Mid-Autumn Festival 中秋

The fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month — the moon at its fullest, and the festival of reunion. The Mid-Autumn Festival falls on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month. Its observances centre on the full moon and on the household's completeness, and it is the second-largest festival after the new year.

Its date is set by the lunar month, so it moves against the solar calendar. The fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month — the moon at its fullest, and the festival of reunion. The festival's date is a lunar one chosen to coincide with a full moon, which makes it one of the few places where the lunar and solar calendars produce the intended effect by design rather than by drift.

The moon cakes and the outdoor viewing of the moon are the two consistent elements. The festival's association with reunion is the reason it carries the weight it does in the calendar. It is grouped under Metal (金) in the five-element system.