Monday we celebrate the Mooncake or Mid-Autumn Festival. It actually falls on Sunday this year, but the company s giving us Monday off. Yippee!
I'm not just excited about getting a three day weekend, although that is reason enough to celebrate, but I'm also excited because it's a Monday off during football season! You see with the time difference we're 12 hours ahead of the US right now and so to see a Sunday afternoon game you have to watch it in the wee hours of Monday morning. So Monday morning at about 1:00AM I am going to be at the Goose and Duck watching Football at the same time you guy's will be tuning in! This Monday I'm not going to be watching just any game though because my beloved Chief's are playing the Oakland Raiders and I'm going to get to watch!
OK enough about that, let's get back to the holiday! To quote the information provided by my apartment's management team: The Mooncake Festival falls on the 14th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar and according to Chinese tradition, the moon's fullness and brightness on this occasion is symbolic of an ideal time to celebrate the abundance of the summer harvest
(Hmmm, sounds a bit like Oktoberfest to me!)
To continue: There are many legends surrounding the origin of the Mid-Autumn Festival, most of them revolve around the "Lady of the moon" whom the Chinese refer to as Chang Er.
One such legend tells of how she was married to her lover Hou Yi who shot nine out of ten suns that were causing havoc. For his deed the Queen Mother of the West gave him the elixir of life (isn't that tequila?), but Chang Er stole her husband's potion of immortality, drank it and found herself floating to the moon (yep sounds like tequila to me!). There she lives out her days in the lonely moon palace with her furry rabbit for a companion. Because of this legend it is common to see images of Chang Er and her rabbit stamped on Mooncake boxes.
The management team here also provided a nice little gift!
A box of Mooncakes
Here's one of them, packaged to last for decades much like a Twinkie, but I'll have to wait until Sunday to eat one and tell you what they're like!
Happy Mooncake Festival everyone!
6 comments:
Yuck-I read they are filled with Lotus Seed Paste-you don't need to bother to bring any home!
According to another legend, on this day the "Man in the Moon" was spotted at an inn, carrying a writing tablet. When questioned, he said he was recording the names of all the happy couples who were fated to marry and live happily forever after. Accordingly, just as June is the traditional month for exchanging nuptials in the west, many Chinese weddings are held during the eighth lunar month, with the fifteenth day being the most popular.
Lightnin
Thunder I hope your Cheifs win on Sunday. Your story sounds so fascinating but the moon pies don't look all that great. I hope they taste better then they look.enjoy.smokin
TJ - Actually I have eaten Lotus Root and it's pretty tasty! You'll have to try it next time you're here!
Smokin - I'll let you know after I try them on Sunday!
Got to be good if it has the word Pie in it.
Rod - Good point!
Right now...I DONT THINK I WOULD WAIT TIL SUNDAY TO DESTROY THOSE CAKES...just like with the "Adventskalender", the chocolate is always gone before christmas. ENJOY THAT STUFF!!!!
RBP
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