a black mooncake with wolfberry and lotus inside. from the baker's cottage

one of the best things of being a Chinese is the festivals that we people celebrate

and the mid- autumn festival, among others,  is one of those that i look forward to

okay, maybe i should start with how the idea of eating mooncakes, moon- gazing and carrying lanterns around came about

known also as the Moon Festival, it is a popular harvest festival celebrated by the Chinese, Japanese (Tsukimi  月見)  Korean (Chuseok 한가위) and Vietnamese, albeit being done differently

in our region, though, it is more commonly referred to as the Lantern Festival or Mooncake Festival

when do we celebrate this festival? well, to put it in simply, it’s usually around late september or early october

however, putting it properly would be the fifteenth day of the eighth month of the lunar (Chinese) calendar

this day being when the moon is supposedly at its fullest and roundest (also at its maximum brightness for the entire year), astronomically, this is a date that parallels the autumn and spring equinoxes of the solar calendar

*gazes to the sky* tonight, i can’t find the moon anywhere

i love legends, and here comes what lies behind this festival

as with many chinese festivals, there are always many versions of a legend that is said to lead to the particular celebration

and as you people have guessed, this festival ain’t an exception to this

the first version, with six variations of it where Houyi was an archer

but here, i’m just gonna have the two most popular variations

version#1

Once upon a time, the earth had ten suns. They burned the crops and people suffered infertility. Houyi sympathized with humans, so he decided to shoot down nine suns and leave one for the benefit of the people. After he shot down the suns, he was treated as a hero. He had a beautiful wife named Chang’e, and they lived happily together. Houyi had a many apprentices; they followed him to learn hunting. One day, on Houyi’s way back home, the emperor of the immortals gave Houyi two pills, each of which granted eternal life as a reward for shooting down the suns, one was for Houyi, and the other for his wife. He warned Houyi, “Make no haste to swallow the pill.” Houyi was to wait until New Years Day, on which he and Chang’e were supposed to eat the pills together. Chang’e put the pill in her jewelry box for safekeeping. But Peng, one of Houyi’s apprentices, discovered their secret and decided to steal the pill. One day, when Houyi and other apprentices went to the mountain, Peng pretended to be sick so that he could stay home. After everyone had gone to the mountain, Peng sneaked into Chang’e’s room and forced her to give him the pill. Chang’e knew she couldn’t fight Peng, so she ate the pill herself. However, after eating it alone, she began to float. Unable to come back to earth, she took flight and flew far, far away. She did not want to leave her husband, so she stopped at the moon, which is the body closest to Earth. After Houyi found out what happened, he was very angry and heartbroken. He looked up into the night and called Chang’e’s name. He discovered that inside the moon there was a lady’s shadow that look like Chang’e, so he ran and ran and tried to reach the moon. He failed due to the wind.

version #3 which is the first mid- autumn legend that i’ve heard as a kid

The earth once had ten suns circling over it, each taking turn to illuminate the earth. One day, however, all ten suns appeared together, scorching the earth with their heat. Houyi, a strong and tyrannical archer, saved the earth by shooting down nine of the suns. He eventually became King, but grew to become a despot.One day, Houyi stole the elixir of life from a goddess. However, his beautiful wife, Chang’e, drank it in order to save the people from her husband’s tyrannical rule. After drinking it, she found herself floating, and flew to the moon. Houyi loved his divinely beautiful wife so much, he did not shoot down the moon.

the second version The Hare aka Jade Rabbit

According to tradition, the Jade Rabbit pounds medicine, together with the lady, Chang’er, 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.

In this legend, three fairy sages transformed themselves into pitiful old men, and begged for food from a fox, a monkey, and a hare. The fox and the monkey both had food to give to the old men, but the hare, empty-handed, jumped into a blazing fire to offer his own flesh instead. The sages were so touched by the hare’s sacrifice and act of kindness that they let him live in the Moon Palace, where he became the “Jade Rabbit”.

the last and third version Overthrow of Mongol rule

China was ruled by the Mongolian people during the Yuan dynasty (A.D. 1280-1368). Leaders from the preceding Sung dynasty (A.D. 960 – 1280) were unhappy at submitting to foreign rule, and set to coordinate a secret rebellion. As the Moon Festival was drawing near, the leaders of the rebellion ordered the making of special cakes. At the back of each was a message with the outline of the attack; but i believe the one i first heard  from some book, and now wikipedia also, makes more sense that is:

inside each cake, however, was inserted a piece of paper with the message: “Kill the Mongols on the 15th day of the 8th month” ( 八月十五杀鞑子)

WHILE there are also some being that, mooncakes – which the Mongols did not eat – were the perfect vehicle for hiding and passing along plans for the rebellion. Families were instructed not to eat the mooncakes until the day of the moon festival, which is when the rebellion took place.

(cont’ d) On the night of the Moon Festival, the rebels successfully attacked and overthrew the government. What followed was the establishment of the Ming dynasty (A.D. 1368-1644).

now to the MOONCAKES!!! yum =)

basically, mooncakes are cakes filled with lotus seed paste (including red bean paste and black bean paste)  and have a yolk in the middle to represent the full moon there are also more elaborate versions having four yolks to represent the four phases of the moon CHEERS TO MORE YOLK!!!

my favorite traditional mooncakes is the one with lotus seed paste filling and a single yolk

traditional ones

nowadays though, mooncakes have evolved with rather much delicious- NESS in them

filled with anything the mind can think of, they now have another variety of skin for the cakes, snowskin (made with cooked glutinous rice flour) mooncakes, that is

snow skin mooncakes

i’ve tasted quite a number of the snowskin mooncakes and seen loads of them… BUT i’ve NEVER SEEN BLUE- SKINNED MOONCAKES hope to, next year

Haagen-Daz has also introduced a line of ice cream mooncakes in Asian markets that i have yet to try =(