Autumn Moon Festival

by Catherine Lichens (grade 12)

Every year my family celebrates the Autumn Moon Festival. The Autumn moon festival is a Chinese festival that happens every year on the 15th day of the 8th month on the lunar calendar. The purpose of the festival is for families to get together and see the moon. For my family because we have all grown up and schedules are different, it's gotten harder to make sure that all family members are home together to eat a meal and look at the moon. At the minimum my mom insists that we share different kinds of mooncakes and a hot steaming pot of Jasmine tea. She makes us go outside at the very least and try to look at the moon. When we were younger though, my mom used to tell us different stories about the Autumn moon such as The Lady in the Moon, and Wu Gang. Even though we can't always be together every year, the Autumn Moon festival is a tradition that everyone in my family celebrates no matter where we are.