Every year around mid-September to early October, families across East and Southeast Asia gather to celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival. People admire the full moon and eat mooncakes. For several decades, people in Taiwan have partaken in a holiday tradition unique to the country: outdoor barbecues. The northern city of Taoyuan hosts one of the country’s biggest Mid-Autumn Festival barbecue events and TaiwanPlus was there.
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00:00Over a thousand people are here in the northern city of Taoyuan to celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival,
00:05a holiday that marks the harvest moon.
00:07Every year, families across the country gather to partake in a holiday tradition unique to Taiwan,
00:13outdoor barbecuing.
00:14Here, people have converged despite the rain for this massive community event
00:19that includes karaoke, a moonlit performance, and a holiday market.
00:24But the main draw tonight is the chance to come together and grill up some fresh food.
00:29This is my first time grilling with so many friends.
00:33It's a pretty good experience.
00:34It's very lively.
00:35Even though it's raining outside, everyone is still grilling happily.
00:39Actually, I was a little worried about the weather,
00:41but they seem to have handled it well,
00:43and we were able to barbecue and have a good time with it.
00:46The custom only began in the 80s
00:48when two competing condiment companies started marketing their sauces
00:52for Mid-Autumn Festival barbecues, and the trend caught on.
00:55But in recent years, there have been fewer people partaking in this outdoor holiday tradition,
01:01as more people choose to celebrate indoors at restaurants and in homes.
01:19To bring in more people, organizers are also giving away free pomelos,
01:24a symbol for blessings, to the first 200 attendees who check in on their phone.
01:31Even though Mid-Autumn Festival barbecues have only been popular in Taiwan for a few decades,
01:36they have already become a distinct part of the country's holiday culture,
01:39and it's a custom that organizers of this event are determined to preserve.
01:43John Su, Millie Hughes, and Wesley Lewis and Tao Yuan for Taiwan Plus.