Be a Part of the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival, 2019!

Bright lanterns, colourful garlands, delicious food and exuberant gatherings- the Mooncake Festival adorns Singapore with the most vibrant colours and fills the air with an appealing scent. Also known as the Mid-Autumn Festival, the Mooncake Festival is a time for prayer and thanksgiving. Celebrated after the second week of the eighth month of the lunar calendar, precisely on the fifteenth, the Mooncake Festival is a time of praising the Moon Goddess for the bountiful harvests.

When is the Mooncake Festival Celebrated? 

The Mooncake Festival takes place at a time during late September and early October. In 2019, this fantastic festival falls on the 13th of September.

Where To Witness the Mooncake Festival in Singapore?

Singapore does not have a fixed venue to celebrate the Mooncake Festival. However, Chinatown is beautifully adorned with lanterns, garlands and lights. Besides the extraordinary lamps on display, Chinatown also hosts carnivals with cultural performances and is a popular hub among the food connoisseurs owing to the different brands of mooncakes put up for sale.

Mooncake Festival Celebrations

Since the Chinese community of Singapore makes up at least 74% of the total population, the Mooncake Festival is one of the most massive local celebrations in the city. It is the time when the moon shines the brightest and people come out to celebrate after twilight falls heavily over them.

The Moon Viewing Ceremony
A popular tradition during the Mooncake Festival is the moon-viewing ceremony. During the moon viewing ceremony, family and friends gather beneath the soft moonlight in their gardens or rooftops, watching the incredible celestial body while sipping tea or eating mooncakes. The houses are ornate with glowing lanterns and fairy lights. The evening sky, too, is beautifully adorned with colourful lanterns that people set afloat as soon as the sunsets.  

Local Festivities
Besides entertainment, people also indulge in learning more about Chinese culture and the famous legend of Chang’E during this festival. As the name of the festival suggests, the Mooncake Festival hosts mooncake-loaded restaurants and hotels. From greeting people to gorging on these mouth-watering mooncakes, from expressing gratitude to bowing down in prayer, a festive aura encompasses Singapore as its people set out to dress the city with glittering colours.

Lantern Highlights 
These lanterns are created in extraordinary shapes – from dragons to ducks, from butterflies to buses; the sky lit up with these beautiful creations is a sight to behold. In a few places within the city, large lanterns are showcased so that people may take in the marvellous artistry and craftsmanship. Lantern-painting competitions are also quite popular on this day. Many roadside stalls offer samples of mooncakes and tea to the people thronging the streets. People visit each other and exchange gifts as a gesture of gratitude. All in all, the Mooncake Festival is full of warmth, joy, merriment, and thankfulness.

Significance of the Mooncake Festival

Although everything about the Mooncake Festival is unique, what makes it extraordinary are the taste-bud-appealing mooncakes which would make you want more with each bite! That is not all. Legend has it that the mooncakes played a prime role in overthrowing the Mongols and liberating Yuan China in the 14th Century. How? Well, there used to be a ban on large social gatherings during the Mongolian Rule. However, the rebel leader Zhu Yuan Zhang laid the foundation of a rebellion by planting confidential messages on mooncakes. The rebel against the Mongols commenced in Mid-Autumn and took the symbolism of the mooncakes to a whole new level altogether.

History of the Mooncake Festival

The full moon during autumn has been worshipped by the Chinese since the Shang Dynasty, roughly falling between 1600 BCE – 1046 BCE. However, the worship began to be transformed into a full-fledged festival only during the early years of the Tang Dynasty (618 CE – 907 CE). The stories of the origin of the Mooncake Festival are quite a few. However, the ones that have been passed over the generations are the tales connected to Chang’E.

The Legend of Chang'E

There are two different tales connected to the Moon Goddess of Immortality, Chang'E. According to Lihui Yang's "Handbook of Chinese Mythology", there was an excellent archer in the ancient past, named Hou Yi. He saved the earth and its people from the ten suns that rose, circling the sky together by shooting down nine of them and thus preventing the ground from scorching. This act of bravery led an immortal to admire him and present him with an elixir of immortality.

Yi and Chang'E - A Mythical Tragedy
Yi was married to Chang'E and did not wish to be immortal without her, so he handed it to her possession. However, soon after, one of Yi’s apprentices, Peng Meng, learnt of this secret and wished to use the elixir for himself. On the fifteenth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar, he broke into Yi's house in his absence and pestered Chang'E to hand over the elixir to him. To prevent this, Chang'E drank the potion herself and ascended to the moon. After Yi arrived, he learnt what happened and began a ritual of offering his wife’s favourite fruits and cakes in his yard. Soon, other people found out about the incident and out of sympathy, they also participated in these rites.

Alternate Version of the Legend
In an alternate version of the legend, after Hou Yi defeated the nine suns, he was declared king by the people. However, soon after his rule began, he became a tyrannical ruler. To live as an immortal, he asked for an elixir of immortality from Xi Wang Mu. To save the people from the eternal rule of the vain Yi, Chang'E stole the elixir and drank it herself, following which she flew up to the moon and became the moon goddess. Overcome by spite, Hou Yi died soon after. As an offering to Chang'E for her sacrifice, the people started praising her and displayed cakes and fruits in their gardens and yards. Since then, the Mid-Autumn Festival began to be celebrated.

Chinatown Celebrations

How to Reach Chinatown

The Chinatown MRT Station is right at the heart of the district. Also, Clarke Quay, Raffles Place, Tanjong Pagar and Outram Park are all just a short walk away from Chinatown.

Chinese Garden Festivities

Another place you should not miss if you wish to witness the Mooncake Festival in all its glory is the Chinese Garden. Here, too, the streets are decorated with stunning lanterns and fragrant flowers and stalls are lined up along the pavements selling mooncakes and tea.

How to Reach Chinese Garden

The Chinese Garden MRT is the nearest station, a five-minute walk from the gardens.

The Mooncake Festival is the perfect occasion to indulge in gratitude actively. It is the ideal festival to cheat your diet with some delicious and delectable mooncakes. So, fuel the artist in you as you set colourful lanterns into the sky and enjoy the festive culture around you.