Moon Phases - Chinese Moon Festival Date

Chinese Mid-Autumn Moon Festival Dates

Chinese Moon Festival is the 15th moon day of 8th Chinese lunar month, not always a full moon day. Therefore, we need to find the new moon date first, then we will know the 15th moon day. The easist way is to find from the moon phases calendar by your time zone. Remember that the different time zones might have different new moon dates.

Moon Calendar and Time Zones

The moon calendar below explains why the Chinese lunar calendars based on China time zone and US time zones are different. The first day of Chinese lunar month is the new moon day. The new moon day might fall on different day for different time zones. Finding the new moon days from astronomical time from different time zones below will give us the correct answer.

The date/time of moon age and the next four major lunar phases are in Universal Time (Greenwich Time, longitude=0). To convert date/time of lunar phases to your local time zone is to add the date/time with your time zone hour number. For example,

2009 Chinese Moon Festival

New moon date/time is 09-18-09 18:44 at UT.

• If PST (time zone = - 8), the new moon date/time is 09-18-09 10:44, after subtracting 8 hours
• If EST (time zone = - 5), the new moon date/time is 09-18-09 13:44, after subtracting 5 hours
• If China (time zone = 8), the new moon date/time is 09-19-09 02:44, after adding 8 hours

Daylight saving Time need to be adjusted for one hour

• If PDT (time zone = - 8) , the new moon date/time is 09-18-09 11:44, after subtracting 7 hours
• If EDT (time zone = - 5) , the new moon date/time is 09-18-09 14:44, after subtracting 4 hours.

Because new moon day is the first day of a Chinese lunar month, Chinese lunar month of September 2009 for USA time zones are different from the one for China time zone. 15th lunar day is the Chinese Moon Festival day. Therefore 10/03/09 is the Moon Festival Day in China, but 10-04-09 is the Moon Festival Day in USA Pacific Time Zone..

Moon Festival day is on the 15th moon day of 8th lunar month, which is not necessary a full moon day.