This year the Mid-Autumn or Moon Festival is celebrated on Friday, September 29. Popular motifs for the festival include the moon, and rabbits, as legend says there’s a rabbit on the moon (similar to the European idea of the man on the moon)! Here are a few songs and rhymes that you might use in your Moon Festival / Mid-Autumn Festival story times. Most of them would also work in a moon-themed story time any time of the year.
Click on the name of each song or rhyme (in bold letters) and you’ll be taken to a Youtube video of it being performed.
English Songs / Rhymes
We made some minor changes to the lyrics this traditional storytime song to make it better fit with the Moon Festival theme, by adding a reference to the moon, and by removing any mention of illness (which is not very festive!) :
See the sleeping bunnies / Underneath the moon /
Shall we wake them with a merry tune?
Oh, so sweet / Watch them sleep /
Wake up soon!
Mandarin Songs / Rhymes
The Chinese celebration of the Moon Festival includes delicious moon cakes, family gatherings, and the sharing of stories and songs. The most famous of these is the story of the lovely Chang’E, who dances on the moon, and longs to be with her husband, the hero Hou Yi.
Japanese Songs / Rhymes
The Moon Festival is called Tsukimi in Japanese, which translates to moon-viewing or moon-watching. Like in China, the rabbit is a prominent motif, pounding rice powder to make dango. Here is a traditional Japanese folk song about a rabbit looking at the full moon.
Do you have any favourite moon or rabbit themed songs or rhymes to add to this list? I’d love to hear them!