In ancient China, moon worship was tied closely to fertility and the harvest. So the full moon that happened closest to the fall equinox became the holiday now called Mid-Autumn Festival, also called Moon Festival by some. Originally a celebration of the harvest and a plea to the gods for rains to ensure a good harvest next year, the festival has become a more secular bit of autumn fun, with children and adults alike eating sweet mooncakes, lighting lanterns, and giving thanks for all they have. Really, they had us at ‘mooncake.’
Mooncake time
Today in History
More Desktop Wallpapers:
-
Bear cubs roughhouse on Siblings Day
-
Forward-thinking women of history
-
A path lain with petals
-
A center of antiquity on the Mediterranean
-
A cliffside harbor in Sardinia
-
St. Patricks Day in County Waterford, Ireland
-
Great horned owl
-
Beyond Walls for World Refugee Day
-
Kawachi Fuji Garden
-
Defying gravity on a swing ride
-
Nazca boobies, Wolf Island, Galápagos Islands, Ecuador
-
Red fox
-
Autumn’s swan song
-
Arambol Beach, Goa, India
-
Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival, China
-
International Day of Friendship
-
Labor Day
-
An ancient sailing tradition takes to the water
-
National Lighthouse Day
-
Taking the forest to the cloud
-
The ruins of Italica, Andalusia, Spain
-
Tigh Mor Trossachs on Loch Achray, Scotland
-
National Frog Month
-
An enduring vision
-
Independence Day of the Bahamas
-
Pups of the prairie
-
Aw shucks, it’s oyster season in Galway
-
Mackerel forming a bait ball to avoid predators
-
International Beaver Day
-
Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Bing Wallpaper Gallery

