Celebrate the Chinese Moon Festival at the library

Save the Date: The Chinese Moon Festival Celebration

Featuring the Mulan Performing Arts Association
Saturday, September 29th,  2:00 p.m-4:00pm.

The Moon Festival, the second largest holiday in Asia after the lunar new year, will be celebrated at the Worcester Public Library! Also called the Mid-Autumn Festival, it is an annual Chinese celebration of the moon, based on the story of the Moon Lady, a popular Chinese folk tale. 

Enjoy an afternoon family program of culture and fun with the Mulan Performing Group's dance and music, and taste delicious moon cakes!

 
Free and open to the public, all ages welcome.

Saxe Room Main Library, 3 Salem Square, Worcester MA 01608

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 What is the Chinese Moon Festival?

The Chinese Moon Festival, also known as the Mid-Autumn or Moon cake Festival, is the second biggest holiday for Chinese after the Chinese New Year, similar to Thanksgiving in the West.

It is celebrated on the fifteenth day of the eighth moon in the Chinese lunar calendar, when the moon is at its maximum brightness for the entire year.  The festival is a day celebrated throughout the Far East and all Chinese communities in the world. In 2012, it is on September 30th. 

The Moon Festival is full of legendary stories. Children are told the story of the moon lady living in a crystal palace, who comes out to dance on the moon's shadowed surface.

The legend surrounding the moon lady dates back to ancient times, to a day when ten suns appeared at once in the sky. The Emperor ordered a famous archer, Yi,  to shoot down the nine extra suns. Once the task was accomplished, Goddess of Western Heaven rewarded the archer with a pill that would make him immortal. However, his wife, Chang Er found the pill, took it, and was banished to the moon as a result. Legend says that her beauty is greatest on the day of the Moon festival.

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 How to celebrate the Chinese Moon Festival

Chinese people celebrate the Mid-Autumn festival eat moon cakes, drink jasmine tea and watch a program of Chinese dances and music.

There are varieties of moon cakes, which in their roundness are symbolic of family unity. Some are made of lotus seed paste, some of red bean paste, some with mixed nuts, and many have a salty duck egg yolk (representing the full moon) in the center. In some regions, the moon cakes are crusty, while in others they are flaky.

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