The Moon Festival has come around again, and in 2021 it fell on 21 September. The one thing this festival can't do without is mooncakes, which come with legends many people may not know.
Mooncakes and the Moon Festival
A mooncake is a round pastry filled with various fillings, such as mung bean, soybean, black sesame, red bean, taro, lotus seed, Chinese jujube and ginkgo, and decorated with beautiful patterns. Mooncakes are made for the Mid-Autumn Festival, which many people know as the Moon Festival. Mooncakes are so central to the festival that it's sometimes called the Mooncake Festival.
The Moon Festival falls on the 15th day of the 8th month of the Chinese lunar calendar every year; in 2021, that was 21 September. The Moon Festival is a long-held Chinese tradition, celebrated with moon worship at night. In many places influenced by Chinese culture or with large Chinese communities, such as Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Vietnam, it's a major celebration, with red lanterns hung for good fortune and to light up the night. In Thailand, the biggest celebrations are in old Chinese neighbourhoods such as Yaowarat (Bangkok's Chinatown).
The History of Mooncakes
Mooncakes emerged around 600 years ago, at the end of the Yuan dynasty, when Genghis Khan, the Mongol emperor, had seized China and ruled the Chinese harshly and oppressively. A group of Chinese wanted to rebel, so they devised a ruse: they organised a moon-worship festival and invented a pastry, the mooncake, hiding secret letters or messages inside the filling and distributing them to every Chinese household.
The message inside the cakes read: "Tonight at the third watch, kill the Mongol soldiers all at once." At the appointed time, the Chinese gathered their forces and defeated the Mongol soldiers, eventually regaining China's independence and founding a new dynasty, the Ming.
The Moon Festival has been passed down ever since, to honour the brave Chinese ancestors who won back their independence. This legend is one of the beliefs surrounding mooncakes.
How Mooncakes Are Used in the Festival
Besides mooncakes as offerings, Moon Festival customs include dried foods, fruit, lanterns, incense, candles and flowers. The moon worship takes place at night, any time from 7 p.m. to midnight. Setting out the offerings is similar to other Chinese worship ceremonies, for good fortune. After the ceremony, the family shares the mooncakes, because they symbolise harmony and unity.
Mooncakes Today
The Moon Festival has become one of the most important Chinese traditions, including in countries influenced by Chinese culture or with Chinese communities, so mooncakes have become ever more popular. Today mooncakes come with many new fillings, such as green tea, chocolate, almond and custard, as well as meat fillings such as red pork, shredded pork floss and Chinese sausage.
In Thailand, the stand-out favourites are durian and salted egg mooncakes. Although mooncakes are now known worldwide, they're still made only for the Moon Festival, the only time they're easy to find. So if you want mooncakes, stock up before the festival ends.
