Today is Moon Festival, celebrated by Korean, Chinese and Vietnamese. It is full moon tonight.
Moon Festival is celebrated on the day of the full moon on the eighth month of the lunar calendar. It is the beginning of Autumn. This is harvest time, and a time to give thanks for food from the harvest. In Korea people make rice cakes with a sweet filling like red bean paste or chestnut paste. In China, people make or buy moon cakes. They are round, like the moon, to show unity and completeness. It is a time for families to unite together and enjoy food together. They also pray for a good future.
A good future may include babies and in Vietnam the Moon Festival has become a children’s festival.
About 30,000 Korean people live in New Zealand, 100,000 Chinese and 5,000 Vietnamese. There are also international students from these countries, studying here. At a family time like the Moon Festival, when families get together, it may be sad for some of these people who are living far from their families.
Listen to June 6th 2012 to hear more about the Korean relationship with New Zealand and March 6th 2008 to hear about the many different cultures in NZ.
Vocabulary
• lunar – adjective of moon (compare solar – sun)
• harvest – food from the farm is collected e.g. rice and wheat
• unity (n), unite (v) – join together
• completeness –not broken
Questions
Does your country celebrate moon festival or harvest festival or thanksgiving? If so, how do you celebrate it?