Happy Moon Festival

Happy Chinese Moon Festival

It's also known as the Mid-autumn Festival or Lantern Festival. Chinese culture is deeply imbedded in traditional festivals. Just like Christmas and Thanksgiving to us, the Moon Festival is one of the most important traditional events for the Chinese.

The Moon Festival is full of legendary stories. Legend says that Chang Er flew to the moon, where she has lived ever since. You might see her dancing on the moon during the Moon Festival.

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 have family reunions. Accompanying the celebration, there are additional cultural or regional customs, such as:
• Eating moon cakes outside under the moon
• Carrying brightly lit lanterns through the village
• Burning incense in reverence to deities
• Planting Mid-Autumn trees
• Lighting lanterns on towers
• Fire Dragon Dances

Last night we celebrated the Chinese Moon Festival with some friends at a local Chinese restaurant and even indulged in some Moon Cakes (similar to our tradition of Pecan Pie and Pumpkin Pie for Thanksgiving) that a friend brought along.

Typical mooncakes are round or rectangular pastries, about the size of you palm and about 1’ think. A thick filling usually made from lotus paste, red or black bean paste and is surrounded by a relatively thin crust and may contain egg yolks (representing the full moon). Mooncakes are rich, heavy, and dense compared with most cakes and pastries we are used to. They are usually eaten in small wedges accompanied by Chinese tea. They can take up to a week to make and labor intensive. These cakes can be very expensive and very few Chinese know how to make them property. Given the intensity to make them and the expense, most bakeries in China have a payment plan and local villagers start paying for next years mooncakes the day after the current years festival, to ensure they have mooncakes for next years celebration.

It was a great evening with friends, family, and lots of little ones. You can imagine we were the entertainment for the evening at the restaurant with 4 adopted Chinese little girls and two very playful little boys. Even the employees would come out of the kitchen to see what the going on’s of the girls and of course watch us Midwesterners attempt to eat Mooncakes. I might add certainly is an acquired taste.

Until next time, Happy Moon Festival and Happy Hump Day.