Mid-Autumn Festival in Singapore

It’s that time of the year to light up the lanterns at night and savour delicious mooncakes. The yearly Mid-Autumn Festival is a harvest festival. Although this festival is celebrated by ethnic Chinese in Singapore, other ethnicities join the festivities, thus celebrating as a community.

The first attribute to the Mid-Autumn Festival are lanterns. Children love choosing and admiring the colourful lanterns and carrying them around at night. The traditional lanterns are made from paper and tend to be in simple block colours. Now, there are more modern paper lanterns with cartoon characters either printed on them or the lanterns themselves are shaped as the characters. Another version of the lantern is multi-coloured and made from cellophane. These lanterns are shaped as animals, and look cool at night when lighted up. These lanterns are brought outside at night and are lighted by a candle inside each lantern. Another trend that has emerged is the battery-operated lanterns. Not only can these lanterns light up, they have music too when turned on!

Lanterns sold at a local supermarket - NTUC Fairprice

The second (and delicious) attribute to the festival are the mooncakes. Mooncakes are round and have patterns on the pastries’ shells. The traditional mooncakes are baked with pastes inside them. Some of these mooncakes have egg yolks in the middle of the cakes, but there are plenty of non-egg yolk options. Common pastes include red bean and lotus pastes. Modern twists to the mooncake include ice cream mooncakes, and new pastes such as chocolate and durian pastes are becoming popular.

Mooncake with Lotus Paste

Bazaars during the Mid-Autumn Festival season are common, and the mooncakes look scrumptious. It is always interesting to discover new innovations with mooncakes and lanterns.

The bazaar at Sun Plaza’s atrium has been decorated to set the festival’s scenes. There are many mooncake stalls from hotels and other suppliers. The lanterns that are levitating above the atrium add colour, and are pretty.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is on 27^th September 2015.

HOW TO GET THERE

Bazaar Location: Sun Plaza - Atrium

30 Sembawang Drive

Nearest MRT Station: Sembawang

Sun Plaza is a grey and yellow building opposite the MRT Station. Walk straight after tapping your Ez-Link Card and turn right. Walk down the ramp and cross the road. Viola! You've reached Sun Plaza.