The Moon Festival, when the moon appears to be the roundest, is one of the happiest Chinese festivals of the year. In celebration, Dr. Busaba Yip demonstrates the traditional Chinese fan dance. PHOTO COURTESY OF THE WO HING MUSEUM.

LAHAINA — The Wo Hing Museum and Lahaina Restoration Foundation (LRF) are presenting a Mid-Autumn Harvest Celebration at the Chinese Moon Festival this year.

The event, with free admission, will take place at the Wo Hing Museum, 858 Front St., on Saturday, Sept. 17, from 5 to 8 p.m. This will be the first in-person celebration since the museum has reopened due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The museum is also offering free admission all day from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

“We are so pleased to honor Lahaina’s Chinese heritage during this year’s Moon Festival,” said Theo Morrison, executive director of LRF. “We invite everyone to come down to Front Street and take part in the festivities.”

According to the Wo Hing Society Research Document’s project, Zhong Qui Jie, also known as the Moon Festival, is one of the events of the Wo Hing Society dating back about 100 years. For various reasons, the celebration was discontinued until the year 2001, when the Moon Festival was brought back as an annual event by the Wo Hing Society. Since then, it is one of the LRF’s and Wo Hing Museum’s special events.

In the morning, a service is held as a way to honor the earth and land gods, as well as remember ancestors. In the evening, colorful lanterns are lit in the yard, and an altar is set up to worship the Moon Goddess with incense and candles.

“Chinese around the world celebrate the Moon Festival as one of their happiest and most important festivals of the year — a time for relaxation and celebration of the happy life,” said Dr. Busaba Yip, Wo Hing Museum docent and cultural director.

“It is a time for family members and loved ones to congregate and enjoy the full moon, an auspicious symbol of abundance, harmony and luck. An ancient tradition, the Moon Festival occurs during the Harvest Moon on the 15th day of the eighth month of the Chinese lunar calendar. This is the exact middle of autumn, which is why it is called the Mid-Autumn Festival. The Chinese tradition says that on this day, the moon is at its brightest and fullest size, coinciding with the harvest. It occurs close to the autumnal equinox, when yin and yang are in perfect balance. The date in the Western calendar changes annually. This year, it falls on Saturday, September 10, 2022, although it will be celebrated at Wo Hing on the 17th.”

The Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations date back over 3,000 years. The Chinese have celebrated the harvest during the autumn full moon since the Shang dynasty (c.1600-1046 BCE). Traditionally, the Moon Festival was considered a celebration of crops because fruits, vegetables and grains were about to be harvested. Farmers were joyful for their good harvest after a year of hard work. As a result, the Mid-Autumn Festival gradually evolved into a widely observed event of thanksgiving.

“Celebration offerings consisted of yam, lotus root, star fruit, taro and lung gok, a type of water chestnut resembling black buffalo horns,” Yip explained. “Some believe that at the time of creation, taro was the first food discovered in the moonlight. Peanuts were offered for abundance of life and prosperity, while pomelos, melons, oranges, apples, pomegranates and grapes were offered to promote sweetness, purity and fullness of life. These symbolic fruits are still used to give thanks for the bountiful harvest and to promote fertile fields and bigger crops.”

Lanterns of all sizes and shapes are carried and displayed as symbolic beacons that light people’s path to prosperity and good fortune. Of all foods offered during the Moon Festival, the mooncake is the most distinctive. Making and sharing mooncakes is one of the hallmark traditions of this festival. It is a special sweet, round cake prepared in the shape of the Moon and filled with sesame, melon, lotus seeds or bean paste. Some have a salted duck egg yolk at the center of the cake to represent the Moon.

“The round shape symbolizes completeness and reunion,” Yip said. “Thus, the sharing and eating of round mooncakes among family members during the week of the festival signifies the unity of the family. Mooncakes are traditionally served with tea, both considered as offerings to the celestial deities and ancestors.”

Tea has a long history in Asia. It is told that in 2732 BC, the Chinese emperor and herbalist Shen Nong discovered tea when stray wild tea leaves from a nearby tree fell into boiling water. The leaves changed the color of the water, and when the emperor tasted it, he found the drink refreshing.

“Tea is indigenous to China and grows wild on steep mountain slopes,” Yip noted. “The Chinese began to cultivate tea plants in the Sichuan Province as early as 350 AD. In 760 AD, the first known writing on tea preparation, The Classic of Tea by Lu Yu, was written. The Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD) saw the popularity of tea-drinking expand in China and spread to Korea, Japan and Vietnam. All variations of tea from green to black are from the same plant, just processed in different ways.

“Today, tea remains one of the most popular beverages in the world. Chinese tea ceremonies have been observed in many forms since the discovery of tea thousands of years ago. The traditional ceremonies incorporate the philosophies of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism. Peace and calm are important aspects of the tea ceremony, allowing participants to thoroughly enjoy their experience.”

Another important part of the festival celebration is Moon worship, symbolizing harmony and unity, while sharing beautiful stories and legends about the Moon. The ancient Chinese believed in rejuvenation being associated with the Moon and the water. Also, an ancient fable says that the sun and moon are a couple, and the stars are their children.

The festival celebrates three fundamental concepts that are closely connected: Gathering, such as family and friends coming together and harvesting crops for the festival; Thanksgiving, to give thanks for the harvest and for harmonious unions; and Praying, asking for earthly satisfaction, such as longevity and good fortune.

Another special custom during the Moon Festival is to worship Kwan Yin, the mother goddess of mercy. There are many stories about Kwan Yin. She is a spiritual being, a Bodhisattva (an enlightened being), who earned the right to enter paradise but returned to Earth to ease the suffering of mankind.

“A popular favorite Moon story tells of a fox, a monkey and a rabbit,” Yip recalled. “One day, the God of Heaven, disguised as an old man, came begging for food. Both the fox and monkey graciously gave what they had. The rabbit, feeling helpless with nothing to give, offered her own flesh to the hungry beggar. Touched by the actions of the rabbit, the old man revealed himself as the God of Heaven and in turn granted her immortality, sending the rabbit to the Moon, where many still claim to see her on the holiday.”

To learn more about Chinese legends, including the story of Chang’e, considered the goddess of the Moon, there are numerous books to research. “The Handbook of Chinese Mythology” also describes many versions of the myths.

Yip concluded, “At this year’s Moon Festival, we will have a blessing of the Ribbon and Fan Dance. We are also offering a Tai Chi Sword Dance, presentations of Chinese herbs and acupuncture, the Chinese tea garden, keiki craft activities, Chinese calligraphy, knot-tying demonstrations, Chinese food-tasting, and card-reading. In addition, I will be sharing the significance of the Chinese Moon Festival and tea culture with a detailed presentation.

“I hope these resources inspire people to spend this season in gratefulness and responsibility to care for the Earth for our future generations. I am thankful to all the Maui visitors and volunteers for the many years of support to keep the tradition of the Chinese Moon festival alive.

“Please join us during the in-person celebration at the Wo Hing Museum on September 17th from 5 to 8 p.m. You can also visit the museum free all day on the 17th starting at 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. I wish you all a healthy, happy Moon Festival — Zhong Qiu Jie Kuai Le!”