The joyous Mid-Autumn Festival was celebrated on theffxi gilfifteenth day of the eighth moon, around the time of the autumn equinox. Many referred to it simply as the "Fifteenth of the Eighth Moon". This day was also considered as a harvest festival since fruits, vegetables and grain had been harvestedwow gold by this time and food maple story mesoswas abundant. Food wow power levelingofferings were placed on an altar set up in the courtyard. Apples, pears, peaches, grapes, pomegranates, melons, oranges and pomelos might be seen. Special foods for the festival included moon cakes, cooked taro and water caltrope, a type of waterwow power leveling chestnut resembling black maplestory mesosbuffalo horns. Some people insisted that cooked taro be included becausewow gold at the time of creation, taro was the first food discovered at night in the moonlight. Of all these foods, it could not be omittedmaple story meso from the Mid-Autumn Festival.The round moon cakes, measuring about wow goldthree inches in wow golddiameter and one and a half inches in thickness, resembled Western fruitcakes in taste and consistency. These cakes were made with melon seeds, lotus seeds, almonds, minced meats, bean wow goldpaste, orange peels and lard. A golden yolk from a salted duck egg was placed at the wow goldcenter of each cake, and the golden wow goldbrown crust was decorated with symbolsaoc gold of the festival. Traditionally, thirteen moon cakes were piled in a pyramid to symbolize the thirteen moons of a "complete year," that is, twelve moons plus one intercalary moon. The Mid-Autumn Festival is a wow goldtraditional festivity for both the Han wow goldand minority nationalities. The custom of worshipping the moon can be traced back as far as the ancient Xia and Shang Dynasties (2000 B.C.-1066 B.C.). In the Zhou wow goldDynasty(1066 B.C.-221 B.C.), people hold ceremonies to greet winter and worship the moon whenever the Mid-Autumn Festival sets in. It becomes very prevalent in the Tang Dynasty(618-907 A.D.) that peoplewow gold enjoy and worship the full moon. In the Southern Song wow goldDynasty (1127-1279 A.D.), however, people send round moon cakes to their relatives as gifts in expression of their best wishes of family reunion. When it becomes dark, they look up at the full silver moon or go sightseeing on lakes to celebrate the festival. Since the Ming (1368-1644 A.D. ) and Qing Dynasties (1644-1911A.D.), the custom of Mid-Autumn Festival celebration wow goldbecomes unprecedented popular. Together with wow goldthe celebration there appear wow power levelingsome special customs in different parts of the country, such as burning incense, planting Mid-Autumn trees, lighting lanterns on towers and fire dragon dances.wow gold However, the wow goldcustom of playing under the moon is not so popular as it used to be nowadays, but it is not less popular to enjoy the bright silver moon. Whenever the festival wow power levelingsets in, people will look up at the full silver moon, drinking wow goldwine to celebrate their happy life or thinking of their relatives and friends far from home, and extending all of their best wishes to them.