Larian Studios Forums General Chat Chat (Anything) Mooncake Festival

as i am half Chinese by parentage, i also get to experience Chinese festivals intimately with my Chinese relatives. a significant number of Chinese festivals are not religious, rather it has a lot to do with racial traditions & history. one of the festivals we celebrate is Mooncake Festival.



as the name says, it's all about the mooncakes. ;D it's pastry filled with many kinds of fillings. the traditional pastes are red bean, green bean, lotus seed, mixed nut & a few more. there are more modern recipes nowadays with new exciting (or even terrifying) flavour such as green tea, chocolate, coffee, cheese, tropical fruits, apricot, kiwi fruit, peach, & more. a number of these new recipes cater to the type of mooncake which is not baked but chilled. here is an example some chilled version of mooncakes of various flavours;



Mooncake Festival is also closely related to Lantern Festival which is celebrated almost at the same time, which is between 2nd week of September & 2nd week of October. at times, people would treat the two as one festival & enjoy mooncakes while lighting up lanterns at the same time. it is a time enjoyed by both adults & children.



how did the two festivals came about? as for mooncake festival, it has a number of variation for its origin.

Archer Hou Yi

Hou Yi was an immortal living in the heavens with a mortal wife, who worked as an attendant for the Jade Emperor's wife. after banishment due to some slander by some jealous party, he and his wife stayed on earth & later on became a famous archer.

at those times, there were 10 suns that took turn to circle the earth. one day, all the suns came out together thus scorching the earth. the Emperor of China then commanded Hou Yi to kill all but one of the suns. once he has done so, the emperor rewarded him with a pill, an elixir of life, and told him to first prepare himself with prayers & to fast for a year. so Hou Yi did to mend his spirit. while he was in the middle of his preparation, he was again summone dby the emperor. while he was away, his wife noticed a beam of light from where Hou Yi hid the pill, & swallowed it. immediately she found that she could fly. just at that moment, Hou Yi returned & realised what has happened. he reprimanded his wife, who then flew out of the window & to the sky. bow in hand, How Yi ran after her & the pursuit continued halfway across the heavens. due to the force of the wind, Hou Yi had to return to earth. meanwhile his wife reached the moon, who then was breathless & coughed part of the pill out. at this time, the hare is already on the moon (this is another folk tale altogether), so Hou Yi's wife asked the hare to make a pill out of that part that fell out of her mouth earlier so she could return to earth to Hou Yi. until today the hare is still pounding to make that pill. Hou Yi made a palace in the sun as 'Yang' while his wife's is 'Yin'. once a year on the 15th day of the full moon, Hou Yi visits his wife. that is why the moon is always full & beautiful on that night.

more stories & variations in Wikipedia.

for those who want to try out the recipes to make their own mooncakes, here are some from The Star which is a Malaysian newspaper.

this link provides some more information on other kinds of food related to mooncake festival.

some more pictures for your enjoyment. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />







well that is it for now. too bad i didn't have any camera with me when i was mooncake shopping but i hope to have one next year. maybe i can show u all sorts of mooncakes & mooncake festival-related food. after all, it's all about FOOD! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

Very interesting Janggy <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/up.gif" alt="" />
I'll try keep my eyes open and see if my local Chinese have anything at all to do with these festivals, would be nice to see, and i would like to try out one of the Mooncakes, they look scrummy. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wave.gif" alt="" />

Looks tasty. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I had never heard of this festival. It was an interesting post. Thanks.

I was wondering why my mother-in-law went to temple yesterday. She's not religious at all, but she is Cambodian with Chinese ancestry. Her not-quite-boyfriend called the house while she was there. He was meant to meet her at the temple, but she didn’t know the address, and nor did anyone else at the temple. They just knew it as "the temple". Unfortunately, with five "the temples" in the local area, I had no idea where to direct him.

hey i'm glad u guys like this thread. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

i was asked by one of our members here (LaFille) about Mooncake Festival when i told her about my mooncake shopping a few weeks ago. so i thought, instead of telling it to her via e-mail, i can also at the same time tell others about this festival which is a very fun & tasty festival. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

@ Spick -> yeah why not? don't forget the time of year it's celebrated - between 2nd week of September & 2nd week of October. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />

tip: don't try the mooncakes with egg yolk first. that might mar your first mooncake experience. trust me. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

@ Al -> i'm sure u can find mooncakes in your town. just find chinese stores. they're bound to have these. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> i bet all or most of them come from Hong Kong.

@ Cleg -> u're a New Yorker, so that's no excuse to say that u cannot check it out in your local chinatown. do have fun sampling something new. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

@ HEF -> now u get to be more asian. do check out the nearest or best asian store that has mooncake available. remember: baked ones are the traditional ones mostly & the chilled ones are the newer versions which are also interesting. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

have fun! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wave.gif" alt="" />

note: the fish is actually a hard biscuit with no filling. the eye is actually a bean.

From what Michelle's friends said, a lot of the mooncakes in shops here are typical manufactured stuff and not particularly good. If they came from a bakery or someone I knew made them, I'd be more inclined to try it, just to have that good first impression.

Michelle's mother brought some of the food back from the festival that she cooked. One of them was a chilli and pork mince dish. She told me to eat it with rice and cucumber. So I got a bowl of rice, mixed in some of the meat and put some cucumber with it. It was insanely salty. I couldn't bare it! I had to throw it out. I found out later that you're meant to eat the rice by itself and dip the cucumber in the meat. It was a dip. Frankly, after that experience, it will be tricky for me to try it again.

[color:"orange"]I couldn't bare it![/color]

Honi soit qui mal y pense <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/evilgrin1.gif" alt="" />

I don't live in NY. I once did many years ago. These days I live out in the country and I don't go into the city unless I have to.

P.S.
My wife made cinnamon buns and peach chocolate cheesecake brownies this weekend. We'll be eating them for days.

yummy! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/up.gif" alt="" />

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/offtopic.gif" alt="" /> so no more in town? is the countryside beautiful there? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

@ HEF -> i think i know that spicy minced pork paste u're talking about. over here we take it with porridge, or use it as base for fried rice. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> have fun being asian, HEF! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/up.gif" alt="" />

as for u wanting a good first impression on mooncakes, hope u'll find some good ones there. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I've been more Asian than my wife for ages. She was happy to drop her name for mine. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> She's still a lot better with finances than me, however.

Hmm I notice that a lot of Asian families have the Wife take care of the finances, at least she's always the one checking the bill and paying it ... wonder where that came from ?

The men not wanting to argue with her. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Actually, I take care of the finances a lot more, with bills and budgeting. She's better with financial knowledge and investement. Makes sense, with her being the personal assistant for several mortgage brokers.