Mid-Autumn Festival aka Zhongqiu-Jie

Today is Mid-Autumn Festival, sometimes known as Moon Festival or in Chinese Zhongqiu-jie. Falls on the 15th day of the 8th month in the Chinese calendar, a must celebrate festival for all Chinese families.
It's the season to send gift-boxes filled with moon-cakes of all shapes, fillings and flavours to friends, relatives, customers & business associates. The traditional ones are round in shape filled with Lotus or Red Bean paste with egg yolks in the middle. In the past, the moon-cakes were simply wrapped in papers, normally with 4 moon-cakes staked up one by one and wrapped up in the shape of a swiss-roll.
Nowadays, the moon-cakes come in shapes of round or square and stuffed with all kinds of fillings......cheese, ham, jelly, durians... to name a few....
I'm never fond of eating the moon-cakes but I do love the beautiful boxes and ended up keeping a lot of empty boxes and also the accompanying colourful paper bags to collect dust in my store-room.

Nevertheless, can anyone discard those beautiful boxes and paper bags? I guess not and I believe a lot of people out there are doing the same thing as I am doing every year, just keep those boxes & paper bags in the store-room......
My mind drifted back to the good old days when we were still carefree kids, my parents always brought us up to the balcony of our old house to play with our home-made laterns. My older siblings made lovely laterns in the shapes of star, flower, boat or just simply oblong shapes with colourful papers and bamboo sticks. My parents and the older relatives would enjoy freshly brewed chinese tea and slices of moon-cakes while watching the beautiful full moon in the romantic sky.
When the kids settled down for tea, my parents would tell us the story of the beautiful young maiden, Chang'e which had so many versions and despite the story being repeated every year, it was still captivating and kept the kids engrossed while munching on the delicious moon-cakes.
Try telling the story to the kids of today, you won't be able to finish two sentences and off they go to their computers with slices of moon-cakes in their hands, and you yelling after them to clean their hands before they touch the keyboards....

For those who still like to be captivated by the Legend of Chang'e, read on:-
There are many beautiful legends about the moon in China. The most popular one tells how a goddess named Chang'e ascended to the moon.
A long, long time ago, a terrible drought plagued the earth. Ten suns burned fiercely in the sky like smoldering volcanoes. The trees and grass were scorched. The land was cracked and parched, and rivers ran dry. Many people died of hunger and thirst.
The King of Heaven sent Hou Yi down to the earth to help. When Hou Yi arrived, he took out his red bow and white arrows and shot down nine suns one after another. The weather immediately turned cooler. Heavy rains filled the rivers with fresh water and the grass and trees turned green. Life had been restored and humanity was saved.
One day, a charming young woman, Chang'e makes her way home from a stream, holding a bamboo container. A young man comes forward, asking for a drink. When she sees the red bow and white arrows hanging from his belt, Chang'e realizes that he is their savior, Hou Yi. Inviting him to drink, Chang'e plucks a beautiful flower and gives it to him as a token of respect. Hou Yi, in turn, selects a beautiful silver fox fur as his gift for her. This meeting kindles the spark of their love.
And soon after that, they get married.
A mortal's life is limited, of course. So in order to enjoy his happy life with Chang'e forever, Hou Yi decides to look for an elixir of life. He goes to the Kunlun Mountains where the Western Queen Mother lives. Out of respect for the good deeds he has done, the Western Queen Mother rewards Hou Yi with elixir, a fine powder made from kernals of fruit which grows on the tree of eternity. At the same time, she tells him: If you and your wife share the elixir, you will both enjoy eternal life. But if only one of you takes it, that one will ascend to Heaven and become immortal. Hou Yi returns home and tells his wife all that has happened and they decide to drink the elixir together on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month when the moon is full and bright.
A wicked and merciless man named Feng Meng secretly hears about their plan. He wishes Hou Yi an early death so that he can drink the elixir himeslf and become immortal. His opportunity finally arrives. One day, when the full moon is rising, Hou Yi is on his way home from hunting. Feng Meng kills him. The murderer then runs to Hou Yi's home and forces Chang'e to give him the elixir. Without hesitating, Chang'e picks up the elixir and drinks it all. Overcome with grief, Chang'e rushes to her dead husband's side, weeping bitterly.
Soon the elixir begins to have its effect and Chang'e feels herself being lifted towards Heaven. Chang'e decides to live on the moon because it is nearest to the earth. There she lives a simple and contented life. Even though she is in Heaven, her heart remains in the world of mortals. Never does she forget the deep love she has for Hou Yi and the love she feels for the people who have shared their sadness and happiness.

Another legend explained the role of the Old Man on the Moon, the Divine Match-maker. The Chinese believed that marriages were made in Heaven but prepared on the moon. The Old Man on the Moon tied the feet of young men and women with red cords for marriage. Thus a maiden made offerings and prayed to him during the Mid-Autumn Festival, hoping that some day she would ride in the red bridal sedan chair.

Happy Pesta Tanglung aka Lantern Festival, another name for this festive day.