Lanterns will be lit and mooncakes exchanged this weekend for the annual Mid-Autumn Festival, a harvest celebration that falls on the 15<sup>th day of the eighth month of the Chinese lunar calendar. The festival, which this year falls on 27 September, is celebrated in China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnam, Taiwan and neighbouring countries. It is the second most important festival after the Spring Festival and honours the full moon as a symbol of peace, prosperity and family reunion.

One of the most important part of celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival is to give mooncakes, traditional Chinese pastries, to your friends and family. Brightly coloured lanterns line streets or are set on water, giving rise to the nickname "lantern festival".

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A dancer performs at the Confucius Temple in Nanjing, China in 2014 ChinaFotoPress/Getty
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A variety of mooncakes with different fillings are displayed for the camera at a hotel in Singapore Reuters
mid-autumn festival
A boy smiles as he poses for photos in front of a floating lantern display in Singapore Reuters
mid-autumn festival
People launch Kongming lanterns in celebration of the Mid-Autumn Festival in Yichun, China ChinaFotoPress/Getty
mid-autumn festival
Chinese women take pictures of lit statues replicating China's famous Terracotta Warriors at an exhibition in Beijing Getty
mid-autumn festival
Visitor walks in front of giant lanterns at the Lantern Wonderland exhibition at Hong Kong's Victoria Park in 2010 Reuters
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Visitors walk past moonlight decorations at the Mid-Autumn Festival temple fair at Lugou Bridge, Beijing, in 2007 Getty
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A man prepares mooncakes at a bakery for the upcoming Mid-Autumn festival in Hanoi Reuters
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A traditional mooncake contains a thick filling usually made from red bean or lotus seed paste Getty
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