The Mid-Autumn Festival, or Moon Festival, is a celebration of the autumn harvest observed by the Chinese and other Asian peoples. It falls on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month, the full moon closest to the fall equinox. Originally a plea to the gods for rains to ensure a good harvest next year, Mid-Autumn Festival has become a more secular bit of autumn fun, with children and adults gathering to give thanks, eat sweet mooncakes, and light lanterns like the hand-painted ones we"re looking at here from a previous celebration in Singapore. This year, the Mid-Autumn Festival coincidentally lands on another holiday, China"s National Day.
A lunar lantern celebration
Today in History
More Desktop Wallpapers:
-
National Find a Rainbow Day
-
Iceland awaits the Yule Lads
-
Aloe in bloom
-
Reflections on the mighty Amazon
-
World Lizard Day
-
World Children s Day
-
National Lighthouse Day
-
World Teachers Day
-
Green sea turtle on World Oceans Day
-
Przewalskis horses, Hustai National Park, Mongolia
-
Hen Galan
-
Telašćica Nature Park, Dugi Otok, Croatia
-
Cecropia leaf and lobster claw petals in Mexico
-
Moeraki Boulders, South Island, New Zealand
-
Burrowing owls
-
Here’s looking at you, teachers
-
Happy Holi!
-
Big Bend National Park anniversary
-
Roman bridge of Córdoba, Spain
-
Rays on parade
-
Chinese New Year
-
A spectacle unlike any other
-
Jasper Dark Sky Festival
-
Corfe gets creepy
-
Winter at Valley Forge
-
Stompin’ with the Big Chief
-
And you thought moths were boring
-
Lavender fields on the Valensole Plateau in Provence, France
-
World Oceans Day
-
International Sloth Day
Bing Wallpaper Gallery

