The Mid-autumn festival is held annually on the 15th of the eighth month in Lunar calendar. It is one of the most important festivals for the Chinese. It is also celebrated by countries such as Korea, Japan, and Vietnam.
Mid-autumn Festival
On this day, the moon is the fullest and brightest. Traditionally, people worship the moon and give thanks for the harvest. Nowadays, the Mid-autumn Festival is similar to Thanksgiving. For the Chinese, it symbolizes reunion and harmony. During this time of the year, the city is beautifully decorated, mostly with lanterns, moon, and rabbits. Families come together for a family reunion. On the day of the festival, they spend time together, eating mooncakes and appreciating the moon.
Food
Mooncake is the most symbolic food during this holiday. Relatives and friends give each other mooncakes as presents. Nowadays, mooncakes are so popular that there are several types of mooncakes created. Traditional mooncakes are still the favorites of the elders, while younger generations enjoy newer variations such as ice cream mooncakes and custard mooncakes.
Fruits that have round shapes such as Pomelo are also popular during this holiday because round shape symbolizes completeness. Taro is another food that some families eat as they believe it will bring good luck.
Activities
Lanterns
Contrary to other public holidays, the day after the mid-autumn festival is declared as a holiday in Hong Kong. The day after the mid-autumn festival is a holiday because most of the festival activities are enjoyed at night. On the day of the festival, most companies allow early dismissal for families to have reunion dinner.
Besides moon watching at night, a popular family activity is lighting lanterns and guessing the riddle written in the lanterns.
Can you guess the answer to this riddle?
Fire Dragon Dance
Every year, the Tai Hang neighborhood attracts crowds to admire the Fire Dragon Dance. It is free of admission and is open to the public. It is a tradition that started back in the 19th century when residents combated a plague with the Fire Dragon dance. For more information, you can check out the details here.
Mooncake Donation (2023)
With so many mooncakes at home, sometimes mooncakes that are not consumed before the expiry date go to waste. If you have extra mooncakes at home or mooncake vouchers for redemption, you can donate them and share these blessings with other people. Here are some of the organizations that accept mooncakes and mooncake vouchers.
Feeding Hong Kong
The organization sets up collection points to collect mooncakes and vouchers that can be donated to families. Check out the dates and collection points here.
Food Angel
Food Angel has several smart food donation machines installed in various locations. Besides mooncakes, they accept dry food with intact packaging, bakery items, cooked foods, and fresh fruits and vegetables. Please check the expiry of the food before you donate. For the full list of acceptable food donations and the locations of the food donation machines, you can read about it here.
The Conservancy Association
The Conservancy Association launched a food donation program that accepts mid-autumn gift boxes, mooncakes, and fruits. In an effort to help reduce food waste, the conservancy association has set up a collection point to collect the food and distribute it to people in need.
The details of the collection are as follows:
- Date: Sept 11, 2023 – October 13, 2023
- Time: Monday to Saturday; 2 pm to 6 pm
- Location: “Food San Care Center” center
- Address: Shop 11, Block 2, Lei Muk Shue Estate, Tsuen Wan
Mooncake Box Recycle Programs (2023)
Every year, there are a lot of beautifully designed packaging and tin boxes used for the mooncakes. If you have mooncake tin boxes that are not in use, bring them to the following recycling programs.
LUSH
The cosmetic brand Lush launched a recycling program this year. When you bring 3 mooncake tins to their designated store, you can redeem a selected product from them. You can register here.
Registration period: September 27, 2023, 12 noon – September 28, 2023
Redemption period: October 12, 2023 – October 15, 2023
Sino Group Recycling Program
You can get a HKD 20 Kee Wah Bakery coupon when you recycle your mooncake tins with any of the 9 malls under the Sino Group. The participating malls are Tuen Mun Town Plaza, Olympian City, City Walk, China Hong Kong City, Gold Coast Piazza, Tsim Sha Tsui Centre, Island Resort Mall, Regentville Shopping Centre, and Yue Man Square.
Collection Period: Sept 25, 2023 to October 20, 2023
City Plaza
In partnership with Food Angel and Maxim, there are several collection points in City Plaza Mall for mooncake donation and mooncake box recycling.
Collection Period: Sept 18, 2023 to October 13, 2023
Waste Reduction Website
Lastly, you can bring the mooncake tins to the nearest recycling points near you. Make sure you segregate the materials by type (i.e. remove the plastic tray containers inside the tins).