Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Taiwan’s Thanksgiving: Mid-Autumn Moon Festival




Taiwan travel information: culture mid-autumn moon festival in Taiwan
Blood moon. Picture: Metro
Mid-Autumn Moon Festival is one of the three main holidays in Taiwan, besides Chinese New Year and Dragon Boat Festival. 


It is a holiday to celebrate the harvest, worship the moon and get together with families. It is sorta like the idea of Thanksgiving without a turkey fest and black Friday.


It falls on the 15th of the 8th lunar month when the full moon is typically the largest of the year.  This year it is on the September 27th. 


Taiwanese people like to celebrate the holiday barbequing with friends and families. Restaurants, parks and roof tops of apartments may be a bit more crowded than usual at this time. We highly recommend you NOT to plan any romantic outings in any parks or roof tops that weekend.


Taiwan travel information: culture mid-autumn moon festival in Taiwan
Mooncakes by Howard Plaza Hotel.
Mooncake is the tradition delicacy, the sweet pastry for the holiday. It is offered among friends and families. It is usually in a round shape, representing the moon and the reunion. 


If you happen to travel to Taiwan for business or visiting a friend, it is very likely that you will receive a box of moon cakes as a gift. 


Like all the other food business in Taiwan, moon cake industry is competitive too. Bakers create new flavors every year. 


You can pretty much get whatever flavor you can imagine. For example, Moon cake ice cream can be a great choice in a hot day.


Unlike Chinese New Year or Dragon Boat Festival, there are not too many public events going on for tourists in Taiwan. If you are invited to a BBQ, we recommend you to join your local friends in Taiwan to observe the holiday. 


If not, you can still enjoy it with the moon cakes and moon worship. In 2015, the forecast is predicting a super supermoon (blood moon). Don’t miss out if you are travelling to Taiwan in September! 


Posted by at
Labels: ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)