A:What’s the date of the Mid-Autumn Festival this year?
A:今年中秋节是几月几号?
B:Mid-Autumn Festival is September 15.
B:中秋节是9月15号。
【The Mid-Autumn Day】
The Middle-Autumn Festival is one of the traditional Chinese festivals, it is often held in September or October. During the festival, family members get united and have mooncakes together. THere are various kind of mooncakes, such as bean paste, egg-yolk or meat. The shape of a mooncake is round as it symbolizes a big moon. Moreover, in the evening of the Middle-Autumn Festival, people get together in a vacant place, eating delicious mooncakes while appreciating the beautiful moon hanging in the dark sky. To conclude, the Midde-Autumn Festival is a very nice festival for Chinese people.
【The Mid-Autumn Festival】
The Mid-Autumn is a very important Chinese festival. It falls on the 15th day of August. A few days before the festival, everyone in the family will help to make the house clean and beautiful. Lanterns will be hung in front of the house.
On the evening there will be a big family dinner. People who work far away from their homes will try to come back for the union . After dinner, people will light the lanterns which are usually red and round. Children will play with their own toy lanterns happily.
At night the moon is usually round and bright. People can enjoy the moon while eating moon-cakes which are the special food for this festival. They can look back on the past and look forward to the future together. It is said that there was a dragon in the sky. The dragon wanted to swallow up the moon. To protect the frighten the dragon away.
【月饼的历史】
Mooncakes symbolize the gathering of friends and family and are an indispensable part of the offerings made to the Earth God, Tu Ti Kung. According to popular belief, the custom of eating mooncakes began in the late Yuan dynasty. As the story goes, the Han people of that time resented the Mongol rule of the Yuan Dynasty and revolutionaries, led by Chu Yuan-chang, plotted to usurp the throne. Chu needed to find a way of uniting the people to revolt on the same day without letting the Mongol rulers learn of the plan. Chu's close advisor, Liu Po-wen, finally came up with a brilliant idea. A rumor was spread that a plague was ravaging the land and that only by eating a special mooncake distributed by the revolutionaries could the disaster be prevented. The mooncakes were then distributed only to the Han people, who found, upon cutting the cakes open, the message "Revolt on the fifteenth of the eighth month." Thus informed, the people rose together on the designated day to overthrow the Yuan, and since that time mooncakes have become an integral part of the Mid-Autumn Festival.
【The Mid-Autumn Day】
Since ancient times, the Chinese people usually celebrate harvest in the Mid-Autumn, which is similar to the custom of celebrating Thanksgiving in the North America. The tradition of celebrating Mid-Autumn festival became popular throughout China in the early Tang dynasty. The lunar August 15 is a day for people worshiping the moon. On this day, under the dazzling bright moon, families reunite and enjoy the moon’s beauty. In 2006, Mid-Autumn festival was listed as one of China's cultural heritage, and in 2008, it was classified as a public holiday. Moon cakes, as indispensable delicious food of the festival, were gifts people sent to families and friends during the festival and usually eaten on family gatherings. There are characters of “longevity”,“good fortune”and “harmony” on the Traditional moon cakes.