Celebrating Mid-Autumn Moon Festival

Each Autumn people in China celebrate the Mid-Autumn festival that celebrates the full moon. I've loved this festival since I learned about it, it's got all kinds of good things - special foods, a cool legend, lovely crafts, and best of all - the moon.

To introduce this holiday to our kids here at the Club, we start out with learning about the legend of The Lady in the Moon. Here's a simplified version that I found on Kid World Citizen

A long time ago in China there were ten suns in the sky.  Because of this it was very hot!  The blazing suns dried up the rivers and there was a serious drought.  People were running out of water to drink and the crops in the rice fields were withering.  A famous archer, Hòu yì, was summoned to shoot down 9 of the suns in the sky.  He did it successfully and was rewarded a “pill of the immortality.” Hòu yì went home and gave the precious pill to his wife, Cháng’é, for safekeeping.  A visitor of the archer’s, however, heard about this pill and wanted to steal it from his wife.  As the visitor was about to steal the pill from her Cháng é swallowed it.  After she took the pill Cháng é felt lighter and lighter.  Then she started to float.  She flew all the way to the moon.  When Cháng é got to the moon she coughed up the pill and the pill became a rabbit.  The rabbit was the only companion Cháng é- the Moon Fairy- had on the moon and is named the “Jade Rabbit.”

After we read the story, we use coloring pages from Coloring Book, but it seems that website isn't available any longer. So, I did a bit of research and found the coloring pages listed for free on Teachers Pay Teachers.

For those kids who enjoy the little crafty things we do (and also because I enjoy them too!) I found a project printable from Lucky Bamboo Crafts to make your own Jade Rabbit Lantern.

Of course, no holiday celebration is complete without some yummy tidbits to munch on, and while I've never actually tried Moon Cakes, they are the traditional food for this holiday. I found a recipe for them if you're a brave soul and want to make your own, or you can order them from Amazon (keeping in mind that they are a bit pricey to order enough for your Club). Or, if you're like us and have limited time and budget - try making moon cookies. We're making simple sugar cookies and stamping them with interesting designs and viola - moon cookies. We're also sampling authentic Japanese gyoza because I never turn down an opportunity to have my husband's gyoza.

Are you celebrating Mid Autumn Festival in your Club? What special projects are your kids doing?