Also called otsukimi, jūgoya, harvest moon viewing
A Japanese autumn custom of setting out rice dumplings, pampas grass and harvest produce for the full moon and sitting quietly to admire it.
Tonight's moon is read when the page loads.
Take care: Cut dumplings small for children and older guests, as sticky rice dumplings are a choking risk.
The custom of viewing the mid-autumn moon came from Tang China. Heian nobles held moon-viewing parties, some on boats, and composed waka poems while looking at the moon's reflection in ponds or sake cups.
A second moon-viewing falls on the 13th night of the ninth lunar month, a month after jūgoya, with offerings of chestnuts and beans. Old belief said that viewing only one of the two moons was unlucky, so families kept both.
In some areas children are allowed to sneak in and take the moon dumplings from the offering table on tsukimi night. Losing the offerings is counted as good luck for the household, and some places still keep the game.
Moon-viewing reached Japan from Tang China in the early Heian period, and court nobles made it an occasion for music and poetry under the eighth-month full moon. During the Edo period (1603 to 1868) it spread to ordinary townspeople and farmers and took on the character of a harvest thanksgiving, which is why taro and sweet potatoes join the dumplings.
Tsukimi is not a national holiday, but it is kept in homes, temples and shops. It shares the Mid-Autumn moon with China and Korea, but its tone in Japan is quieter: the focus is on admiring the moon itself. Shops sell dango and pampas grass sets in September, and temples such as Daikaku-ji in Kyoto hold moon-viewing evenings with boats on the pond. The custom remains one of the clearest examples of a seasonal moon rite kept in ordinary homes.
Setting a table of round foods, mooncakes and fruit under the full moon of the eighth lunar month to honor the moon and Chang'e and to pray for the family to be whole.
Setting food or water out under the full moon so it can take in the moon's light, then sharing it the next day. Rooted in India's autumn full-moon festival; modern witches do the same with water.
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