The Mid-Autumn Festival is also known as the Moon Festival or the Moon-Cake Festival.
The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the most popular events celebrated by the Singaporean Chinese community. It takes place on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month of the Lunar Year and has been celebrated for more than 1000 years in China. Time of year coincides when the full moon is at its brightest and the celebrations start when the sun goes down. This year’s Festival starts is on September 24th.
The festival centers on the worship of Chang’E the Moon Goddess for her favor and fortune. People show their gratitude by sharing moon-cake gifts.
What are Moon Cakes?
Moon cakes come in a various shapes, colors and flavors. The signature moon cake for Singapore is the Durian filled cake but I like the bean filled cakes.
Jurong Chinese Garden
There are a lot of events associated with this festival but my favorite was the theme figure lanterns at the Jurong Chinese Garden. The following pictures are from the Jurong Chinese Garden festival in 2007.
Chinatown
There are several other locations in Singapore that have decorations and activities. The other location that I was able to experience is in Chinatown. The following pictures are from Chinatown in 2017. The first set of pictures are at the entrance of Chinatown.
The next set of photos are also from Chinatown in 2017 but these pictures are of the lantern figures in the median of one of the streets.
In Singapore the festival starts 2 weeks before the actual date of the full moon so if you are planning a trip to Singapore, you might consider being there during this event to take part in the celebration.
The Dust on My Shoes
I have experienced the Mid-Autumn Festival in Singapore two times. My first experience was just for a few hours because the festival started on the day I left Singapore. I went to the event in the Jurong Chinese Garden without knowing what to expect. I was overwhelmed by all of the decorative lantern that were lit to make beautiful night time scenes. I got there just before dark and I wandered throughout the garden looking at all of the wonderful lit up lantern for as long as I could before leaving for the airport. I wish that I could have had more time to enjoy being at the event but my short experience was fantastic and left me wanting more.
Ten years later I returned to Singapore during the time of the festival and the first thing I wanted to do was go to the Mid-Autumn Festival. This time I chose to go to China Town to see how it compared to the Chinese Garden. The lanterns in China Town were equally as nice as those at the Chinese Garden but there was not as many in China Town.
I really enjoyed both of my experiences at the Mid-Autumn Festival and if I return to Singapore during the festival, I will go again. I don’t think I could ever get tired of seeing the beautiful night time lantern displays at the Singapore Mid-Autumn Festival.
Some festivals are so crowded that it takes the fun out of experiencing the activities but some festivals are intended to be relaxing and peaceful. I prefer the relaxing low key festivals!
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Is the bean filling like the sweetened bean paste in Japan? If so, no thanks!
I have never had the ones in Japan but my guess is that it is similar.