Mid-Autumn Festival 2025 has arrived in Singapore. Light the lanterns, munch on mooncakes and check out festive events!
On 6 October 2025, Singapore celebrates the Mid-Autumn Festival with festive events, light-ups, family-friendly activities, and mooncake fun. We love finding cool things to do in Chinatown, which is typically the epicentre of merrymaking during the festival. Here’s everything you need to know… (Oh, and take a peek at our multicultural city’s other celebrations like Chinese New Year, Hari Raya Aidilfitri and Deepavali.)
What is the Mid-Autumn Festival about?
Also known as Mooncake Festival, the Mid-Autumn Festival falls on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month (autumn season), hence the moniker. It marks the end of the autumn harvest and the Hungry Ghost Festival, and was traditionally a time of thanksgiving to the gods.
This 2,000-odd-year-old festival is also believed to originate from the tradition of worshipping the moon during the Song Dynasty. To celebrate, families and friends come together for moon-viewing parties (it’s known to shine the brightest during this period), with lanterns, mooncakes and autumn fruits like pomelo.
What’s the meaning behind the Mid-Autumn Festival?
Just like many festivals, the Mid-Autumn Festival is rife with mythical stories. The most bittersweet and popular folklore follows the Moon Goddess, Chang’e. Her husband, Hou Yi, was a Chinese archer who saved the world from burning to ashes by shooting down nine blazing suns, leaving just one.
He was rewarded with an elixir of immortality, but decided not to consume it to be with his wife. Knowing about the elixir, a greedy apprentice, Peng Meng, broke into Hou Yi’s house but was caught by Chang’e. In a turn of events, Chang’e drank the elixir and floated to the moon.
Left alone on earth, the devastated Hou Yi prepared a feast each year when the moon glowed the brightest, just to catch a glimpse of his wife. It soon turned into a tradition of offering worship to the Moon Goddess.
How does Singapore celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival?
This year, the festivities start in September until the actual festival date arrives in October. Enjoy an array of light-ups around the city, traditional and contemporary flavours of mooncakes (these signify family reunion) and magical moon-viewing parties filled with lanterns at your nearest park. Hotels and restaurants begin the sale of mooncakes as early as two months before the main event, so get your orders in! Psst: you’ll love our roundup of where to buy mooncakes in Singapore.
Mid-Autumn Festival events in Singapore
1. Mid-Autumn Festival at Gardens by the Bay
Gardens by the Bay always puts up show-stopping displays to wow us during any festive season. This SG60, you’ll get a peek at the Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations in Singapore through the years, with Ang Ku Kueh Girl as a guide, accompanied by friends like Curry Puff Boy, Sugee Cake Girl, and Roti Prata Boy.
Keep your eyes peeled for the two special lantern displays inspired by Korea and China, and enjoy the lineup of cultural performances, workshops, food, and carnival games. We’re talking about lantern walks, Chinese tea art appreciation, DIY lantern painting, and a marketplace packed with snacks like kachang puteh and candied hawthorn sticks.
Date: 22 September to 12 October 2025
Time: 6pm to 10pm
Price: Free admission
Address: Mid-Autumn Festival, Golden Garden, Supertree Grove, and Bayfront Plaza at Gardens by the Bay
2. Lights by the Lake 2025
Journey to the west of Singapore and admire magical lights at Jurong Lake Gardens for the Mid-Autumn Festival. As the sun sets, the gardens are illuminated with mesmerising displays. This year’s exhibition features an immersive Journey to the West experience, where you can walk amongst lantern installations featuring the legends of Sun Wukong, Tang Sanzang, and more.
Don’t forget to catch the amazing light show at the Cloud Pagoda, which happens every 30 minutes from 7.30pm onwards. Plus, there will be performances by local artists on selected evenings from 6.30pm to 9.30pm at the Wave Plaza in Lakeside Garden.
The highlight? NParks Concert Series in the Park: Rockestra. Held at Ficus Lawn in the Chinese Garden on 11 October from 6.30pm, the 24th edition features homegrown talents performing in English and Mandarin.
Date: 27 September to 12 October 2025
Time: 6.30pm to 10.30pm daily
Price: Free admission
Address: Lights by the Lake 2025, various locations in Jurong Lake Gardens
3. Chinatown Mid-Autumn Festival
We can’t imagine a better place to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival than Chinatown. Expect the usual iconic light installations and a boatload of exciting activities, such as food fairs, vibrant performances, and more. This year’s theme, 60 Glorious Years: Celebrating Mid-Autumn in Singapore, is a nod to our multicultural heritage.
Gaze at the 8m-tall centrepiece showcasing the number ’60’, surrounded by rabbits, mooncakes, orchids, and lanterns set against the city skyline. As you walk around New Bridge Road and Eu Tong Sen Street, you’ll spot displays of lotus flowers, a full moon, and jade pendants. At Upper Cross Street, check out the moon palaces, mooncakes, and golden lanterns. Meanwhile, South Bridge Road features Chang’e rising above rooftops.
Other activities include the Chinatown Festive Fair (7 September to 6 October), Tea Appreciation Gathering (20 September), and Mass Lantern Walk and Performances (27 September).
Date: 7 September to 20 October 2025
Time: 6.30pm to 10pm daily
Price: Free admission
Address: Chinatown Mid-Autumn Festival, multiple locations in Chinatown
4. Wan Qing Mid-Autumn Festival 2025
Round up the family for a festive weekend filled with cultural experiences and activities, including storytelling sessions, games, crafts, and lantern riddle guessing. P.S. there will be music and dance performances inspired by the tale of Emperor Tang visiting the Moon Palace, too!
Wanna go all out? Dress in a hanfu while you explore the grounds and snap photos by the guppy lantern installation. Feeling peckish? Sip on tea and munch on mooncakes at the Creative Marketplace. You can also pick up goods by local creatives such as 9tails, Gogives, Shiawase Books, Tsutsumi and more.
Date: 27 to 28 September 2025
Time: 4pm to 9pm
Price: Free admission
Address: Wan Qing Mid-Autumn Festival 2025, Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce & Industry, 47 Hill Street, Singapore 179365
5. Mid-Autumn Family Fun
The annual festive event brought to you by the Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre and Singapore Chinese Orchestra returns with 27 family-friendly activities. Look forward to mooncake and tea tastings, guided lantern walks, moon and star gazing sessions, craft workshops, merry performances, and loads more.
Date: 4 to 5 October 2025
Time: 1pm to 8pm
Price: Ticketed and free activities
Address: Mid-Autumn Family Fun, Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre, Singapore Conference Hall, 1 Straits Boulevard, Singapore 018906
Now that you’ve got all the deets, see you at the Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations in Singapore!
