On every fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month, people all over China will be getting together to eat with their families, look at the moon and celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival. The Mid-Autumn Day is one of the biggest festivals in the Chinese lunar calendar. It's a time for homecoming and enjoying moon cakes. This year's Mid-Autumn Festival falls on September 22.

Moon cakes, the traditional Chinese food popular in the Mid-Autumn Festival.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is held during the autumnal equinox to celebrate the time when the moon is in its fullest shape.

Families and friends gather together to admire the bright mid-autumn moon and eat moon cakes in its honor.

Chinese farmers celebrate the holiday as it marks the end of the summer harvesting season.

Besides eating moon cakes, locals also carry lanterns, burn incense, plant trees and perform traditional dance in the moon's honor.

(China.org.cn September 21, 2010)