2018 Mid-Autumn Festival

Mid-Autumn Festival
中秋节，每年的农历八月十五，和春节、清明节、端午节并称中国四大传统节日。“中秋节”这天是法定节假日，放假一天。今年的中秋节是9月24号，星期一，22号到23号放假3天。

Mid-Autumn Festival, Spring Festival, Tomb-Sweeping Day, and Dragon Boat Festival are known as the four main traditional festivals in China. Mid-Autumn Festival is a national holiday and people have the day off from work. This year, Mid-Autumn Festival is on Monday, September 24th, which falls on August 15th in the Lunar calendar. It will be a 3-day holiday from the 22nd to 23rd.

 中秋节的来历和传说(How did Mid-Autumn Festival come about?)

关于中秋节的传说很多，其中最有名、流传最广的就是“嫦娥奔月”的故事。很久以前，相传天上有十个太阳，地里的庄稼都被晒死了。一个名叫后裔的人，他力气很大，他用弓箭一口气射下了九个太阳。一天，后裔得到了一包不老仙药，只要吃下药，就能变成神仙。后裔把药交给妻子——嫦娥保管。后裔的徒弟趁后裔不在家，就去偷仙药，嫦娥情急之下把药吃了。之后，身体就飘出了窗外，飞向了月亮。后裔思念妻子，就摆了些嫦娥爱吃的东西，对着月亮，其他百姓也摆出了食物向月亮祈求平安。那天正好是农历八月十五，于是，每年的农历八月十五就成“中秋节”了。

There are many legends about Mid-Autumn Festival, and the most famous and widespread one is called “Chang E Ben Yue ”. A long time ago, the legend says that there were ten suns in the sky and so the crops in the field were scorched and died. A very strong man named Hou Yi shot nine of the suns with his arrows. However, one day, Hou Yi found a medicine that would stop people from growing old. As long as they took the medicine, they would become immortal. Hou Yi handed over the medicine to his wife, Chang E, to keep it safe, but, later, Hou Yi’s apprentice wanted to steal the medicine when Hou Yi was not at home. In order to protect the medicine, Chang E swallowed the medicine at the last moment. Then, her body floated off the ground, rushed out of the window and flew to the moon. Hou Yi missed his wife so much. He would stare at the moon and set out some food that Chang E loved. Other people also started to put out food to try to get her come back and prayed to the moon for peace. That day happened to be the 15th of August according to the lunar calendar. Gradually, this became a tradition for everyone to celebrate every year on the 15th of August according to the lunar calendar, becoming the so called "Mid-Autumn Festival".

中国人是如何庆祝中秋的？
 (How do Chinese people celebrate Mid-autumn Festival?)

中秋节这天是月圆之夜，很多在外的中国人会回家和家人一起团聚，我们称为——“团圆”。一家人会坐在一起赏月、吃月饼，庆祝中秋佳节，享受一家团圆的喜悦。

现在，越来越多的中国人利用“中秋节”小长假外出旅游，那个时候国内的旅游市场异常火爆。有时候中秋节会和国庆7天假期一起，出去旅游的人就更多了。每个有名景点都人山人海，出国游的人也特别多。

Mid-Autumn Festival is always on a night with a full moon. Many Chinese working in places far from their homes will return home on this day to be reunited with their families. We called this “tuan yuan” in Chinese. The whole family will sit together to enjoy the moon, eat moon cakes to celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival, and enjoy the joy of “tuan yuan”.

Nowadays, more and more Chinese travel during Mid-Autumn Festival due to the growing domestic tourism market for short holiday trips. Also, sometimes the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays come at the same time. This has resulted in more people traveling during the holiday. Every famous attraction is full of people, while many others choose to travel abroad. 

(More about Mid-autumn Festival）

月饼是中秋节必不可少的东西。月饼有不同的陷儿,口味通常是甜的，也有咸的。传统的陷儿是五仁、莲蓉、蛋黄和红豆等。近几年比较火的冰激凌月饼等。

月饼的制作相对饺子而言会有些复杂，所以大部分中国人会去商店买月饼，现在月饼的包装越来越好看，很多人中秋节也会拿月饼送给亲戚、朋友。

和家人在一起，你会觉得月亮更加的圆。希望大家那天都能和家人团聚在一起，吃着月饼，赏着月，度过一个快乐、特别的中秋节。Moon cakes are an essential part of Mid-Autumn Festival. Moon cakes come in two different types, with either sweet or savory fillings. The traditional fillings include nuts, lotus seed paste, yolk, red bean paste, and more. In recent years, ice cream moon cakes have become relatively popular.

Making moon cakes is more complicated than making dumplings. Therefore most Chinese would rather go to a store to buy moon cakes. Nowadays, moon cake packaging is getting more and more elaborate. Many people will also give moon cakes to relatives and friends as gifts during Mid-Autumn Festival.

If you can be together with your family on this day, you may find that the full moon is even a bit more full than usual. We hope everyone is able to be together with their family on that day, eat moon cakes, enjoy the moon and have a happy, special Mid-Autumn Festival!