Millions of People in China Celebrate Mooncake Festival

Month cake festival (Unsplash)

JAKARTA - Millions of people in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Mooncake Festival.

However, health authorities in China have advised their citizens not to travel out of town during the holiday season from Saturday to Monday.

Launching Antara, the appeal was issued considering that several regions in China are still implementing a partial lockdown due to the discovery of new clusters of COVID-19.

To prevent the spread of the virus from spreading, China will tighten the implementation of the COVID-19 zero policy, said Wu Liangyou of China's National Health Commission (NHC).

The policy is expected to last until the National Day holiday in early October 2022.

Residents living in Shanghai, Tianjin, and Nanjing were asked not to travel out of town for non-essential business.

Some residents of Beijing City spend the holiday in tourist attractions in the city, including shopping centers.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian Embassy in Beijing, the Indonesian Consulate General in Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Hong Kong as well as the Indonesian Economic and Trade Office (IETO) in Taipei will be closed on Monday.

Nevertheless, the representative offices of the Republic of Indonesia did not close the door to Indonesian citizens who needed urgent consular services.

Tradition

The Mid-Autumn Festival, which is called Zhongqiu Jie in Mandarin, falls on the 15th day of the eighth month of the Chinese calendar.

The tradition is commemorated by gathering with family or partners while enjoying moon cakes.

There are many interesting stories regarding the origins of this celebration. The story of Chang'e and Hou Yi is the most widely accepted.

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful woman, Chang'e, whose husband was a brave archer, Hou Yi.

One day, Chang'e drank a bottle of a potion that made her immortal to obey her husband's orders to stay safe.

He was then separated from his beloved husband, soared into the sky, and finally landed on the moon, where his wife resides to this day.