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Thursday marked the start of the Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations across many countries in Asia.
The festival, traditionally meant to offer thanksgiving for the harvest season, is celebrated by ethnic Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese communities. So folks in countries including South Korea, mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong get a public holiday as well.
Over in Hong Kong, the Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance team took a long “dragon” of lit incense through the narrow streets of Causeway Bay. The tradition is over 100 years old and the dragon is accompanied by loud drumming and firecrackers.
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Image: isaac lawrence/AFP/Getty Images
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Image: isaac lawrence/AFP/Getty Images
Other dragon dances went through busy districts such as Wan Chai, where lanterns were on full display.
Lanterns also came to life across the region.
In Singapore, many of the parks and monuments were dressed up to commemorate the mythical Moon goddess, Chang’e:
In Vietnam, a giant dragon and fish lanterns floated through the streets.
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Image may be NSFW.
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But perhaps what most people look forward to during the festival are the noms. Mooncakes, in particular, are baked specially for the season and flood the market in the preceding weeks.
In South Korea, they eat rice cakes for the three-day public holiday, known as Chuseok.
Jin-hong, a member of the K-pop boyband 24K, posted a picture that quickly went viral. In it, he’s dressed up in traditional Korean garb and the caption reads: “Let’s eat some rice cakes!”