The history, traditions and delicious food

Otherwise known as the moon festival, the Mid-Autumn Festival is a holiday worth celebrating with an interesting history, brilliant traditions and delicious food.

History of the Mid-Autumn Festival

The festival has a history of over 3,000 years! It all started with the Tang Dynasty in China when ancient emperors would host feasts as offerings to the moon to celebrate the year's harvest and reward others for their hard work. Over the years, the traditions to worship the moon and celebrate the rice harvest have grown.

It is now related to luck, fortune and is often associated with other holidays like Thanksgiving as families reunite and celebrate what they're thankful for. Not only is it celebrated in China, but it's also a significant holiday in other Asian countries including Singapore, Japan and the Philippines.

How to celebrate with your hallmates

Traditionally, people in China would organise a dinner with family, worship the moon, eat mooncakes and send lanterns into the night sky. Lighting lanterns is one of the oldest traditions in the festival, communities would gather to write wishes on sky lanterns and light them in hope that the goddess of the moon would bless them with luck.

Although celebrating in the UK might be very different to celebrating at home, there's still lots of things you can do to make the holiday special with your flatmates:

• Cook and organise a dinner together - this could include traditional harvest and celebratory ingredients like pumpkin, sweet potato, pork and duck. The main focus should be on spending time together and appreciating the food you have.
• Admire the moon - it is believed that the moon is big and bright during the Mid-Autumn Festival so take some time to gaze at the moon, this could be from the comfort of your living room or there's bound to be some great spots in the city. 
• Eat mooncakes - this is usually done while moon gazing as the round shape of the cakes represents the full moon. Not only does it represent the moon, it's also symbolic of family reunions so try offering mooncakes to your flatmates and friends to wish them a long and happy life.
  
• Hang or light lanterns - if you aren't able to find sky lanterns, simply hanging some small paper lanterns around your flat is a great idea. 
  

The Mid-Autumn Festival is all about reuniting with family, so make sure you remember to call home and express your thanks. Have a great holiday!