Mid-Autumn Festival

Today, the fifteen day of the eighth lunar month, is Mid-Autumn Festival, or Zhongqiu Jie (中秋节). It is also known as the Mooncake Festival and the Lantern Festival.

There are many folklore and legends regarding how this Festival which started some 2,000 years ago came about. The following is one that I find most believable.

The festival began, once upon a time in China. Farmers celebrate their bountiful harvest on the fifteen day of the eighth moon. Big tables of food were set up outdoors. Lanterns were crafted and hung for light. Families gathered around, a sort of reunion, and enjoyed a scrumptious dinner. After dinner, they sipped tea, ate moon-cakes and moon gazed. The moon is said to be the brightest and biggest on this day. Moon-cakes are Chinese pastries filled with bean paste, or lotus paste.

Later on, during the Yuan Dynasty, there was unrest. People planned a revolt against the ruling emperor. They hid the date of the uprising in the moon-cakes. The revolt was successful, and the new emperor declared the moon-cake festival an official annual event from then.

The moon-cake festival was introduced to Singapore when the Chinese immigrants made their way to South-East Asia in the 1900s. Since Singapore is nothing like China, the celebration of the festival here is not quite of the same scale. Organized by organisations, community centers and resident communities, residents come together to enjoy the lantern display, play games, and to enjoy the food and the moon-cakes.

This year, the two places celebrating the Mid-Autumn festival in a big way are – The Gardens by the Bay, and Chinatown. This happened over the weekend.

I went to The Gardens by the Bay to have a look at the lantern display last week. I will post about it tomorrow.

A moon-cake. This is the most common flavour. Lotus paste with salted egg-yolks.

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