Mid-Autumn Festival in Songyang: Traditions of the Harvest Moon

Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the most cherished times in the Chinese lunar calendar. Celebrated on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month, when the harvest season is underway, it is a time for reunion. In 2025, this falls on October 6, when communities across China will once again gather under the bright autumn moon.

Moonlight offerings

In Zhejiang Province, tucked into the green mountains of southwest Lishui, lies Songyang, often described by Chinese travelers as the ‘last secret land of Jiangnan.’ As evening approaches on Mid-Autumn, families prepare tables in courtyards, shopfronts, or homes, laying out offerings in round bamboo trays. Mooncakes, pomelos, pomegranates, and red dates are displayed, their circular forms echoing the full moon and symbolizing completeness.

Candles are lit, incense drifts into the night air, and a quiet moment of worship unfolds beneath the autumn sky. Soon after, families turn to the treats enjoyed as part of the tradition here: Songyang’s handmade mooncakes, known locally as “oil cakes,” cooked in iron pans over charcoal fires, their aroma carrying through the narrow lanes. Fillings range from red bean paste and sesame to minced meat with preserved mustard greens or smooth lotus seed paste, flavors that reflect the seasons in each bite.

Equally beloved is the “moonlight Buddha”, a mint-flavored jelly that cools the mouth and sparks childhood memories for generations of Songyang natives. Alongside it is another festive specialty: sha lei. These glutinous rice dumplings, rolled in ground sesame and sugar, are passed from hand to hand, their roundness symbolizing reunion.

Old streets with living memories

As dusk deepens, private rituals give way to public gatherings. Songyang’s old town comes alive as families spill into its lanes and squares, echoing the market culture that once defined local life. Traces of that past linger: some lanes were once devoted to tobacco trading, others to livestock sales, while cotton beating, scale making, and blacksmithing each had their place. Though many of these trades have faded, the streets continue to serve as a gathering space for the community.

Traditions in the villages

Beyond the lively streets of the old town, quieter customs endure in the villages. In Tanghou, a settlement with roots in the Southern Song dynasty, Mid-Autumn was not about mooncakes but rice. The holiday often coincided with the harvest, and families would cook fresh grains from the new crop, placing a small bowl on an upstairs balcony or wherever the moon was visible.

This act of “placing new rice” was a gesture of gratitude to heaven and earth for the year’s yield, a reminder that the festival has long been intertwined with agricultural rhythms and the lives of farming families.

Mid-Autumn Festival continues to bring people together through food, ritual, and the simple act of gathering. As the moon rises over Zhejiang’s mountains, its light falls on both lively streets and quiet village homes, connecting generations across time and place.

The same paths that fill with celebration at festival time are part of ancient routes that once carried tea, trade, and stories between villages. Today, they lie at the heart of WildChina’s GUDAO journeys, tracing Songyang’s historic trails through its landscapes and communities. Get in touch with our travel designers to explore these ancient trails and connect with the living heritage of Songyang.

From all of us at WildChina, we wish you a joyful Mid-Autumn Festival.