The moon festival in Taiwan is also known as the mid-autumn festival. This day is a national holiday, so everyone in Taiwan has the day off.

The holiday usually falls on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar, which is around September or October in the modern calendar. Lunar, by the way, means "of the the moon," so the lunar calendar can be called the moon calendar. This holiday will be the full moon of the month. People love to go moon-gazing, that is, to find a good spot such as a park or rooftop to get a good view of the moon.

It is a day of family get-togethers, as much as a time when farmers give thanks at local temples for the recent harvest. Many also go to temples to pray for specific requests, such as to marry one’s desired partner, to give birth to a child, or to live a long, prosperous life.

There are many shared stories during this holiday. For example, there is a story of a goddess Chang'e who had come to earth to find a husband. She had an immortality pill to give to her husband so he could live forever with her. But unfortunately, she married a cruel man who became emperor and he wanted to rule the world forever. So Chang'e took the pill and flew to the moon to get away from the cruel emperor and prevent him from living forever and causing the people to suffer.

This holiday is also famous for its mooncakes. Mooncakes are rounded pastries that have a sweet filling inside. This filling is a thick paste filling. In modern times, it comes in many flavors, even green tea and chocolate. But traditional flavors include red bean paste, lotus seed paste, with salty egg yolks in the center. Sometimes a bit of pork is mixed into the paste.

But the biggest event of the night is the barbecue (BBQ). They use smaller grills compared with the USA, and usually only grill out on this particular holiday. In western countries, people grill out all year round whenever the weather is nice. Grilling out, or barbecuing, is not related to any particular holiday, although it is popular on July 4th in the USA.