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When Confucius Institute Day meets Moon Festival. 

Traditional Chinese Moon Festival and Confucius Institute Day. For understanding and peace. Games for fun, skills and intelligence. 

Mid-Autumn Festival is an inherited custom of moon sacrificial ceremonies. The ancient Chinese observed that the movement of the moon had a close relationship with the changes of seasons and agricultural production. Hence, to express their thanks to the moon and celebrate the harvest, they offered a sacrifice to the moon on autumn days.

Schedule

12:00            Opening of the day (Astra Forum)

12:00 - 15:00 Ping-pong Games (Astra Forum) ()

12:30 - 13:15 Short Chinese Interest Class (A224)

12:30 - 13:15 Chinese paper-cutting workshop. Artwork with scissors (A108)

13:30 - 14:15 Chinese Calligraphy workshop. Artwork with brush pen (A224)

13:30 - 14:15 Weiqi. A war in white-black world (A007)

14:30 - 15:00 Shuttlecock - you can play for fun (Astra Forum)

Historical Background

This custom could be traced back to the Zhou Dynasty (1046 - 256 BC) and was more often practiced by the royal class on the Autumnal Equinox. At that time, the custom had no festival background at all. Later in the Sui (581 - 618 AD) and Tang (618 - 907 AD) dynasties, social prosperity inspired the custom of appreciating the moon on the moon sacrifice ceremony day among common people and the two merged. The people expressed their faith more liberally than the royal class and so they did not strictly hold their activities on the Autumnal Equinox. So August 15th of the Chinese lunar calendar, the closest full moon day to the Autumnal Equinox, turned out to be a better choice and was set as a fixed festival. This happened in the Tang Dynasty. By the time of the Northern Song Dynasty (960 - 1127 AD), Mid-Autumn Festival had already become a widely celebrated folk festival.

The Moon Cake is the special food of Mid-Autumn Festival. On that day, people sacrifice moon cakes to the moon as an offering and eat them for celebration. Moon cakes come in various flavors according to the region. The moon cakes are round, symbolizing the reunion of a family, so it is easy to understand how the eating of moon cakes under the round moon can evoke longing for distant relatives and friends. Nowadays, people present moon cakes to relatives and friends to demonstrate that they wish them a long and happy life. 

About Confucius Institute

The Confucius Institute at Tallinn University (CITU) operates as part of the Office of Chinese Language Council International (Hanban). There are more than 450 Confucius Institutes operating in foreign universities throughout the world. These institutes operate in partnership with universities in China and the partner university of the Confucius Institute at Tallinn University is Shanghai University of Finance and Economics in Shanghai.