About Mid-Autumn Festival
The Mid-Autumn Festival is timed to the full moon of the eighth lunar month — the brightest, roundest moon of the year — and centres on the legend of Chang'e, the moon goddess. After her husband Hou Yi shot down nine of the ten suns scorching the earth, he was given an elixir of immortality; Chang'e drank it (in some tellings to keep it from a thief, in others by accident) and floated to the moon, where she lives still with a jade rabbit. Families look up at the full moon on this night and remember her.
For a deeper historical treatment, see Mid-Autumn Festival — Wikipedia.
The festival is thoroughly culinary: mooncakes — dense pastries stamped with auspicious patterns and filled with lotus paste, red bean, salted egg yolk or modern flavours like custard — are exchanged in elaborate gift boxes between families, friends and businesses. Children carry illuminated lanterns through the streets. In Vietnam (Tết Trung Thu) it is especially a children's festival; in Korea (Chuseok) it lasts three days and centres on ancestral rites.
Traditional greetings
The phrases below are the ones most often used to mark Mid-Autumn Festival in person, by phone, and on cards. The native-script column shows the greeting as a recipient would read it; the transliteration is for those who would like to say it aloud; the English column is a literal rather than a poetic translation.
| Language | Greeting | Transliteration | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mandarin | 中秋节快乐 | Zhōng qiū jié kuài lè | Happy Mid-Autumn Festival |
| Mandarin | 月圆人团圆 | Yuè yuán rén tuán yuán | When the moon is round, the family is reunited |
| Cantonese | 中秋節快樂 | Jung chau jit faai lok | Happy Mid-Autumn Festival |
| Vietnamese | Chúc mừng Tết Trung Thu | Happy Mid-Autumn Festival |
Design tips for printable Mid-Autumn Festival cards
Hand-printed cards for Mid-Autumn Festival reward restraint and specific reference. The notes below distil what the most thoughtful cards in the tradition tend to do — and what the most commercial ones tend to get wrong.
- A single full moon in soft cream, off-centred against deep teal night, with the silhouette of a rabbit — that is the festival in one image.
- Mooncake stamp patterns make beautiful endpapers; many traditional patterns are in the public domain.
- For Vietnamese cards, the carp-shaped lantern is the more familiar visual cue.
- Use a textured uncoated stock — the festival has a quiet, contemplative tone.
- Avoid red and gold here — Mid-Autumn is the moon, not the new year.
A starting palette:
Five verses for Mid-Autumn Festival cards
Each verse below is short enough to copy onto a folded card by hand. They progress from formal to intimate; pick the one that best fits the relationship and the year you are writing into.
- When the moon is full, the family is round — and wherever you are tonight, I am looking up too. Zhōng qiū jié kuài lè.
- Chang'e on the moon, a jade rabbit at her feet, and a small sweet pastry on our table — blessings for the brightest night of the year.
- May this autumn close gently for you, the way a mooncake closes — careful, generous, sealed with intention.
- Lanterns in the children's hands, old stories from the grandparents' mouths — a perfect Mid-Autumn to your home.
- From a long way off, looking at the same moon — still family. Yuè yuán rén tuán yuán.
In the CardVerse directory
The full directory entry for Mid-Autumn Festival — including its calendar dates, source attribution, and any additional verses — is on the occasion page.
Related cultural holidays
Other holidays observed in the East Asia & Pacific family of traditions: