Essay About Moon Festival

The Moon Festival has always remained as part of the well-known Chinese traditional culture. Yet, many of us may not know that Japan also has a similar holiday like Moon festival too, which is called Jugoya (十五夜) in Japanese. In fact, these two festivals both fall on August 15th in the lunar calendar, and they both share watching full moon as their main event of the day. In Chinese, Moon Festival has an alternative name called “Mid-Autumn Festival” because the holiday takes place in August, which is considered the middle month of autumn in lunar calendar. While in Japanese, Jugoya means the “fifteenth night,” which corresponds to the fact that the festival is held on August 15th. However, even the two festivals have some similarities, the history, delicacies, and the meanings behind the events are very different.

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In Chinese culture, the most basic concept of moon festival is “family reunion” since the round shape of full moon is viewed as the sign of gathering. In that night, except for enjoying mooncakes and watching the beautiful full moon, it’s important for Chinese people to spend time chatting with their family. Akin to Chinese culture, Japanese also watch full moon on Jugoya. Yet, unlike Chinese people, who value the spirit of family reunion, Japanese simply appreciate the beauty of full moon. They call the moon on August 15th (in lunar calendar) as “Mid-Autumn Moon (中秋の名月),” which they also think is the most beautiful one to see in the year. Moreover, Japanese includes the celebration of harvest on Jugoya as well. While the festival is held in autumn, it can easily be related to the harvest of crops. Japanese provide the crops as the offerings to appreciate god and pray for good harvest for the next year. No matter what meanings the two festivals carry out, they are all profound and