Taiwan celebrates with a 4-day break starting September 18-21, 2021, the Mid-Autumn Festival or the Moon Festival 2021. The said festival is celebrated every 15^th day of the 8^th month (September) based on the Chinese calendar or early October in the Gregorian calendar. 

     The Moon Festival is one of the most celebrated cultural holidays in Taiwan, where families gather to eat moon cake or drink tea while admiring the beauty of the moon. 

     According to the website TeaFromTaiwan one of the popular legends of the moon festival is the story of Hou Yi, an immortal archer who shot down 9 extra suns from the sky and eventually saved the earth from being scorched. Unfortunately, those 9 suns were the sons of the Jade God. Hou Yi was punished, and he became a mortal.

    When Hou Yi met a young woman with water from the river when he returned home, he suddenly stopped and asked the woman for a drink. The young woman (named Chang-e), recognized Hou Yi who saved the earth from the scorching suns. She gave him a flower as a gift or token of respect. In return for the woman's kindness, Hou Yi gave her a silver fox fur. With this meeting, their love was ignited and shortly afterward, they were married and lived happily.

    Hou Yi's love for Chang-e was so great that he wanted it to last forever. To make this possible, he sought the elixir of immortality from the Western Queen. The Western Queen gave Hou Yi a pill as a reward for his good deeds. If Hou Yi shares the pill with Chang-e, they would both enjoy eternal life. But if only one of them takes it, only that person will be immortal.

    An evil man known as Feng Meng learned of Hou Yi's pill and wanted it for himself. So when Hou Yi was hunting in the fields, he went to Chang-e and demanded the pill. Knowing that she could not resist Feng Meng's strength, Chang-e swallowed the pill rather than giving it to him. Right after, she felt lighter and lighter and started to ascend into the sky until she reached the moon, living there ever since.

    On Hou Yi's return home, he learned what happened. Because he was in deep grief for losing Chang-e, he left the earth and went to live on the Sun. Once a year, every 15_th day of the 8_th month, Hou Yi would visit his wife, which makes the moon full and beautiful on that night.