The Moon Festival in Taiwan is always on the 15th day of the eighth month in the lunar year. Since the actual day of the moon festival is marked according to the Chinese lunar calendar, the date for the festival differs on our calendar from year to year. This year, the Moon Festival was on September 15th. On this day, everyone in Taiwan got a day off from school or work to get together with their friends and family and celebrate. Most people celebrate the Moon Festival by having a barbecue and eating traditional foods like moon cakes and pomelos. A moon cake is a round pastry that can have one of many different kinds of fillings. A pomelo is a citrus fruit, almost like an orange or a grapefruit, that is very popular in Taiwan at this time ofyear. On the night of the Moon Festival, you can walk down any street to see every single house with people outside gathered around their grills. You might even see some kids wearing the pomelo peel like a hat, as this is thought to bring good luck to anyone who does it!
I learned about the Moon Festival and the different activities and foods that symbolize the meaning of the day to Taiwanese people.
