China's Mid-Autumn Festival

The Mid-Autumn Festival falls on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month of the Chinese calendar(usually around mid- or late-September). This is the ideal time, when the moon is at its fullest and brightest, to celebrate the abundance of the summer's harvest. The traditional food of this festival is the mooncake, of which there are many different varieties.

Mooncakes are Chinese pastries traditionally eaten during the Mid-Autumn festival. A thick filling usually made from lotus seed paste is surrounded by a relatively thin crust and may containy yolks from salted duck eggs. Mooncakes are rich, heavy, and dense compared with most Western cakes and pastries. Another difference is that Western cakes actually taste good, and mooncakes...well, not so much. They do look beautiful, though! These are some that we got as gifts. The cut one is filled with date, so it tastes like little like a fig newton. Noah got one that was filled with sesame paste which he said was good. Other, more modern versions can be filled with pork or ham. Coldstone Creamery and Haagan-Das even make ice cream ones! The one I tried was a beautiful pale meringue-y green. And made from some kind of bean paste that tasted like, well...paste. Blech.

Moon cakes come packaged in gorgeous boxes--it's like getting another gift for free! In fact, presentation is key here, so lots of things come in little silk boxes with clever fasteners. When a lady at work found out how much I liked them she found several and loaded me up. Noah and Ava absolutely love boxes and storage things, so they were thrilled.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the two most important holidays in the Chinese calendar

(the other being the Chinese New Year). Farmers celebrate the end of the summer harvesting season on this date. Traditionally, on this day, Chinese family members and friends will gather to admire the bright mid-autumn harvest moon, and eat moon cakes and pomelos together. Accompanying the celebration, there are additional cultural or regional customs, such as:

Eating moon cakes outside under the moon
Carrying brightly lit lanterns or lighting towers on lanterns
Burning incense in reverence to deities including Chang'e
Planting mid-autumn trees
Fire Dragon dances

While we

are familiar with man in the moon, the Chinese talk about the woman in the moon. The story of the fateful night when Chang'e was lifted up to the moon, familiar to most Chinese citizens, is a favorite subject of poets. Tradition places the story of Houyi and Chang'e around 2170 BC.

There are a lot of versions of the moon legend. In a popular school version, Houyi was a lazy boy who did nothing but to practice his archery. He practiced day and night until he became the greatest archer in the world. One day, the ten suns all assembled around the earth. Their presence destroyed all vegetation, and hundreds of thousands were perishing. The emperor, who was desperate, offered his crown to anyone who could shoot down the suns. Houyi answered his call. He shot down nine of the suns, and as he pulled his bow to shoot the last one, the emperor stopped him. Saying the earth must have one sun. Houyi then became the emperor. He was pampered to the extent that he wanted to be emperor forever. He called his advisors to look for a way to make him immortal. His advisors found a way. They found a recipe for the Pill of Immortality. His wife Chang'e could not bear to watch her husband become the tyrannical dictator for eternity. She prayed to Xi Wang Mu for help. She stole the pill, with Houyi shooting arrows at her, and flew to the moon grabbing a rabbit to keep her company. The Chinese say that if you look up at the moon to this day you can sometimes see a rabbit making moon cakes.

According to tradition, the Jade Rabbit pounds medicine, together with the lady, Chang'e, for the gods. Others say that the Jade Rabbit is a shape, assumed by Chang'e herself. You may find that the dark areas to the top of the full moon may be construed as the figure of a rabbit. The animal's ears point to the upper right, while at the left are two large circular areas, representing its head and body.

(From Wikipedia)