Moon Festival
Yesterday was the Moon Festival, or Mid-Autumn Festival. It is a holiday celebrated in China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Vietnam, and it falls on the lunar calendar’s August 15th. The 15th is the middle of the month, and that means full moon on the lunar calendar. The month, August, has something to do with the equinox (I don’t know all the details). Supposedly, it’s the day that the moon is the fullest, roundest, biggest, and brightest.
Traditionally, families hang out outside to watch the moon, and eat delicious moon cakes. There are other customs but they are not worth discussing because they don’t involve food. And people tell stories about the moon. And by that I mean stories about mythical characters and creatures that went or lived on the moon and has nothing to do with Neil Armstrong. Of course, nowadays there are tall buildings and it’s harder to see the moon. But don’t worry, people still eat moon cakes.
Thanks to the traffic on the 101 freeway, I got plenty of time to look at the moon. I was going southeast on the freeway so the moon was right in front of me. It was indeed bright and beautiful. I don’t know if it was the biggest or brightest of the year, since I don’t usually measure and write down the size and luminance level when I look at the moon. But it was nice to look at. (And in case you are wondering, I didn’t eat any moon cake.)
If you’ve missed it, well, some people actually think the moon on the 16th is generally better than that on the 15th. (We are talking about lunar calendar here, of course.) So tonight might actually be a good time to take a look. You will need to make a few small steps to go outside, but it will be a huge step for mankind. Think about it. If people all do this, they can appreciate the beauty of it and have more peace in their mind. The world will be a better place. Some people might also accidentally discover alien lives. Or they might gain useful insights about neck pain. I don’t know. There must be some good, right?
And of course, here’s my favorite song about the moon from Sesame Street.
(And this will probably be runner-up.)
Comments(7)
I always love watching the moon, I’m mystified by it. I felt like it has a story that no man will ever decipher, at least not in this lifetime.
Walter’s last blog post..Why are we having problems with problem?
That’s the beauty of it.
Hilariously put! I’m actually getting more and more into astronomy these days, and just happened to notice the very bright moon last night. It was quite weird, because it’s been very overcast lately and it was the first time I could see it completely in a few months. It’s easy to forget how pretty all the astronomical things are, we take them for granted.
Weird to read this post right after complaining about the missile being sent to the moon.
Maybe they’ll find cookie crumbs instead of water vapor.
@Na: Good timing. The clouds are gone just in time!
@Michelle: I wonder how much information we got from that experiment. The hype was there, but the sight was anticlimatic. The camera didn’t seem to have captured much, so I wondered what other instruments picked up.
Doesn’t the moon bring out psycho killers and werewolves?
I am sure, without the moon, they would’ve found something else to howl at anyway.