of mulberries and mustard seeds: Mid-Autumn Festival

The Mid-Autumn Festival is based on the Lunar calendar and occurs when the moon is at its roundest or fullest. There are many stories and legends surrounding this day, with the most popular and well-known one about a beautiful young woman and a warrior prince. They meet, fall in love, and for various reasons depending on which version you get, they get separated. The young woman ends up on the moon, while the warrior prince remains on earth. They are only allowed to meet in person once a year, which is the Mid-Autumn Day.

Today, the Mid-Autumn Festival is a time to gather with family and friends. Since the moon is round and never ending, it symbolizes the relationships we have with our loved ones as a circle of friends/family as everlasting. In celebration, people will go home to be with family and eat moon cakes, which are pastries filled with various items, such as fruit, egg yolk, dates, meat. It's like the equivalent of our fruit cakes. Certain fruits are also popular during this time, such as grapes, fresh dates, and pears. Everyone at work this year were given moon cakes and either a box of pears or a canister of cooking oil. The actual Mid-Autumn Day for this year was September 22nd.