Google joins in the Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations with a series of regional Google Doodles, featuring bunnies, mooncake and lanterns.



“Today, many east Asian nations celebrate Mid-Autumn Festivals, timed with the harvest moon – including China, Taiwan, Hong Hong, Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam. This shared holiday is generally a day off work for the whole country, and jumps around on the Roman calendar because it’s based on the lunar one,” says Google in its Doodle Archive page.



It explains that though the festival goes under various names regionally, it often occurs on the first full moon after the Fall equinox.



“The position of the moon is important for rice farming, and mid-Autumn festivals are linked this way to agriculture. East Asian countries have their own mythologies and folk traditions associated with Mid-Autumn festivals,” says Google.



It adds that all Mid-Autumn Festivals involve food, with most including some form of mooncakes like how in China and Vietnam mooncakes are baked and branded with characters while in Korea mooncakes are made from rice flour and steamed over pine needles.



“Koreans believe it’s a day to celebrate their ancestors. China’s traditions, carried out in several other countries as well, involve lighting thousands of red paper lanterns,” says Google.



Depending on what region the user is based, they will be able to see a different version of the doodle by Taiwanese-American illustrator Cynthia Yuan Cheng.



In most of Asia, it depicts a family of rabbits eating mooncake and drinking tea beside a pond, with the moon replacing the second “o” in Google.



Google explains that Japan has a story about a visible goddess and rabbit in the moon, thus Japan's version of the doodle depicts Japanese mooncakes that are spherical, like little moons.



Vietnam's version of the doodle depicts three children playing with lanterns, shaped like a fish, star and a traditional lantern.



“So to East Asia and the entire diaspora: Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!” wishes Google.