Eating moon cakes while watching the full moon is a central part of the mid-autumn festival throughout China, and is a symbol of family unity. At the very beginning, the moon cakes were served as a sacrifice to the Moon. The words moon cake first appeared in the Southern Song Dynasty, even though, at that time, the moon cakes were not round. Nowadays, moon cakes are given as presents to loved ones and it represent people’s wishes to be together during the mid-autumn festival.
Apart from these two traditional customs, different regions have their own celebrations.