The Mid-Autumn Festival is on the fifteenth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar. The popular version of its origin is the legend of Chang E, a beautiful Chinese lady.

Her husband was Hou Yi, a hero who shot down nine of 10 suns scorching the earth to save the human race, receiving two pills of elixir of life as a reward.

One day, the fifteenth day of the eighth month, when Hou Yi was out, a bad man tried to force Chang E to give him the pills.

In order that the pills should not come into the wrong hands, she took the pills herself and became a fairy, and flew to the moon.

When poor Hou Yi came back, he found he could only see Chang E in the moon. According to China's lunar calendar, the moon is bright and round on the fifteenth day of every month. Hou Yi put Chang E's favourite food on the table and watched the moon thinking of her.

Since then, the Chinese have regarded the day as a time for family reunions. This festival is one of the most widely celebrated by the Chinese anywhere in the world.
Families try to gather no matter where they are. Usually a banquet is prepared for all members.

For generations, moon cakes, which are as round as the moon, are eaten. They have sweet fillings of nuts, mashed red beans, lotus-seed paste or Chinese dates.

The exact date on the Western calendar of the Mid-Autumn Festival changes from year to year, but it is always some time in September or Octoer.