Upcoming Agenda
Beijing was elected the Host City for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad in 2008.
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Mid-autumn festival
A festival to celebrate the season of harvest, this day comes with prosperity and abundance of fruits, vegetables and grain. People grab this opportunity to enjoy with leisure and relaxed mood. During this festival, moon is worshipped in order to invoke winter. It was since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Mid Autumn Festival became popular. Food including apples, pears, peaches, grapes, pomegranates, melons and oranges are offered on an altar in the courtyard.
Special dishes like moon cakes, cooked taro, and edible snails from the taro patches or rice paddies cooked with sweet basil, and water caltrope are prepared. Cakes shaped like moon are also distributed among friends and relatives to mark the spirit of harmony.
Different parts of China observe this festival in variant traditions. Social gathering is organized and special performances are held in public areas to bring together folks of the locale
Lanterns are the most important part of the celebraion today; they are in all possible shapes and made of a veriety of materials. In the evening people take their lanterns and go outside, so that all the area looks like a sky on a cloudless night, lit by the stars. Children and young people carry their lamps lightning the way for adults.
When: 14 September 2008
