Mid-Autumn Festival

The United States is one of the countries with the world’s largest Chinese immigrant populations. Although the Mid-Autumn Festival is not a federal public holiday, in cities with substantial Chinese communities—including New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia—it has become an important event on the urban cultural calendar. San Francisco: The 35th Mid-Autumn Autumn Moon Festival. On September 27–28, 2025, San Francisco Chinatown’s 35th Mid-Autumn street fair opened with great fanfare. People came from near and far to buy mooncakes and festival goods and to enjoy Chinese song and dance, dragon dances, and lion dances. San Francisco Chinatown’s Mid-Autumn street fair is one of the oldest and largest Mid-Autumn celebrations in the United States and has been held continuously for more than three decades. Philadelphia: Community organizations and multicultural participation. Philadelphia Chinatown’s 2025 Mid-Autumn Festival celebration was organized by two nonprofit organizations, PCDC (Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation) and AAU (Asian Americans United), drawing large numbers of Asian Americans as well as residents from many other ethnic communities. One of the most memorable moments came when a local American performer sang 《月亮代表我的心》 in Chinese, with remarkably standard pronunciation. The event also featured calligraphy, art displays, and inflatable play structures for children. Philadelphia’s Mid-Autumn celebration has now reached its 30th edition. Boston: Mid-Autumn Lantern Festival. Boston Chinatown held its Mid-Autumn Lantern Festival on September 13, 2025. Handmade lanterns filled the streets of Chinatown, creating an exceptionally vivid festive atmosphere. A wide range of cultural performances added to the celebration and attracted large numbers of local residents. New York: A Mid-Autumn celebration attended by the mayor. During the 2025 Mid-Autumn Festival, New York City Mayor Eric Adams specially invited members of the Chinese community to a Mid-Autumn celebration, where they shared mooncakes together. Mid-Autumn activities in New York Chinatown also included celebrations organized by local businesses and tastings of low-sugar mooncakes, offering healthier ways to mark the festival. One Chinese resident in the United States exclaimed: “Celebrating Mid-Autumn in America somehow felt like celebrating Chinese New Year! The Chinatown festivities really hit me emotionally… Red lanterns covered the entire street, and even the air smelled of sugar-roasted chestnuts and roast duck… I may physically be in America, but at that moment I truly felt, ‘where the heart finds peace, there is home’—此心安处是吾乡.”

Canada’s Mid-Autumn celebrations are equally vibrant and diverse. From large night markets to community events honoring the elderly, from cultural exchanges in public libraries to folk performances in schools, together they form a richly varied portrait of the festival. Toronto: “The Moon Is Shared Across the World” Mid-Autumn Night Market. During the 2025 Mid-Autumn Festival, the Chinese Consulate General in Toronto supported a series of events under the theme “天涯共此时—中秋节”, expressing the poetic idea that people separated by great distances may still share the same moment beneath the same moon. The 2025 Mid-Autumn Night Market in Mississauga was a centerpiece of the series. Lasting three days and centered on the traditional Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival, the night market created a joyful festive atmosphere through food, lanterns, and cultural performances, while building a bridge for friendship and mutual understanding between the peoples of China and Canada. Organizers expected 30,000 visitors. The series also included a complete performance of the Peking opera 《白蛇传》 (The Legend of the White Snake) under the theme “National Opera Celebrates Mid-Autumn · The Moon Is Shared Across the World,” as well as the “Bank of China Night · The Moon Is Shared Across the World” concert. Montreal: An eight-hour celebration of Mid-Autumn culture. In October 2025, Montreal hosted a Mid-Autumn cultural celebration themed “明月寄情·共庆中秋”, evoking the sending of affection through the bright moon and the shared celebration of Mid-Autumn. The entire program lasted eight hours, featuring songs, dance, traditional opera, Chinese instrumental music, and other performances. Vancouver: Mid-Autumn folk culture showcase. On October 4, 2025, Vancouver United Chinese School held a large-scale “Mid-Autumn Folk Culture Showcase” at Moscrop Secondary School in Burnaby, attracting nearly 400 teachers and students from across the school. Calgary: A dual expression through community associations and the public library. Calgary’s Mid-Autumn celebrations were especially varied. On September 27, the long-established Calgary Chiu Chow Association took the lead in organizing a Mid-Autumn gathering honoring the elderly, combining the celebration of the festival with the traditional Chinese virtues of respecting and caring for older generations. More than one hundred community members of Chaozhou origin gathered together. On October 3, the Calgary Jiangsu-Zhejiang-Shanghai Friendship Association held a Mid-Autumn celebration. With an impromptu accordion accompaniment by an instructor from the Jasmine Choir, singing and laughter filled the venue. On October 5, Calgary’s New Central Library hosted a Mid-Autumn Youth Cultural Exchange, ranging from the making of snow-skin mooncakes, a soft, uncooked style of mooncake with a pale glutinous-rice-flour exterior, to calligraphy experiences and Chinese traditional instrumental music performed throughout the event. The activities attracted large numbers of people from different ethnic backgrounds. Music is a language without borders: the ensemble performed festive traditional Chinese pieces such as 《花好月圆》, whose title evokes “blossoming flowers beneath a full moon” and, by extension, happiness and completeness. Whatever their background, visitors entering the venue could immediately sense the joyful atmosphere of Mid-Autumn and its spirit of reunion. That evening, the nearly century-old Calgary 至孝笃亲公所 held a grand Mid-Autumn banquet honoring the elderly. Its chairman, Chen Zhiqiang, said: “At the heart of Mid-Autumn is ‘reunion,’ while the guiding principle of our association is ‘filial piety.’ When the moon in the sky becomes full, families on earth should come together. That, in itself, is the finest expression of ‘filial piety.’”

