At the end of September we went to the mid-Autumn festival lantern extravaganza at Chinese Gardens (near where we used to live) - we went to this last year and it was quite something, hundreds of satin sculptures brightly lit. This year was a little disappointing (apparently they'd outsourced it).
There were very few satin thingys
and there was some dire karaoke going on in an oversized marquee with no-one in it. That said, it was still quite amusing. I've put some photos on here. For photos of last year's see our website http://www.paulandcaillie.com/ (select 2005, Singapore).Mooncakes
The mid Autumn festival is also the time to give and receive mooncakes. These look like pork pies but have a variety of sweet or savoury fillings. These mooncakes often have a whole cooked egg yolk inside to symbolise the moon.
The festival falls on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month, is also known as the Mooncake or Lantern Festival. Several interesting legends are connected with this festival but, basically, the mooncakes signify unity and a cycle completed - traditionally, the end of the farming year and an abundant harvest.
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