Happy Loony Lunar festival

We celebrated Mid Autumn Festival on Saturday night the 3rd of October under the light of a beautiful, perfectly full moon. The Mid Autumn Festival, also know as the moon festival, mooncake festival, or Lantern Festival (I hope I did not forget any special names) takes place on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar. Chinese people believe that on that day, the moon is the biggest, roundest and brightest, and boy did they get the timing right this year, it was the biggest, roundest and brightest moon, not that my photo does it much justice, sorry... The round moon is important as the term round implies family reunion in Chinese. So the Moon Festival is a festival for members of a family to get together wherever it is possible and it is also a time for lovers.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is Hong Kong's biggest festival aside from Chinese New Year. Bright Lanterns in the shapes of fish, rabbits etc. have been hung in the foyer of all the towers in our estate to celebrate the event and the city also seems to be draped in colourful ribbons and decorated with elaborate displays of lanterns, and moon cakes are on sale everywhere. So what is a moon cake I hear you cry. They are traditional cakes always designed in a round shape to look like the moon. The pastry is traditionally made with four egg yolks to represent the four phases of the moon and they generally have sweet fillings of nuts, red bean paste (my particular favourite) lotus seed paste, dates etc. However now days they can have any sort of filling, from savoury to even ice cream. This year some of the ice cream companies got into the swing of the festival and made their own line of ice cream moon cakes. I really should have tried one of these, but never saw them on sale close to home so figured they would melt before getting them home. But why not eat them then and there, where you bought them... I hear you ask.. and yes you do have a point. Well there is always next year, they are on the top of my list to buy then!! I even saw some moon cakes advertised in the shape of a bare bottom!! (the term 'to moon someone' in English slang means to show them your naked bottom as a prank!). Moon cakes usually come in a box of thirteen. This is to symbolize the thirteen moons of a 'complete year': the twelve moons and one extra moon...why an extra moon... who knows! We only bought a bit of a taster box with 4 moon cakes of different flavours most of which I enjoyed, especially the one filled with shredded coconut and nuts and the one with red bean paste (which is one of my all time favourite sweets from my time living in Japan) I do not think that Richard is as keen on red bean paste as I am...

So why is the moon so important to the Chinese. There are a number of moon cake festival legends. There seem to be two main legendary figures, Chang E and the jade hare. So here is a bit of history for you.

According to a story from the Xia dynasty, Chang E was the beautiful wife of the divine archer Hou Yi. He saved the world by shooting down nine of the ten suns that would otherwise have scorched the Earth. As a reward, he received the herb of immortality from a goddess. However, his wife knew that if he ate the herb, people would suffer eternally from his tyrannical rule, so she ate it herself instead. The herb made her float upwards to the moon. Hou Yi's deep love for his wife was the only reason he did not shoot down the moon.

The legend of the jade rabbit is a story about three fairy sages who came down to Earth and transformed themselves into old men begging for food from a fox, a monkey and a rabbit. The fox and the monkey were able to offer the old men food. The rabbit had no food to give the old men but rather than turn them away, he offered himself as a meal, jumping into a fire to cook himself. The sages were amazed by the rabbit's sacrifice and transformed him into a jade rabbit and let him live in the Moon Palace. I remember thinking about how funny it was for a rabbit to live on the moon when I was living in Japan as they also believe that there is a rabbit living on the moon but he is making and eating mochi (Japanese rice cakes)!! But I suppose we talk about the man in the moon!! I wonder what animal or being ancient civilizations of Peru believed lived on the moon. Any one with any ideas please let me know.

One of the reasons the Lunar Festival is celebrated by lovers throughout China is the role of the man in the moon in Chinese mythology. The Chinese have a saying: "Marriages are made in heaven and prepared on the moon". Apparently it is the man in the moon that does the preparing! The old man keeps a record book with the name of every newborn baby. He knows everybody's future partner and the decisions that he writes in his book are irreversible. Therefore, wannabe lovers go to the hills at the time of the Lunar Festival, and gaze at the moon hoping that their wish will be granted...

The moon cake is even said to have played an important role in Chinese history. In the Yuan dynasty (1280-1368 AD), China was ruled by Mongolian people. According to legend, the revolt against the Mongolians was coordinated to take place on the night of the Moon Festival. In the lead up to the festival, the rebel leaders ordered the making of special moon cakes, with messages about the attack baked into them. This is how they communicated with each other and successfully organized the attack and overthrew of the government.

Happy Moon Cake Day