Next: 15 Sept 2027
Mid-Autumn Festival
A full gold moon, golden-brown mooncakes with a yolk inside, and children carrying lit paper lanterns.
The colours of Mid-Autumn Festival
On the fifteenth night of the eighth month the moon is at its fullest and brightest, and Chinese families gather outside to look at it. The festival's colours are the moon's: pale gold and the deep blue of the night. Mooncakes are round, baked golden brown and stamped with characters, and many hold a salted egg yolk, a small orange moon of its own. Children carry lanterns, once paper carp, rabbits and stars lit by a candle, now often plastic. In Vietnam the day is the children's festival, Tแบฟt Trung Thu, and the star lantern of red cellophane is its sign. In Hong Kong a dragon made of straw and stuck with thousands of glowing incense sticks is danced through Tai Hang.
#F2D16BMoon goldThe full harvest moon.#B5722AMooncake brownThe baked crust of the cakes.#F08A1DYolk orangeThe salted egg yolk inside.#D62B2BLantern redPaper and cellophane lanterns.#1A2452Night indigoThe sky the moon is watched in.Values are fair approximations, not official shades.
Read about the colours
Written by the Rang desk with AI assistance. Background: "Mid-Autumn Festival" on Wikipedia. Customs differ from family to family and place to place. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.