You Can Have Your (Moon) Cake and Eat It Too

Today (September 8^th) marks a special day in the Chinese Culture. Today is Mid-Autumn Festival Night.

The night is part of the Mid-Autumn Festival, which is the second most important (traditional) Chinese Festival after Chinese New Year. This year's festival takes place from September 6-8. It is also known as the lantern festival, Chinese Thanksgiving or the moon festival as this is the time of year that the moon is at its roundest and brightest. 

Chinatown decorated for the Mid-Autumn Festival 

Last week I went on a local tour of Chinatown to learn more about this festive time of year. The tour was set up by the American Women’s Association and we learned quite a bit about the history of Singapore’s Chinatown (which is right next to our house) but we also learned about the traditions and the stories around the Mid-Autumn Festival.  

There are many traditions and celebrations around Mid-Autumn Festival Night such as having dinner with family, making moon cakes, eating a fruit called pomelos, and lighting lanterns.

Pomelos

The moon cake is the special food of Mid-Autumn Festival. On that day, people sacrifice moon cakes to the moon as an offering and eat them for celebration. Moon cakes come in various flavors according to the region. The moon cakes are round, symbolizing the reunion of a family. People gift moon cakes to relatives and friends to wish them a long and happy life.

Moon cakes made with lotus with cranberries and macadamia nuts

One of the stories behind the Mid-Autumn Festival is the story of Hou Yi and Chang’e.

The story, as told by the website China Highlights, is as follows:

Long long ago, there were 10 suns in the sky. They burnt all the plants on the earth. People were dying.

One day, a hero whose name was Hou Yi used his bow and arrows to shoot down nine of them. All the people on the earth were saved.

One day, the queen of heaven gave Hou Yi a bottle elixir that could make Hou Yi become an immortal, but the elixir was only efficacious for one person. Hou Yi did want to become an immortal, but he wanted to stay with his beautiful wife Chang'e more, so he didn't drink the elixir and asked his wife Chang'e to keep it for him.

Hou Yi was becoming more and more famous after he shot down the nine suns and more and more men wanted Hou Yi to be their master. Most of them were accepted by Hou Yi.

Not every student of Hou Yi had good morality. Feng Meng, one of his students, wanted to seize his elixir. One day, Hou Yi went hunting with his students, but Feng Meng pretended to be ill and stay at home. When making sure Hou Yi had gone he went to Hou Yi's house and tried to force Chang'e to give him the elixir. Chang'e knew she couldn't defeat Feng Meng so she drank the elixir immediately. The elixir made her become an immortal and fly higher and higher. Finally, she stopped on the moon.

From then on, people often pray to Chang'e for fortune and safety. During the Mid-Autumn Festival they offer lots of foods to Chang'e. (sic)

So while we’re not able to enjoy moon cakes with you in person to celebrate this great day, we will enjoy them in your honor. If you’re lucky, we’ll bring some back with us next time!

Happy Trails, 

Amy & Raegen