How Asia celebrates the Mid-Autumn Festival

The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the most important annual celebrations in Asia, known by different names and marked with a variety of food and traditions.

Falling on the 15th day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar, it is a time for families to gather, share food, admire the full moon and celebrate the autumn harvest in the Northern Hemisphere.

In Auckland, a three-day Moon Festival that was held from 26-28 September has already set the tone.

However, other celebrations are unfolding across the country, with communities marking the holiday with their own cultural traditions.

China (Zhongqiu Jie)

The Mid-Autumn Festival - Zhongqiu Jie (中秋节) in Chinese, a celebration that is also called the Moon Festival or Reunion Festival - is essentially a harvest festival that is honoured when the moon appears to be at its brightest in the sky.

It is one of China's major traditional holidays, alongside Lunar New Year, the Tomb-Sweeping Festival and the Dragon Boat Festival.

This year, the festival falls on 6 October, coinciding with an eight-day public holiday that marks China's National Day.

In New Zealand, the Chinese community celebrates the festival with dinners and mooncakes.

Auckland libraries are hosting workshops on subjects such as paper cutting, lantern making and mooncake baking that offer New Zealanders a taste of the festivities.

In Chinese tradition, the full moon symbolizes reunion, and families gather to admire it while sharing mooncakes filled with an array of flavors.

Classic varieties include salted egg yolk, red bean paste and lotus seed, while newer flavours - from matcha and chocolate to cranberry and ice cream - have grown popularity in recent years.

Seasonal foods such as pomelo and crab are also staples of the holiday table.

Lanterns remain a hallmark of the festival, though their use varies by region.

In some Chinese provinces, children parade through the streets carrying colourful lanterns on the night of the holiday.

In others, families and couples release lanterns into the sky, sending their wishes to Chang'e, the moon goddess who is said to dwell above.

Vietnam (Tết Trung Thu)

In Vietnam, the Mid-Autumn Festival is called Tết Trung Thu, also known as Children's Festival, an annual harvest celebration and a chance for children to revel in the joys of life.

This year, it also falls on 6 October, marking the harvest season.

Unlike Tết Nguyên Đán, or Lunar New Year, Tết Trung Thu is not an official holiday in Vietnam.

Nevertheless, events, activities and decorations across the country make it a highlight of the annual calendar.

As in China, Vietnamese families also celebrate the festival with mooncakes. The two most common varieties are bánh dẻo, a sticky rice mooncake, and bánh nướng, a baked mooncake with a flaky crust.

On the night of the festival, families traditionally set up a worship platform outside, laying out a five-fruit tray along with snacks.

Later, they gather to share food and admire the full moon.

For children, it is a time of revelry.

Groups parade through the streets with brightly coloured lanterns, forming noisy processions as they weave through their neighbourhoods singing songs.

Lion dances are another hallmark, sending children screaming and laughing with delight.

In New Zealand, the Vietnamese Society of Christchurch will host a celebration on 4 October, featuring a mooncake-making workshop, dragon dances and traditional folk games.

Japan (Tsukimi)

Japanese families celebrate Tsukimi, literally "moon viewing", a variant of the Mid-Autumn Festival, at this time of year.

Also known as Jūgoya (15th night), the festival takes place on the 15th day of the eighth month of the traditional lunar calendar.

The custom is believed to date back to the Heian Period (794-1185), when Japan's aristocracy was deeply influenced by Chinese culture.

Unlike larger occasions such as New Year's Day, Children's Day or the Doll Festival, Tsukimi is quieter and more understated, marked by small gatherings, moon gazing and an appreciation of the season.

Celebrations often include poetry readings, traditional music and dances paying homage to the moon.

Food also plays a central role. Chief among the offerings is tsukimi dango - small round rice dumplings symbolizing the full moon.

The theme extends to other dishes such as tsukimi soba and tsukimi udon - noodles topped with an egg yolk to resemble the moon.

Images of the Moon Rabbit also appear in decorations and sweets, echoing the enchanting myth of a rabbit who lives on the moon, endlessly pounding mochi.

In Auckland, libraries have hosted Tsukimi-themed events, including tsukimi dango workshops and craft-making sessions.

South Korea (Chuseok)

South Koreans celebrate Chuseok, also known as Hangawi, at this time of year.

It is one of the country's most important holidays, alongside Lunar New Year, or Seollal, and is often likened to Thanksgiving.

This year, the three-day holiday runs from 5-7 October.

In New Zealand, community celebrations are planned nationwide.

Families traditionally travel to their hometowns or gather at parents' homes during the holidays to give thanks for harvest, share food and stories, and honour their ancestors.

The holiday is marked by traditional dishes, ancestral rites and cultural activities that embody both gratitude and togetherness.

One of the central rituals is charye, a memorial service for ancestors held during the festival.

Seasonal dishes, including freshly harvested rice and songpyeon rice cakes, are arranged on ritual tables.

Families may also observe seongmyo, or visits to ancestral graves, often accompanied by tidying the sites and clearing away weeds.

Unlike in China and Vietnam, where mooncakes are central to the Mid-Autumn Festival, Koreans traditionally eat songpyeon - rice cakes filled with sesame seeds, beans, pine nuts, walnuts or chestnuts, folded into a crescent-moon shape.

Korean pancakes, known as jeon - stuffed with kimchi, zucchini, mushrooms or meat - are another popular festival food.

Traditional folk dances and percussion music, including ganggangsullae and samulnori, are also part of the festival.

Although Chuseok is not a public holiday in New Zealand, Korean communities nationwide are hosting celebrations with food, performances and cultural showcases.