Moon Festival

Our family celebrates the Moon Festival, or the mid-Autumn festival, every year.  As its name implies, it is celebrated in mid Autumn.  Or more specifically, the 15th of the 8th of the Lunar year.  During the Moon Festival, people gather with their families and friends, or anyone they are close to.  Most Chinese families eat moon cakes, my family also have a traditional Chinese lunch and dinner.  We start off with a normal breakfast.

In the morning, my family eat toast with chocolate, peanut or butter spread for breakfast, and my sibling’s eat it with cereal.  But my dad likes to eat rice with any leftovers from the day before.  We don’t have any moon cakes the morning because my mum says it’s too sweet.  Sometimes I make instant coffee for the grown-ups in the morning (mum, dad and me), or just tea for myself.  We start eating moon cakes in the afternoon.

My brother and sister eat moon cakes in the afternoon for snacks at around 12 or 1, but not so many.  We have mooncakes in the afternoon thanks to my mum buying too many deluxe packs (which she does every year).  For lunch we usually have homemade dumplings or noodles in the fridge made by mum from yesterday.  One time my baby sister tried to make it, it ended up in a mess.  The dumplings are filled with eggs, bacon and beans it is delicious!  After some time after lunch, the sun begins to set, and it’s time for dinner, and more moon cakes.

When dad comes home at night, the tables are probably already set.  Dinner is the most important meal of the day to us.  We have fish, pork, vegetables, and of course, moon cakes!  Last year’s Moon Festival my mum’s friends came to New Zealand to take a tour.  They dropped by our house a day before the Moon Festival.  We had chicken wings, sweet and sour soup and fried rice.  After dinner, if we’re not full enough, we have a lot of moon cakes for dessert.  We get candy afterwards, and it’s always the brand that mixes a lot of candy together.

The Moon Festival is important to many Chinese families.  Where they are, they always gather at one place, home or restaurant, to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival.  The lunar year calendar is different from the calendar we’re using, so the date changes every year.  This year’s Moon Festival is on the 8th of September, so the mooncakes are in stock in supermarkets.  My mum always buys the deluxe pack at the local Chinese market.

Mengchun