*Ø* Blogmanac September 11 | Chinese Moon Festival

“The date of Chinese Moon Festival (a.k.a. Mid-autumn Festival) is on the 15th moon day of 8th Chinese lunar month (Chicken month). The new moon day is the first day of a Chinese Lunar Month. Since the first day of 8th lunar month is 8-28-2003, the Moon Festival is on 9-11-2003 in China time zone. But the Moon Festival is on 9-10-2003 in USA time zones, since the new moon day is on 9-10-2003.”
Source

"To honor the Moon, women build an altar in the courtyard and sometimes put a ceramic figure of the Moon Hare or the three-legged toad of the moon in the center. Also on the altar are moon cakes and plates of pomegranates, melons, grapes, apples and peaches, all fruits that are round like the moon, and rice, wine and tea. The pomegranates and melons represent children, the apples and grapes fertility and the peaches long life. According to Li-ch'en, the melons should be cut open and the edges cut in jagged shapes like the petals of the lotus."
Source: School of the Seasons

"Chinese folklore is rich with their moon goddess, who is seen as the Lady in the Moon. One delightful Chinese moon legend, Chang O Ascends To The Moon, tells about Chang O and how she came to live in the moon palace. Another moon legend of interest is Wu Hang And The Moon Palace. In the Chinese latitudes, the woman in the moon is not viewed as Victorian since her appearance changes with light variations.”
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“Hou Yih built a beautiful jade palace for the Goddess of the Western Heaven or sometimes called the Royal Mother. The Goddess was so happy that she gave Hou Yih a special pill that contained the magic elixir of immortality. But with it came the condition and warning that he may not use the pill until he had accomplished certain things.

"Hou Yih had a beautiful wife named Chang-O. Chang-O was as curious as she was beautiful. One day she found the pill and without telling her husband, she swallowed it.

"The Goddess of the Western Heaven was very angry and as a punishment, Chang-O was banished to the moon where, according to the legend, Chang-O can be seen at her most beautiful on the night of the bright harvest moon.”
Source

"The Moon Goddess, known as Hengo or Chang-o rules the Jade Palace of the Moon. She swallowed the pill of immortality given to her husband, the archer Hou Yi, and then fled to the moon to avoid his wrath. Her husband later became the God of the Sun and now the two meet only once a month during the New Moon. Other creatures that live in the Moon include a rabbit who is always pictured working with a pestle, pounding up the elixir of life, a three-legged toad (sometimes said to be Chang-O) and a cassia tree, which although attacked by a woodcutter, keeps renewing itself."
Source: School of the Seasons

Full Moon
The Legend of the Moon Pie
Wu Hang and the Moon Palace
Chang-O ascends to the moon
Many Beijingers change ways of Moon Festival greetings: survey
The Moon Festival: Sharing the beauty of the moon
New flavour mooncakes dominate HK's Mid-Autumn Festival
Maui moon fest looks back at Chinese culture
Hong Kong's Mid-Autumn Celebrations Burn Brighter This Year