Mid-Autumn Festival

Mid-Autumn Festival at Dog Woods

Yesterday, we decide to something quite unusual at Dog Woods.  Being it the Mid-Autumn Festival or the Mooncake Festival is a popular harvest festival, we had a dozen paper lanterns deck out the trees of Dog Woods.  And the effect of it, was, I daresay, quite rustic.  Except the fact that the candles don't quite burn long enough and paper lanterns somehow seem to disintegrate after a few rounds of lighting ... not forgetting to add, the Furkids somehow got hold of a couple.  


Usually held on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese calendar, which is in September or early October in the Gregorian calendar, It is a date that parallels the autumnal equinox of the solar calendar, when the moon is supposedly at its fullest and roundest. The traditional food of this festival is the mooncake, of which there are many different varieties.

Traditionally on this day, Chinese family members and friends will gather to admire the bright mid-autumn harvest moon, and eat moon cakes and pomelos under the moon together. Accompanying the celebration, there are additional cultural or regional customs, such as:

• Carrying brightly lit lanterns, lighting lanterns on towers, floating sky lanterns
• Burning incense in reverence to deities

However, being a non-traditional chinese household, the humans and canines did none of the moon worshiping.  We did however consume mooncakes and for the first time, since I've never done it before, decide to indulge myself in some paper lanterns, with the pack curiously observing ... once they learnt it had nothing to do with treats or anything they could consume they fell into a snooze ....which suited me fine since I was being jostled out trying to light the paper lanterns.

Snoozing Furkids

So here are some photos I took of last nights lanterns hung on the branches of the shrubs and tambusu tree.  Once I ran out of candles to light, the pack thought it was game for them to help me take lanterns down.  Needless to say, some of the lanterns are now in shreds ... 

How bright the moon ...!