Lantern display celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival in Singapore

A lunar lantern celebration

The Mid-Autumn Festival, or Moon Festival, is a celebration of the autumn harvest observed by the Chinese and a few other other Asian countries. It falls on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month, the full moon closest to the fall equinox. Originally a plea to the gods for rains to ensure a good harvest next year, Mid-Autumn Festival has become a more secular bit of autumn fun, with children and adults gathering to give thanks, eat sweet mooncakes, and light lanterns like the hand-painted ones we're looking at here from a previous celebration in Singapore.