Moon Cake Festival

[sesdaqfan]

Dear All,

There were various discussions on Mooncakes in the Food thread.

I've already split those posts and merged them here for your reference.

Take care,
Winston

Thanx winny for merging them.

[winston]

How fast time flies !

Time to bring this thread out of the archives ...

[winston]

On the way back, I recall that it will be the 15th day on Wednesday.

I then looked at the moon as I recall that it would be the biggest on the 15th day of the 8th Month.

I have forgotten the stories behind the Mid-Autumn Festival. Will google later.

Anyway, if you are celebrating: "Happy Mid-Autumn Festival !"



And have a look at the moon. It's a very pretty sight...

[kennynah]

the story is this...

nong nong ago.... some poor china farmer could not sell his beans at the market place...that year, there was a huge harvest country wide...

thinking that his year's effort would soon go to waste, he decided to make them into a paste... bean paste...but then soon realized that it wasn't too palatable...and since he also had abundant wheat crop that year, he made some dough out of the flour... which he then used to envelope the bean paste...

he brought these pastries to the streets and concocted a story about a beautiful woman up on the moon, as it was just 15th day of Aug, when the moon was brightest... saying to the customers...

eat these...and watch the naked woman on the moon....

it was an instant success....

Sex always sells....

[winston]

Story 1

"Zhong Qiu Jie" probably began as a harvest festival. The festival was later given a mythological flavour with legends of Chang-E, the beautiful lady in the moon.

According to Chinese mythology, the earth once had 10 suns circling over it. One day, all 10 suns appeared together, scorching the earth with their heat. The earth was saved when a strong archer, Hou Yi, succeeded in shooting down 9 of the suns.

Yi stole the elixir of life but to save the people from his tyrannical rule, his wife, Chang-E drank it. Thus started the legend of the lady in the moon to whom young Chinese girls would pray at the Mid-Autumn Festival.

[winston]

In the 14th century, the eating of mooncakes at "Zhong Qiu Jie" was given a new significance. The story goes that when Zhu Yuan Zhang was plotting to overthrow the Yuan dynasty started by the Mongolians, the rebels hid their messages in the Mid-Autumn mooncakes.Zhong Qiu Jie is hence also a commemoration of the overthrow of the Mongolians by the Han people.

During the Yuan dynasty (A.D.1280-1368) China was ruled by the Mongolian people. Leaders from the preceding Sung dynasty (A.D.960-1280) were unhappy at submitting to foreign rule, and set how to coordinate the rebellion without it being discovered.

The leaders of the rebellion, knowing that the Moon Festival was drawing near, ordered the making of special cakes. Backed into each mooncake was a message with the outline of the attack.

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). Today, moon cakes are eaten to commemorate this event.

[kennynah]

give u the moon.....

床前明月光......

[kennynah]

mooncake time

[eauyong]

mooncake time

sweet sweet; looking forward to it. huat ah!!!

[kennynah]

i find them exorbitantly priced... it is no more than 豆沙饼, just packaged nicely...