On October 5, 2025, London Chinatown held a Mid-Autumn Festival celebration organized by the London Chinatown Chinese Association. Its chairman, Deng Zhuting, said that since its establishment, the association had remained committed to promoting cultural exchange between China and the United Kingdom and fostering harmony within the community. By organizing a Mid-Autumn celebration, it hoped that overseas Chinese could experience the warmth of home, the cohesion of community, and the beauty of multicultural coexistence even while living abroad. At the event, local residents tried traditional Chinese performance arts including kuaiban (快板), a rhythmic storytelling form performed with bamboo clappers, while performers dressed in Mongolian ethnic attire also took to the stage. People gathered in London Chinatown to watch the Mid-Autumn festivities and experience the atmosphere of the festival far from its homeland.

Germany is one of the European countries with the richest range of Mid-Autumn activities. Berlin’s Gardens of the World: Tens of thousands celebrate Mid-Autumn together. On September 27, 2025, the annual Mid-Autumn celebration was held at Berlin’s Gardens of the World, where tens of thousands of German residents experienced the festival’s atmosphere of reunion amid laughter and festivity. Since the completion of its Chinese Garden, “得月园”, in 2000, the Gardens of the World has held Mid-Autumn celebrations every year. Berlin Mid-Autumn musical exchange. The Chinese Embassy in Germany and several German friendship organizations held a Mid-Autumn musical exchange in Berlin. German resident Isabella Hansen said: “I think it [the Mid-Autumn Festival] is a wonderful family gathering—a time to celebrate autumn together, enjoy delicious food together, and gaze romantically at the moon.” German resident Peter Krotzberg said: “The Mid-Autumn Festival lives up to its name because the moon is full. Looking at the moon, you feel peaceful and feel at home, because it returns to an ancient tradition: wishing that everything goes well throughout the year, that the harvest is abundant, and that everyone remains healthy.” The Chinese Cultural Center in Berlin also held a “天涯共此时” Mid-Autumn Concert, bringing together more than 180 guests from Chinese and German political, cultural, academic, and other circles, as well as representatives of cultural institutions from several countries based in Germany. German university student Phil Milenz said: “Holding this kind of event in Germany and having the opportunity to show Chinese culture to German audiences is very important, because culture can communicate with and understand other cultures through things such as music.” Eysach Palace: Mid-Autumn inside a castle. On October 11, 2025, a “Mid-Autumn Celebration” jointly organized by the Eysach Palace Museum, the Confucius Institute Nuremberg-Erlangen, and the Bayreuth Chinese Cultural Association was held at Eysach Palace in Bavaria. As Mid-Autumn entered a German castle, Eastern and Western cultures met and mingled within its historic architecture. Frankfurt Book Fair: A refined Mid-Autumn literary gathering. On October 17, 2025, the event “天涯共此时——中秋书香雅集”, organized by the China National Tourist Office in Frankfurt, was held at the Frankfurt Book Fair, bringing the atmosphere of Mid-Autumn into a gathering shaped by books and literary culture.