Moon Cakes and Mid Autumn Festival
Exam is just around the corner, and I don’t have much time for blogging, but since today is a special day, it only justifies that I spend some time penning it down.
Mid Autumn Festival is celebrated on the fifteenth of the eighth lunar month. You can’t missed it, what with the large scale moon cake advertisement that starts as early as two months before the exact date.
Shown in the picture above is a home made snow skin moon cake with mango fillings that my mum bought. Unconventional, but hey, all moon cake manufacturers are going for that line too!
Aside from the snow skin moon cakes that are eaten chilled, there are traditional moon cakes and Shanghai moon cakes that are baked.
Moon cakes aside, there are a plenty of other traditional food offerings on the festival itself, and this colourful piece of “flower cake” made of rice flour and sugar is one of the delicacy that is offered to the moon today.
Legend says that there is a fairy, Chang Er, who lives in the moon with her pet rabbit, and some old folks still upheld that believe by offering food and incense to the moon on this day.
For the kids, it all about playing with candlelit lanterns and delicious sweet food, and a gathering of lots of fun.
When I was a kid I used to have a lantern in a shape of a bee and I remember munching on pigs in baskets and water caltrops. I can’t see them this year, so I hope I could get them next year round.
Until then, Happy Mid Autumn Festival and have fun, everyone!
