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:
-
April Fools Day
-
The citadel in Bonifacio, Southern Corsica, France
-
Longtailed widowbird at Rietvlei Nature Reserve, South Africa
-
World Sea Turtle Day
-
Celebrating National Park Week, April 21-29
-
Innerdalsvatna Lake, near Ålvundeidet, Norway
-
Can you see the family resemblance?
-
National Park Week: Yosemite National Park, California
-
The Brocken, Harz National Park, Germany
-
Life in the slow lane
-
Composite image of a lunar eclipse
-
St. Joseph North Pier Inner and Outer Lights, Michigan
-
Traffic jam on the caribou highway
-
Siblings Day
-
Honoring those who served
-
Global commerce in motion
-
High seas commerce
-
‘Hello’ from zero degrees longitude
-
Winter at Valley Forge
-
From Sputnik to extraterrestrial storms
-
Square Tower House in Mesa Verde National Park
-
An island in the Highlands
-
Daintree Rainforest and Noah Beach, Queensland, Australia
-
Feast of the Donkey
-
A new tradition in London
-
Happy Syttende Mai!
-
The most Instagrammable bird?
-
World Otter Day
-
I am the walrus
-
A theatrical dream
Bing Wallpaper Gallery

