• Date: Fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month (September or October in Gregorian calendar)

The Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival, falls on the full moon of the eighth lunar month, when the moon is at its most luminous and round — a symbol of reunion and completeness. Families traditionally gather to admire the moon, eat mooncakes (yuèbǐng), and enjoy the mild autumn weather.

Mooncakes are dense pastries with a variety of fillings. Lotus seed paste with salted egg yolk is the traditional Taiwanese version, though contemporary variations are numerous and the pastry has become the subject of considerable culinary innovation. They are exchanged as gifts in the weeks before the festival, and the market becomes highly competitive.

A uniquely Taiwanese Mid-Autumn tradition that has emerged relatively recently is outdoor barbecuing. A television advertisement from the 1980s associated barbecue sauce with the festival, and the practice caught on to the point where the smell of charcoal grills pervades Taiwanese neighbourhoods on the festival evening. It is an entirely commercial invention that has become a genuine cultural tradition.