TAIPEI, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- As the autumn air turns crisp and the full moon rises, like on the Chinese mainland, Taiwan is embracing the same Mid-Autumn Festival with a familiar mix of family gatherings, traditional foods and customs passed down through generations.
For many people on the island, the festival comes with four cherished traditions: admiring the moon, eating mooncakes, barbecuing and peeling pomelos.
Mooncakes and the full moon symbolize family reunion, while pomelos -- whose Chinese name sounds similar to the word for "blessing" -- are associated with wishes for good fortune and protection.
For Taiwan businessman Chueh Jen-tsun, the memories of Mid-Autumn Festival are inseparable from the glow of charcoal fires, the fresh scent of pomelos, fireworks by the riverside and songs at karaoke bars.
Before this year's festival, Chueh shared a video on social media introducing Taiwan's unique Mid-Autumn customs to people on the Chinese mainland.
"After dinner, we would often accompany our parents to the riverside to set off fireworks, and then the whole family would happily go singing karaoke," he recalled. "The warmth of those moments has stayed with me."
Mid-Autumn Festival is also a time to express gratitude and remember their ancestors. Families may prepare a feast to pay respects to deceased relatives, while some continue traditional practices of worshipping deities, praying for a happy and smooth life.
The ways people celebrate the festival may vary on the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, but the longing for family reunion and the affection among relatives remain familiar emotions shared across the Strait.
Reunion can take many forms.
The development of Taiwan was closely tied to waves of migration from various corners of the Chinese mainland over generations.
Deep connections with ancestral homes on the mainland led to the establishment of many townsmen associations across Taiwan. Today, dozens of them remain active, organizing events during holidays such as the Lunar New Year, Qingming Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival.
Ahead of this year's festival, people in Taipei and Jinan in east China's Shandong Province held a video gathering, allowing relatives and folks from the two cities to exchange greetings and celebrate together despite the distance. Such a gathering has become an annual Mid-Autumn tradition.
"The bridge cannot be interrupted and should continue," said Yu Mao-sheng, head of an association for Taiwan people who are from Shandong. The event has been held for nearly a decade, he said, expressing hope that people on both sides will have more opportunities to meet and maintain their ties through regular exchanges.
For some, the most meaningful reunion is a journey back to their ancestral hometown.
In early September, Taiwan resident Teng Tai-hsien, whose father moved to Taiwan more than seven decades ago from Shandong, traveled to Zaozhuang in Shandong to trace his family's origins and pay respects to his ancestors. He also visited Qingdao, Jinan and Yantai, meeting relatives and renewing old ties.
Teng's journey was driven in part by a promise to his father. "My father repeatedly told me that I should return to our hometown every year and never forget where our roots are," he recalled.
"When I arrived back in my hometown, I immediately felt a sense of familiarity. I truly felt that I was coming home," he said.
For Teng, the journey was more than a return to a place on a map. It was a way of reconnecting with his family roots and one he hopes to pass on to the next generation.
"I will also take my children back to Zaozhuang to pay respects to our ancestors, so that they can better understand where their roots lie," he said.
Under the full moon, reunion takes many forms -- a family dinner, a shared mooncake, a video call across the Strait or a journey home. Yet each carries the same simple wish: to be close to the people and places that make home feel like home. ■
