A food vendor prepares an order, Sept. 15 at the Autumn Festival Night Market, outside of the Pacific Ocean Market in Aurora. Hundreds attended the Mid-Autumn festival, which is always held during a full moon.Photo by Philip B. Poston/Sentinel Colorado
  • Grace Her, 3, plays with an umbrella, Sept. 15 at the Autumn Festival Night Market, outside of the Pacific Ocean Market. Hundreds attended the Mid-Autumn festival, which is always held during a full moon.Photo by Philip B. Poston/Sentinel Colorado
    Grace Her, 3, plays with an umbrella, Sept. 15 at the Autumn Festival Night Market, outside of the Pacific Ocean Market in Aurora. Hundreds attended the Mid-Autumn festival, which is always held during a full moon. Photo by Philip B. Poston/Sentinel Colorado
  • Deciding what to order from the menu, customers wait in line at a food vendor, Sept. 15 at the Autumn Festival Night Market, outside of the Pacific Ocean Market. Hundreds attended the Mid-Autumn festival, which is always held during a full moon.Photo by
    Deciding what to order from the menu, customers wait in line at a food vendor, Sept. 15 at the Autumn Festival Night Market, outside of the Pacific Ocean Market in Aurora. Hundreds attended the Mid-Autumn festival, which is always held during a full moon. Photo by Philip B. Poston/Sentinel Colorado
  • A vendor flips meat skewers, Sept. 15 at the Autumn Festival Night Market, outside of the Pacific Ocean Market. Hundreds attended the Mid-Autumn festival, which is always held during a full moon.Photo by Philip B. Poston/Sentinel Colorado
    A vendor flips meat skewers, Sept. 15 at the Autumn Festival Night Market, outside of the Pacific Ocean Market in Aurora. Hundreds attended the Mid-Autumn festival, which is always held during a full moon. Photo by Philip B. Poston/Sentinel Colorado
  • A vendor prepares street tacos Sept. 15 at the Autumn Festival Night Market, outside of the Pacific Ocean Market. Hundreds attended the Mid-Autumn festival, which is always held during a full moon.Photo by Philip B. Poston/Sentinel Colorado
    A vendor prepares street tacos, Sept. 15 at the Autumn Festival Night Market, outside of the Pacific Ocean Market. Hundreds attended the Mid-Autumn festival, which is always held during a full moon. Photo by Philip B. Poston/Sentinel Colorado
  • A food vendor prepares an order, Sept. 15 at the Autumn Festival Night Market, outside of the Pacific Ocean Market. Hundreds attended the Mid-Autumn festival, which is always held during a full moon.Photo by Philip B. Poston/Sentinel Colorado
    A food vendor prepares an order, Sept. 15 at the Autumn Festival Night Market, outside of the Pacific Ocean Market in Aurora. Hundreds attended the Mid-Autumn festival, which is always held during a full moon.Photo by Philip B. Poston/Sentinel Colorado

AURORA | The moon was full and the weather was perfect Sept. 15 for a traditional Asian Mid-Autumn Festival at Pacific Ocean Market in Aurora.

Hundreds attended the festival, which offered food, music, entertainment, and of course, mooncakes.

In some Asian countries, the festival occurs the 15th day of the eighth month of the Asian lunar calendar, which is the full moon. On Western Gregorian calendars, the festival occurs in September or October. The actual full moon was Friday 13 this year.

Known for being dense and calorific, mooncakes are typically filled with lotus seed or red bean paste and a salted egg yolk symbolizing the moon.

Mooncakes are traditionally served during the Mid-Autumn Festival, when the moon is at its roundest and brightest and families gather to pray for bountiful harvests.

Legend has it that Ming revolutionaries used them to smuggle secret messages tucked inside while fighting Mongol rulers during the Yuan dynasty.