October 4th. It seems like a normal Wednesday. Your parents will go to work and you will go to school. You will get home, eat dinner, go to bed; the usual. But for many Chinese people and Chinese Americans alike, the 4th of October is so much more. It’s the Mid Autumn Festival, one of the biggest celebrations in Chinese culture.

There is many stories of how the festival began. Many refer to the moon goddess, which is one of the main reasons for the festival. The most popular is the story of Hou Yi, where in his village, ten suns rose and dried up the crops and water of the village. He then shot down nine of the suns with a bow. One day, as he was walking, he ran into the Empress of Heaven, and she gave him a potion that would send him up to Heaven if he drank it. But Hou Yi loved his wife, Chang E, and didn’t want to leave her so he gave her the potion for safe keeping. Peng Meng, a commoner, who was jealous of Hou Yi, saw the potion and came into his house, demanding Chang E to give him the potion. Instead of handing it over, she drank it, floating towards the moon.

It started during the Zhou dynasty, one China’s earliest. The emperors would offer sacrifices to the moon for good harvest. The festival became more popular during one of China’s more famous dynasties: the Tang. Also, here’s a fun fact: during the Tang Empire, Wu Zetian, China’s first female emperor, took power.

There is a lot of different activities to do during the Mid Autumn Festival. One of the most famous is eating mooncakes. You can also make or buy lanterns, or admire the moon, or just eat dinner with family.   

Any way you celebrate makes for a ton of fun. So this Wednesday, light your lanterns, eat your mooncakes, and have a happy Mid Autumn Festival.