This year, the Moon Festival — also called the Mooncake or Mid-Autumn festival — falls on Sunday, 18th September, just over a day from now.

So, what is the Moon Festival then? The following is what I compiled from various sources 4 years ago, while attached to the Sales & Marketing / Graphics department of the hotel, for a proposed Mooncake Festival promotion which did not materialize. :-D

Every year on the fifteenth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar, when the moon is at its maximum brightness for the entire year, the Chinese celebrate “zhong qui jie.” Children are told the story of the moon fairy living in a crystal palace, who comes out to dance on the moon’s shadowed surface. The legend surrounding the “lady living in the moon” dates back to ancient times, to a day when ten suns appeared at once in the sky. The Emperor ordered a famous archer to shoot down the nine extra suns. Once the task was accomplished, the Goddess of Western Heaven rewarded the archer with a pill that would make him immortal. However, his wife 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.