Mid-Autumn  Festival-中秋节
The  joyous  Mid-Autumn  Festival,  the  third  and  last  festival  for  the  living,  was  celebrated  on  the  fifteenth  day  of  the  eighth  moon,  around  the  time  of  the  autumn  equinox.  Many  referred  to  it  simply  as  the  "Fifteenth  of  the  Eighth  Moon".  In  the  Western  calendar,  the  day  of  the  festival  usually  occurred  sometime  between  the  second  week  of  September  and  the  second  week  ofOctober.
This  day  was  also  considered  a  harvest  festival  since  fruits,  vegetables  and  grain  had  been  harvested  by  this  time  and  food  was  abundant.  With  delinquent  accounts  settled  prior  to  the  festival  ,  it  was  a  time  for  relaxation  and  celebration.  Food  offerings  were  placed  on  an  altar  set  up  in  the  courtyard.  Apples,  pears,  peaches,  grapes,  pomegranates  ,  melons,  oranges  and  pomelos  might  be  seen.  Special  foods  for  the  festival  included  moon  cakes,  cooked  taro,  edible  snails  from  the  taro  patches  or  rice  paddies  cooked  with  sweet  basil,  and  water  caltrope,  a  type  of  water  chestnut  resembling  black  buffalo  horns.  Some  people  insisted  that  cooked  taro  be  included  because  at  the  time  of  creation,  taro  was  the  first  food  discovered  at  night  in  the  moonlight.  Of  all  these  foods,  it  could  not  be  omitted  from  the  Mid-Autumn  Festival.
The  round  moon  cakes,  measuring  about  three  inches  in  diameter  and  one  and  a  half  inches  in  thickness,  resembled  Western  fruitcakes  in  taste  and  consistency.  These  cakes  were  made  with  melon  seeds,  lotus  seeds,  almonds,  minced  meats,  bean  paste,  orange  peels  and  lard.  A  golden  yolk  from  a  salted  duck  egg  was  placed  at  the  center  of  each  cake,  and  the  golden  brown  crust  was  decorated  with  symbols  of  the  festival.  Traditionally,  thirteen  moon  cakes  were  piled  in  a  pyramid  to  symbolize  the  thirteen  moons  of  a  "complete  year,"  that  is,  twelve  moons  plus  one  intercalary  moon.
Origin
The  Mid-Autumn  Festival  is  a  traditional  festivity  for  both  the  Han  and  minority  nationalities.  The  custom  of  worshipping  the  moon  (called  xi  yue  in  Chinese)  can  be  traced  back  as  far  as  the  ancient  Xia  and  Shang  Dynasties  (2000  B.C.-1066  B.C.).  In  the  Zhou  Dynasty(1066  B.C.-221  B.C.),  people  hold  ceremonies  to  greet  winter  and  worship  the  moon  whenever  the  Mid-Autumn  Festival  sets  in.  It  becomes  very  prevalent  in  the  Tang  Dynasty(618-907  A.D.)  that  people  enjoy  and  worship  the  full  moon.  In  the  Southern  Song  Dynasty  (1127-1279  A.D.),  however,  people  send  round  moon  cakes  to  their  relatives  as  gifts  in  expression  of  their  best  wishes  of  family  reunion.  When  it  becomes  dark,  they  look  up  at  the  full  silver  moon  or  go  sightseeing  on  lakes  to  celebrate  the  festival.  Since  the  Ming  (1368-1644  A.D.  )  and  Qing  Dynasties  (1644-1911A.D.),  the  custom  of  Mid-Autumn  Festival  celebration  becomes  unprecedented  popular.  Together  with  the  celebration  there  appear  some  special  customs  in  different  parts  of  the  country,  such  as  burning  incense,  planting  Mid-Autumn  trees,  lighting  lanterns  on  towers  and  fire  dragon  dances.  However,  the  custom  of  play

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