Autumn Moon Festival in San Francisco - Essay Example

ering that the Autumn Moon Festival is close to the end-period of summer harvest, a lot of people in San Francisco take this opportunity to give thanks for a fruitful return. A large photo of “Chang’e floating to the Moon” (Chinatown Merchants Association, 2005) is commonly used to symbolize the legendary and ancient stories about the Autumn Moon Festival. The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the most important holidays in the Chinese calendar since this occasion is not only being celebrated in San Francisco but also in other countries like Australia, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan among others where the Chinese population is huge.

Xia and Shang Dynasty in China greatly influence the Autumn Moon Festival. Chinese people during the Zhou Dynasty celebrated the Mid-Autumn Festival for the purpose of worshiping the moon. During the olden days, it is possible for the sun or the moon to be worshiped by people as deities since these were some of the readily visible objects. (ChinaTown Merchants Association, 2005) Over the years, this practice has been passed on to Tang Dynasty. The Southern Song Dynasty started the practice of producing round moon cakes as a symbol of the moon which they give to their relatives as a gift and good wishes to their family members.

The 17th Annual Autumn Moon Festival in San Francisco was celebrated with lion and dragon dances, beauty queens, Chinese arts and crafts, moon cakes, and other commercially sold food and drinks. (Pang, 2007) Approximately more than 100 communities or roughly 100,000 individuals joined the celebration which took place in September 22 and 23 wherein participants has enjoyed the different forms of entertainment presented on stage. Most of the entertainment programs were very much inspired by the traditional Chinese folk dances, martial arts, and the modern jazz routines.

Some popular Chinese songs were also sung by some of the Festival performers. Since the Autumn Moon Festival in