MID-AUTUMN Festival is the second-grandest festival in China after Chinese New Year. It’s a time when families come together to appreciate the full moon and eat mooncakes during the festival. In fact, besides these two traditions, there are many others.

1. Worshiping the moon

Since ancient times, there has been a tradition of worshiping the moon in Mid-Autumn Festival in China, which stems from the deification of the moon by the ancients.

On that day, people put the “god of the moon” sign, peaches, watermelons, mooncakes and other offerings on a table at home or outdoors, and then knelt down and kowtowed one by one, praying for blessings from the “god of the moon.”

Nowadays, this tradition is disappearing. It’s rare to see families worshiping the moon in big cities. In some old towns or tourist cities, people will hold a ceremony to worship the moon in a square, park, or street, but this is more like a performance.

2. Watching the tide

In ancient times, watching the tide on the Qiantang River in East China’s Zhejiang Province was another grand event of Mid-Autumn Festival. The tide is very torrential and magnificent.

It had been recorded in detail since the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 220). Many famous ancient poets, like Su Shi in the Song Dynasty (960-1279), wrote about the grand occasion.

Today, watching the tide on the Qiantang River is still a characteristic event for the festival.

3. Making colorful lanterns

On the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, people usually make colorful lanterns to decorate the beautiful night.

They make the lanterns in different shapes to be hung on trees or houses, or floated on rivers.

People also make Kongming lanterns, which can fly because the burning candles heat the air in the lantern.

Children write good wishes on the lanterns and let them fly up into the sky.

(China Daily)