Celebrating Cabramatta Moon Festival’s 25 Year Anniversary & National Lion Dancing Competition
- The WEST Journal
- Sep 8
- 3 min read
For over twenty years, Cabramatta’s Moon Festival has been delighting crowds with colour, energy, festivities, fireworks and of course plenty of local food we have come to love and cherish on this special day. A lunar festival bringing families, friends and spectators together with the kind of cultural vibrancy and heart Cabramatta has become so well known for.
This year, the Cabramatta Moon Festival celebrates its 25 Year Anniversary with exciting gusto, bringing Australia’s first National Lion Dancing competition to the streets, for a colourful and exciting showdown with crowds cheering along. Celebrated on the traditional lands of the Cabrogal people, a clan of the Dharug Nation, WEST invites you to join the festivities and see for yourself what a day of magical celebration in the West this is.
The Moon Festival - also known as the Mid-Autumn Festival - is a lunar festival celebrated all over the world. Considered the second most important festival in China after Lunar New Year, it symbolises harvest thanksgiving, family union and harmony. Historically tied to the moon cycle and held in the autumn equinox lunisolar month of the Chinese calendar, the Moon Festival is a time to celebrate the end of the summer harvest and give thanks for a bountiful yield.
The festival emphasizes the importance of family bonds, providing an opportunity to gather and celebrate with loved ones and a way to pass down traditions and connect younger generations with their cultural roots. A time for celebrating peace, goodwill and reflecting on blessings within families and communities. The Cabramatta Moon Festival celebrates all of these things and encourages community gathering, cultural diversity and embracing the traditions we share with others that make us all Australian.
Fairfield City Mayor Frank Carbone said this year’s Cabramatta Moon Festival is all about celebrating the community that’s made it shine “For 25 years the Cabramatta Moon Festival has brought together tens of thousands of visitors from all over Sydney to celebrate our wonderful diversity, and connect with one of the most important dates of the Lunar Calendar. The Cabramatta Moon Festival reflects our City’s heart; inclusive, creative, and community-driven.”
Being celebrated on Sunday 28th September at Cabramatta Town Centre and hosted by Fairfield City Council, festivities kick off at 11am with food and market stalls, rides, free kids activities and live entertainment into the night. Crowd favourites will be back, including the children’s chopstick challenge, the pho and mooncake eating competitions and the popular lantern parade led by the moon goddess and archer. Sharing and eating mooncakes are an iconic symbol of the Moon Festival. Their round shape symbolising completeness, prosperity and reunion, given as gifts to express love and good wishes, and you will find plenty on offer on the day.
An exciting new addition to this year’s Cabramatta Moon Festival is Australia’s first National Lion Dancing competition. Teams from across the country will go head-to-head in a battle for the ultimate prize and honour of lion dance supremacy. Held over two days – Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th September at Hughes Street Car Park – it’s a competition not to be missed! Highlights of the event include 19 teams from across Australia competing in traditional and high pole lion dance categories, with international guest judges from federations in Singapore and Malaysia crowning winners. Cheer on your favourite team and be energised by an ancient tradition now celebrated in the heart of Cabramatta.
Cabramatta Moon Festival revellers will be treated to amazing food stalls, cultural and music performances, market stalls, family friendly activities and the all impressive fireworks show at the end of the night. So for a day full of festive fun, cultural celebration, delicious dishes, community connection and festival fanfare, make your way to Cabramatta for the Cabramatta Moon Festival, and help celebrate its 25 year anniversary in the most spectacular way possible. WEST will see you there!
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