Where to celebrate the Moon Festival

HONOLULU (KHON2) — Friday, Sept. 29 is the first day of the Moon Festival.

Celebrating this traditional Chinese holiday is a way of marking end of the autumn harvest season. It is also a time to celebrate the family and plan for family reunions.

So, while you’re doling out yolk-ridden moon cakes and red envelopes meant to spread luck, KHON2.com has compiled a list of events that you and your family can enjoy for the 2023 Moon Festival.

To kick things off, there will be a Forest Bathing with a Full Moon event taking place on Thursday, Sept. 28 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.

The event includes a “gentle, highly interactive immersion in a 100-year-old botanical garden”. Organizers said that you will be guided through a series of sensory experiences, opportunities to quietly reflect and a time to share your observations with other participants. This event is suitable for most physical abilities, according to the organizers.

At the Chinatown Cultural Center, there will be a Honolulu Mid-Autumn Festival in Chinatown. Residents and visitors are invited to celebrate over the weekend, Friday, Sept. 29 and Saturday, Sept. 30, to celebrate. There will be food and craft vendors, keiki activities and live entertainment from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.

There also will be a local astronomer from Stargazers of Hawaii on site to share their telescope so you can get a glimpse at the final stages of the 2023 Harvest Moon. You will have the opportunity to ask the astronomer questions and even take a photo of the moon — using the telescope, of course.

Home Depot has come on board to provide a free hands-on workshop for keiki. This will take place on Sunday, Oct. 1 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. where keiki can make a craft and take it home for the family.

The Autumn Moon & Lantern Festival begins at 3 p.m. on Friday at Smith Beretania Park. There will be cultural activities that include lion dancing, a Taoist blessing, storytelling, mooncakes, lantern making, face painting, fortune telling and prizes.

Music in the park begins at 5 p.m., and a lantern parade begins at 6 p.m.

Another event that is taking place on Friday is the Full Moon Sister Circle. Organizers said this is a time to celebrate the Harvest Moon while gathering with like-minded women.

The event includes a celebration of sisterhood, meditation, journaling, a potluck, a bit of gentle stretching and a time of embracing the divine feminine energy. This is all taking place under the splendor of the full moon.

The Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii is hosting a Mid-Autumn High Tea & Mooncakes. This event takes place on Saturday, Sept. 30 from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. the Chinatown Cultural Plaza.