The Mid-Autumn Festival is held on different dates each year. The eighth month of the lunar calendar has many festivals, and the Mid-Autumn Festival is one of them. The 15th day of the eighth lunar month is the Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as Autumn Night, the Eighth Month Festival, the Half of the Eighth Month, and the Moon Festival. The website Huayi provides a special section on the eighth lunar month of 2021, which includes detailed information about the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Why does the Mid-Autumn Festival have different dates every year?

In daily life, people now use the internationally common solar calendar, while traditional Chinese festivals use the lunar calendar. According to the lunar calendar, the dates of festivals such as the Spring Festival and the Mid-Autumn Festival are fixed, but according to the solar calendar, they vary. A calendar based on the apparent movement of the sun is called the "solar calendar", abbreviated as the "solar calendar"; the moon is referred to as "the lunar", and a calendar based on the apparent movement of the moon is called the "lunar calendar", abbreviated as the "lunar calendar".
The Mid-Autumn Festival is on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month. The length of the lunar month is based on the synodic month, and the length of the lunar year is based on the tropical year. The Gregorian calendar is currently the international standard calendar, also known as the solar calendar, which is based on the Earth's orbit around the Sun in one year. The length of a lunar month is approximately 29.5 days, corresponding to the moon's cycle around the Earth; whereas the length of a solar year is approximately 365 and a quarter days, corresponding to the Earth's cycle around the Sun. Since the Earth's orbit around the Sun takes 365 days, and twelve lunar months only amount to about 354 days, ancient people solved this problem by adding an intercalary month. As people's mathematical skills improved, the rules for setting intercalary months became increasingly accurate. However, due to the difference between the tropical year and the solar year, the Gregorian calendar date of the Mid-Autumn Festival changes every year.

The Significance of the Mid-Autumn Festival

Reunion "A stranger in a foreign land, I feel even more homesick during festivals." Festivals are a catalyst for national cohesion, possessing powerful and mysterious power. "Reunion" is the product of Laozi's "following the natural way", and a high expression of the philosophical concept of "harmony between heaven and humanity". It is a unique cultural value concept of the Chinese nation. On the night when the moon is full, it is also the night when we hope that family members can reunite together. "Looking up at the bright moon, I miss my hometown." A person living far away from home may find it easier to alleviate homesickness during the day, but when it gets late at night, he inevitably feels waves of longing for his hometown. Especially on a night when the moon is bright, and especially on an autumn night with moonlight like frost. Linking the moon in the sky to reunion on earth is a unique way of thinking for the Chinese people. Respect for the Elderly The tradition of Mid-Autumn culture is long-standing, and it originated in the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties, combining with ancient practices of respecting the elderly. It can be said to be a culture of respecting and caring for the elderly. According to the Book of Rites: "For three kings, the elderly were respected in accordance with their age. In the middle of autumn, the elderly were honored, given walking sticks, and provided with soft food and porridge." The Three Kings refer to Yu the Great, Tang of Shang, and King Wen of Zhou. Because in the middle of autumn, "the moon is in the fourth phase of yin, and yin has already reached its peak. The season is defined as autumn because yang declines and yin increases, and aging is defined as the same for people. The Three Kings followed the seasonal patterns and held a ceremony to honor the elderly in the middle of autumn, providing the elderly who were tired and weak with walking sticks and soft food. This ceremony reflected respect and care for the elderly.