5 Reasons to Love the Mid-Autumn Festival

You'll know when the Mid-Autumn Festival is around the corner when you see lanterns and pretty mooncakes will be seen around the island. Here's a compilation of festival highlights, and we hope you'll love it as much as we do!

The Mid-Autumn Festival is also known as the Lantern or Mooncake Festival, and takes place on the 15th Day of the 8thLunar Month. Traditionally, on this day, family members sit together with mooncakes and fresh fruits and enjoy the sight of the full moon. You'll know when it’s around the corner when you see lanterns and pretty mooncakes around the island. Here's a compilation of festival highlights, and we hope you'll love the Mid-Autumn Festival as much as we do!


1. The Story

From fairy tales to folk legends, everybody loves a good story!

There are a few stories behind the Mid-Autumn Festival, with the most popular version being the story of Chang E. Legend says a beautiful lady, accompanied the Jade Rabbit, lives on the Moon. Also known as the Lady on the Moon or Moon Goddess, Chang E was the beautiful wife of Hou Yi, and outstanding archer. According to Chinese folklore, she floated to the moon after swallowing the Elixir of Immortality. There are a few variations to this story – which one is your favourite?


2. Mooncakes

What’s the Mooncake Festival without yummy, yummy mooncakes?

This is also the time where bakeries, restaurants and hotels in Singapore start churning out these tempting treats by the thousands (yes, they’re that popular). Usually tastefully presented in pretty boxes, mooncakes are absolutely divine. The traditional mooncake is a brown, baked pastry filled traditional filling such as Lotus Paste, Lotus Paste with egg yolk, sweet bean paste and five kernel. Like many desserts and delicacies, the mooncake has evolved – resulting in the creation of more appealing treats that would weaken the willpowers of even the most determined calorie-watchers.

The snowskin mooncake has proven to be extremely popular. Soft, fragrant, and exquisitely delicate, the snowskin melts in the mouth – and like the name suggests, is best eaten chilled. This luscious delight has evolved to great heights! We can now get to enjoy snowskin mooncakes with delightfully innovative fillings such as durian, chocolate truffle, champagne truffle, green tea, cheese and even ice-cream. The in oh-so-pretty (usually pastel) colours make snowskin mooncakes a feast for the eyes as well as taste buds!


3. Lanterns

Pretty designs, pretty lights – there’s just something special about lanterns. Get your cameras ready!

Lanterns come in all forms. You usually see lanterns in Chinese restaurants or along the streets of Chinatown – but here's another reason why the Mid-Autumn Festival is special. You get to carry the pretty little things around (bonus: there’s no need to self-conscious this time) instead of just looking at them!

The traditional paper lantern is made of paper with a candle right in the middle. If you're not a fan of fire, opt for electronic lanterns. These are especially appealing to young children because they come along with all kinds of special effects like music and blinking lights. From Hello Kitty to Barney, Mid-Autumn lanterns, with their myriad of designs are well-loved by children and adults alike!


4. Festivities

Love crowds, culture and heritage? You’ll be in your element here. Bazaars, carnivals and performances await you. What’s more, you can be part of a lantern procession!

Love celebrating in a crowd? Look out for Mid-Autumn gatherings. From the Mass Lantern Walk at Chinatown or smaller-scale ones organised by community centres, these gatherings are free of charge and open to the public. You can also immerse yourself in the festivities under the full moon and dazzling displays at the lantern parade procession in Chinatown! Bring your families and friends along, have fun at carnivals and bazaars, watch exciting performances, and take part in lantern making competitions!


5. Chinatown Street Light-up

It’s not every day you see the streets of Chinatown lined up with grand displays of pretty lightings. Enchanting.

When we tell you we love lights, fireworks and grand displays of pretty lightings, we’re not kidding. You’ve seen them on National Day, Deepavali, Hari Raya, Chinese New Year and Christmas. We can't get enough of pretty lights that grace such events, and the Mid-Autumn Festival is no exception. Every year, organisers and craftsman go out all to create the most majestic and dazzling decorations to light up the streets of Chinatown. Locals and tourists can look forward to refreshing new themes every year. For example, the 2014 festival will see a floral theme light up Chinatown’s night scene. Look out for 28-metre long dragon made entire out of flower-shaped lanterns – it made it into the Singapore Book of Records as the “Longest Dragon made of Cloth Flowers”. A Blooming Mid-Autumn, indeed.


Like this? We'll be telling you more about festivals in Singapore. Meanwhile, click here for a list of festivals throughout the year!

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