We are trying to learn as much about Ava's culture as we can. October 6Th is a major holiday in Chinese culture, it is called the Moon Festival. We are planning to celebrate all Chinese holidays with Ava so we decided we would start this year. We are planning on going to Chinatown in Washington D.C. on 10/06/06 to celebrate. If our wait for Ava is about 13 months her birth mother is probably pregnant with her right now. It's comforting to us just knowing that Ava and her birth mother will most likely be celebrating also that day. Here is a bit of info about the Moon Festival if you are interested. We hope you will all look at the moon on 10/06/06 and think of Ava!!!


In China and throughout many Asian countries people celebrate the Harvest Moon on the 15Th day of the eighth month of their lunar calendar. The date in the Western calendar changes yearly. This year, it falls on October 6.

The Harvest Moon or Mid-Autumn Festival (Zhong Qiu Jie) is a day of family reunions much like a Western Thanksgiving. Chinese people believe that on that day, the moon is the roundest and brightest signaling a time of completeness and abundance. During the Mid-Autumn Festival, children are delighted to stay up past midnight, parading multi-colored lanterns into the wee hours as families take to the streets or city parks to moon-gaze.
It is also a romantic night for lovers, who sit holding hands on hilltops, riverbanks and park benches, captivated by the brightest moon of the year.

The festival dates back to the Tang dynasty in 618 A.D., and as with many celebrations in China there are ancient legends closely associated with it.
In Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore, it's sometimes referred to as the Lantern Festival, (not to be confused with a similar celebration during the Chinese New Year), but whatever name it goes by, the centuries-old festival remains a beloved annual ritual celebrating an abundance of food and family.

Traditional foods for a Chinese Mid-Autumn feast are red — for good luck. Lobster and salmon are particular favorites along with apples, pomegranates, roasted peanuts, pomelo, chestnuts, fatt koh (sponge cakes) and moon cakes.

One of the stories told to children during Moon Festival is of the fairy living in a crystal palace. She comes out to dance on the shadowed surface of the moon. Legend says the "lady living in the moon" dates back to ancient times when ten suns appeared in the sky. The Emperor ordered a famous but mean archer to shoot down the nine extra suns. Once the task was accomplished, Goddess of Western Heaven rewarded the archer with a pill of immortality. But his wife, wishing to save people from his bad disposition, took the pill herself. She has been banished to the moon ever since. They say her beauty is greatest on the day of the Moon Festival.