Worshipping the Moon. The Mid Autumn Festival.

Chang-e flying to the moon.
(Painting by Ren Shuai Ying (任率英), 1955.
Licensed under Public Domain.)

The Mid-Autumn Festival is held on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Han calendar - essentially the night of a full moon - which falls near the Autumnal Equinox (on a day between September 8 and October 7 on the Gregorian calendar).  In 2016, the 15th day of the eighth month of the Han calendar falls on September 15th of the Gregorian Calendar.

Chuseok, the Korean autumn harvest festival, is also held on the same day.  While I could have stayed back in Korea to experience how Koreans celebrate the moon, I'm choosing to head to Hong Kong instead.

For Chinese, the Mid-Autumn festival is second in popularity to the Spring Festival aka Chinese New Year.  It's a big deal and I couldn't imagine being so close to Hong Kong and not going there to celebrate it!  I could have gone to mainland China but as a Chinese of Cantonese descent, Hong Kong is the place for me.  I've not celebrated the festival since I was a child growing up in Malaysia and am thrilled to get to experience it as an adult! 

The Mid-Autumn Festival or Moon Festival dates back over 3,000 years, to moon worshiping in the Shang Dynasty (1600–1046 BC). Ancient Chinese emperors worshiped the harvest moon at Mid-Autumn, as they believed that the practice would bring them a plentiful harvest the next year.  At it's heart, the Mid-Autumn Festival is a harvest festival.

The festival is intricately linked to the legend of Chang'e (or Chang-o) who is the mythical Moon Goddess of Immortality and her husband, an archer named Yi. There are many tales about Chang'e but at least two that lay claim as the one behind the origin of the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Korea and Hong Kong!

Guinsa Temple Roofs.
(Photo by Ken Eckert.  Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.)

We were still in Madagascar when my travel partner,  George, was already contemplating our next trip together.

We met up a while back and bounced around a few ideas and settled on Chile.  I had always wanted to do a driving tour around the country but after giving it some serious consideration, I decided to tell George that Chile was out.  For one thing, he can only take a few days off work but more importantly, Chile is a place Bro wants to travel to so I want to save it for him.  George fully understood so we bounced around a few more places.  Korea came to mind and it's a place I've never been to so I said yes.  I have to admit, Korea has never been on my list of places to travel to.  I think it's because it's been overshadowed by its larger siblings - China and Japan, both of which I have been to before and enjoyed my visits.