• The festival is held on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar with a full moon at night, corresponding to mid-September to early October of the Gregorian calendar.On this day, the Chinese believe that the moon is at its brightest and fullest size, coinciding with harvest time in the middle of Autumn. This full moon may not always be the Harvest Moon of western custom because the Harvest Moon may at times occur in October.

• Li Longji, an emperor of Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD), and his Concubine Yang were eating Hu cakes. Li Longji thought that the name of “Hu Cake” wasn’t adequate enough. The bright moon in the sky inspired Concubine Yang, to re name the cake into the “Moon-Cake” The name stayed until today.

• The festival is also called “August Festival” and “Autumn Festival”. Other names are “Chinese Moon Festival”, “Autumn Moon Festival”, “Playing the Moon Festival”, “Worship the Moon Festival”, and “Reunion Festival”.

• People now widely consider Qixi Festival as Chinese Valentine’s Day. However, a fun fact is that the Mid-Autumn Festival is also a valentine’s day at the beginning. In Chinese mythology, the God of the Moon is in charge of love and marriage. He creates love between boys and girls by tying them together with a magic silk line that cannot be seen by ordinary people. So the festival to worship the moon is originally a festival to pray for love and happy marriage.

• According to tradition the right way to eat moon-cakes is to share by all family members, one piece for each family member. If there are family members who are not in home, the parents should store the moon-cake pieces that belong to them and wait till they come home to taste it.

• Mid-Autumn Festival is the second most important festival in China, only after the Chinese New Year. In some years, the Mid-Autumn Festival and the National Day holiday coincide, forming an eight-day holiday.

• The favorite Moon Cake flavors is Wuren which literally means five kinds of nuts or kernels such as walnut kernels, almonds, sesame seeds, melon seeds, hawthorn, red beans and so on.

CenturyCruises organises Moon Cake making demonstrations on-board its vessels. This activity represent the real China and its unique cooking traditions, bringing China and Chinese tradition closer to you.

We at Century Cruises always make sure life on board is full of engaging activities and memorable experiences. Try it for yourself by emailing us at sales@centuryrivercruises.com