate the festival. For instance, moon cake, gazing at the moon, Mid-Autumn

lanterns and Kong Ming Deng(lanterns) and Pomelo.

Firstly, moon cake is one kind of traditional Chinese pastry which is

indispensable in celebrating Mid-Autumn Festival. The most conventional moon cake is

made by paste filling which contains a salted egg yolk in the middle of it. Since ancient

time, Chinese believe that moon cake symbolises family reunion, so traditionally the

moon cake will be cut into number of pieces that represent the number of members in the

particular family. As the growing trend towards modernization, different flavours and

features of moon cake are being launched in the market to suit different needs of

customers before the Mid-Autumn Festival. For example, in Malaysia, Durian flavour of

moon cake has been launched in order to fit the needs of those Durian lovers. Besides,

moon cakes which are featured in a series of Disney favourites collections, such as

Mickey Mouse, Winnie The Pooh and Snow White can be purchased in the market.
Today, people tend to gift moon cake as a sign of showing kindness and friendliness.

However, in China, the original symbol of moon cake is morphed to become a status

symbol among the higher social class people. For instance, the boxes for the moon cake

are wrapped with superfine golden silk and settled in the wooden carvings or silver-

plated. The higher social class people will buy it and then gift to others to show an

ostentatious symbol of wealth (Bezlova, n.d.).

By tradition, it is essential for all family members gazing at and appreciating the

full moon at the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival while it is at its brightest and fullest

contour of the whole year. The tradition of gazing at the moon can be traced back to the

offerings of sacrifices to the moon in a memorial ceremony. It was begun during the Wei

and Jin Dynasties and slowly became popular during the Tang and Song Dynasties. At

the night, Chinese would savor moon cake and food in their courtyards with their families

while gazing at the moon and praying for the moon to bless them. Nowadays, for those

staying away from home and cannot always visit their family members, gazing at the

moon has become a way of sending their blessings, greetings and love to their families.

Next, playing lanterns at the Mid-Autumn Festival is also one of the popular

customs among Chinese. It is called deng long in Mandarin and also known as Tanglong.

Traditionally, the lanterns are made by paper and they can put a candle inside in the

middle of the lanterns. Those lanterns are made in various types of shapes such as boat,

dragon, monkey and etc. There are also lanterns made with plastics which can be found

in the market. At the night, the children usually light the candle inside the lanterns and

dangle them with a long stick by carrying it outside their houses or along the street.

Through this activity, it shows a sign of harmony which the children enjoy the precious
moment with one another. Some of the Chinese make a string of lanterns and tie it to a

bamboo pole. After that, they hang them in the tree or in front of the door. They believe

they will be blessed with good luck by practising this. Other than that, Kong Ming

lanterns are made by them and fly them into the sky. They believe it will bless them.

Nowadays, before they fly the Kong Ming lanterns, they write some wishes on the

lanterns and then pray for it so that their wishes may come true.

Winter Solstice’s Auspicious Symbol

Winter Solstice ( 冬 至 ) is one of the traditional Chinese festivals which is

celebrated on December. It does not have a fixed day, but normally falls on December

21st, 22nd or 23rd. On the Winter Solstice, the daytime becomes the shortest and the

nighttime becomes the longest. After that day, the daytime will become longer which

indicates winter is coming to an end. In the Zhou and Qin dynasties, they recognised

Winter Solstice as the beginning point of new year. It is also being known as the Small

New Year. On that day, people would have ancestor worshipping ceremonies together

with family reunion. However, not all Malaysian Chinese would have this practice. There

are some foods such as Tang Yuan (glutinous rice balls) and dumplings which have the

auspicious symbols would be served during the celebration of Winter Solstice.

First of all, it is one of the customs for Chinese to eat Tang Yuan (glutinous rice

ball) during the festival. It is a type of dessert to be served as symbolic sign for Chinese.

In Mandarin, the term of “Tang Yuan” is being related to the term of “Tuan Yuan” ( 团

圆 ), which means reunion. Thus, the word “Yuan” ( 圆 ) has the meaning of being

together. People believe that the rounder the balls, the better they are. By eating Tang
Yuan, it shows the value of togetherness. After eating the Tang Yuan, it means that we

are getting one year older. There is also a saying that the number of Tang Yuan you eat

represent the age of you. Besides, Tang Yuan acts as a mean of honouring ancestor and

creating strong family bond. Therefore, it is must have food for people from Shanghai to

have Tang Yuan during the festival.

There are still many traditions which are celebrated in various ways by different

regions or different ethnics due to some factors. For instance, eating dumplings is not

usually found in the Malaysian Chinese community. This factor can be related to the

weather. In northern China, the weather will become colder after the Winter Solstice.

Therefore, people from there believe that they would need to eat dumplings in order to

avoid their ears from frostbitten as the shape of dumplings look like the ears.  Besides,

they would prepare mutton for food as it can warm their bodies.

References:

Bezlova, A. (n.d.) Culture Briefing. China's traditional moon cake

now a status symbol. Retrieved from
http://www.culturebriefings.com/articles/chinmnck.html

Mid-Autumn Festival. (n.d.) Retrieved from

http://www.chinahighlights.com/festivals/mid-autumn-festival.htm

Winter Solstice. (n.d.) Retrieved from

http://www.travelchinaguide.com/essential/holidays/winter-solstice.htm