Pictures from Singapore Mid-Autumn Festival 2022 celebrations and light-ups.
Today is the first day of the Chinese Lunar Eighth Month. With that, it means the start of Mid-Autumn Festival festivities in Singapore!
Oh wait, celebrations have already started at least a fortnight ago, haven’t they? With all the mooncake fairs popping up all over the island.
While light-ups still happened during the past two years, festivities this time around are much more vibrant, mostly in the form of street fairs and food bazaars making a comeback. (Kinda like the case for Hari Raya Puasa) Outside of Chinatown and other festive areas, this is most obvious at Ngee Ann City, where the Civic Plaza is once again bustling with new-age mooncake stalls and enthusiastic buyers after a two-year hiatus.
It’s great, isn’t it? Even if you aren’t into the lanterns and mooncakes, or the festival.
Themed “Blossoming Flowers Under the Full Moon” and happening from now till Sep 25, this year’s Chinatown Mid-Autumn Light-Up is notable for several things:
There are mooncake-shaped lanterns everywhere. As in, everywhere.
There’s a mini pasar malam food fair at Smith Street. But interestingly, no mooncakes are on sale here.
The classic Chinese phrase hua hao yue yuan (花好月圆) takes center stage. It means “beautiful blossoms and a full moon” and is an idiom for blissful unions.
Madam Chang’e is noticeably not on the Eu Tong Sen Street showpiece this year! After so many complaints about her figurines being too masculine, too “fierce,” too fat, and too un-beautiful, she is not leading the light-up this time. Oh no! (Do we deserve it?)
Chinatown Mid-Autumn Festival 2022 (花好月圆庆中秋)The rear of this rabbit-mooncake showpiece looks a little different, and is frankly, much easier to photograph.Other street lanterns are full of happy boys and girls celebrating Zhongqiu Jie.Further down the road, the lanterns showcase the different types of mooncakes eaten by the major Chinese dialect groups of Singapore.Over at Kreta Ayer Square, the opening ceremony has just ended when I reached …Update Aug 28: Was at the area again two evenings later, i.e., Sunday. Here’s a much better shot of another festive performance at the Kreta Ayer Square stage.The main entrance of the Buddha Tooth Temple had awesome, artistic festive showpieces! Here’s one of them.Lastly, snapshots of the food fair at Smith Street. It’s not as large as the Ramadan pasar malams or the ones at the neighbourhood centres. But there’s still a decent selection of snacks and street food.Update Sep 9: Dropped by Chinatown again for dinner. Here’s an evening shot of the Mid-Autumn festive lights gracing Upper Cross Street.
Gardens by the Bay Mid-Autumn 2022
With Hanging Gardens – Mexican Roots ongoing in the Flower Dome, this year’s Mid-Autumn celebration at Gardens by the Bay entirely takes place outdoors. There’s a much more bustling food fair here too, with stage performances scheduled for the weekends.
The entrance showpiece. Titled Flight to the Phoenix (百鸟朝凤 | Bainiao Chaofeng), this magnificent diorama celebrates the legend of how the Chinese phoenix became the avian king, after sharing its food with other birds during a crisis.
A closer look at the King of the Birds. So the legend goes, the phoenix’s plumes are part of a glorious coat gifted to it by the other birds. The coat is made up of the most beautiful feathers of these other avians.
This year’s Colonnade of Lights. If you’ve been visiting Gardens for Mid-Autumn festivities, you’d know that this is a yearly feature. As always, the lanterns are designed and handpainted by people from all walks of life.
Part of the adorable Joyous Reunion lantern display at the Supertree Grove. This cutesy set showcases animals of the Chinese Zodiac celebrating Mid-Autumn. It’s a hit with children!
Three of the five tigers from Five Blessings. The design is inspired by traditional cloth tiger-making, with the lanterns made by female inmates in collaboration with the Yellow Ribbon Project. (In Chinese culture, “five tigers” is also the collective name for five mighty warriors from the Three Kingdoms)The picture-perfect The Colours of Daily Life and Colourful Blossoms.
Traditional and New Age Mooncakes Galore!
I’ve been posting pictures of the Singaporean mooncakes for 2022 since early August! Please check out my Facebook post and article on Delishably. Here’s a montage too!
Goodness! Singapore mooncakes now come in all flavours and colours, don’t they?
Mid-Autumn Festivities at Chinatown ends on Sep 25, 2022. Check the official page for dates of performances, activities, etc.
Geek, gamer, writer, movie lover, photographer, and occasional graphic artist. I like to consider myself a one-stop content creator of sorts. But the truth is, I obsess over too many hobbies.
