Preparations in London's Chinatown for the mid-Autumn (also Lantern or Moon) Festival where paper lanterns are to hang. The Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival or Zhongqiu Festival is a popular harvest festival celebrated by Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese people, dating back over 3,000 years to moon worship in China's Shang Dynasty. It was first called Zhongqiu Jie (literally "Mid-Autumn Festival") in the Zhou Dynasty. In Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines, it is also sometimes referred to as the Lantern Festival or Mooncake Festival. The Mid-Autumn Festival is held on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese calendar, which is in September or early October in the Gregorian calendar. It is a date that parallels the autumnal equinox of the solar calendar, when the moon is at its fullest and roundest.
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