Mid-Autumn Festival

　　Mid-Autumn Festival The 15th day of the 8th lunar month The joyous Mid-Autumn Festival was celebrated on the fifteenth day of the eighth moon， around the time of the autumn equinox(秋分)。 Many referred to it simply as the "Fifteenth of the Eighth Moon".

　　This day was also considered as a harvest festival since fruits， vegetables and grain had been harvested by this time and food was abundant. Food offerings were placed on an altar set up in the courtyard. Apples， pears， peaches， grapes， pomegranates(石榴)， melons， oranges and pomelos(柚子) might be seen. Special foods for the festival included moon cakes， cooked taro(芋頭)and water caltrope(菱角)， a type of water chestnut resembling black buffalo horns. Some people insisted that cooked taro be included because at the time of creation， taro was the first food discovered at night in the moonlight. Of all these foods， it could not be omitted from the Mid-Autumn Festival.

　　l love Mid-autumn Festival very much!