Mid Autumn Festival (Mooncake & Lantern)

Here are facts I found interesting about the mid autumn festival.

1) This is celebrated by Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Taiwanese and Japanese

2) It is similar to Thanksgiving with families getting together

3) There is always a full moon on this day and the roundness of the moon symbolises family unity and harmony

3) The Chinese legend. Here's my summary: There used to be 10 suns in the sky which was killing a lot of things with its heat. A guy shot down 9 of the 10 suns and became a hero. He was awarded an elixir to ascend to heaven and become a God. But he chose to stay with his wife. One day in a struggle for the elixir with a bad person, not wanting it to fall into the wrong hands, the wife took it. She immediately ascended but stopped at the moon as it was the closest to earth (where her husband is). The hero was devastated and so were the people. From then on, they would worship the goddess on the moon on this day.

Here's a few suggestions on things to do with your kid during Mid Autumn Festival (MAF):
1) Gaze at the moon and tell the story

2) Eat a mooncake
Mooncake is a symbol of family reunion. The cake is traditionally cut into pieces that equal the number of people in the family.

3) Walk around with a Mid-Autumn lantern
There is so many designs available these days. Some still go with the traditional candle lit ones. Just be careful if you hand that to a kid.

Historically, there would be a handwritten riddle placed within each lantern which was hung from a tree. Children who could properly answer the question from their selected lantern would receive small prizes.

Isn't culture and its history interesting?