The festival comes at t time when the air is cool and crisp and grain crops and fruits are ripening, so people celebrate it in happy anticipation of being richly rewarded for their work in the fields.

Moon cakes are eaten on the festival. The custom began over a thousand years ago in the Song Dynasty. The first recipes for making moon cakes were very simple; later more and better varieties of the cakes were developed. Today they vary from place to place all over China in taste and preparation.