This is my lantern for Mid-Autumn Festival.  It is about 20 years old now.  It was kept in a cabinet for years and I took it out this year.  :D

Mid-Autumn Festival is called “ZhongQiuJie” in Chinese.   “Zhong” means mid, “Qiu” means autumn, and “Jie” means festival.  It has other names such as Mooncake Festival and “Pesta Tanglung” (Lantern Festival in Malay); which I think they are not really appropriate for naming this festival.

Because:-
1)  We are not only having mooncake.  - I saw it on TV, someone has been interviewed and said that do not let this festival become “YueBingJie” (Moon Cake Festival) which the next generation only know about eating mooncake but forget about the history and the meaning behind it.

2)  We are not only having lantern. - “TangLung” is a Cantonese word where Malays also call with the same.  It refers to Chinese lantern. Remember, Chinese do NOT ONLY hang up “DengLong“(Lantern) during mid-Autumn, but in Chinese New Year and other festivals as well.

During mid-autumn festival (15th day of 8th month in Chinese calendar), the most meaningful things to do are to have a family gathering, the kids playing lantern, adults sitting in an open air area chatting while “ShangYue” (enjoy watching the fullmoon) and drinking Chinese tea to neutralize the sweetness from the mooncake.  Besides, “DengMi” - a type of quiz guessing Chinese words game is also played among the community.

In the older days, Chineses start making poems praising the beautiful moon or express his / her feelings using beautiful poems, but in the recent years, it has changed to BBQ gathering.

This is my brother’s lantern.  It has a same age as mine.

Think carefully about this question!
Is gathering = Eating together?

I prefer talking together rather than eating together.

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival.