Mid Autumn Festival

Yesterday(in China - 12 hours ahead) - September 14th - was the second biggest holiday on the Chinese calendar. Its a celebration called the Mid Autumn Festival and it falls on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month(The Chinese use two calendars - one Gregorian - like the USA, the other based on the moon cycles). Mid Autumn Festival is between the middle and end of September on the Gregorian Calendar.

The Chinese celebrate by getting together with family, watching the full moon and eating mooncakes. The legend has it that a beautiful woman named Chang'e once ate some medicine that made her immortal(and like a girl after Ralph Cramden's heart - she flew to the moon where she now resides). 

The grocery stores in China are stocked with both mooncakes and pictures of Chang'e. The mooncakes are normally filled with fruit or beans - and I ate several yesterday in celebration. The taste is not something I really appreciated - but the Chinese really like them. The mooncakes come in beautiful, ornately designed boxes that make the purchase worth it in spite of the taste of the mooncakes.

It was weird for me to be surrounded by people who were celebrating and excited about something that did not resonate with me. I felt the entire day like I had wandered into a stranger's birthday party. I saw the happy faces and I could relate to their holiday cheer - yet to me it was just another day with no special meaning. Very strange...