Mooncakes

Recently I got to together with a group of dear friends that I traveled to China with. We were able to travel throughout China for almost a month thanks to a Fulbright Hayes scholarship. It was an amazing trip filled with many wonders and adventures.

During our most recent dinner together we celebrated the Moon Festival, complete with mooncakes. Here is what about.com has to say about the festivities.

"The Moon festival (also called the Mooncake or Mid-Autumn festival) falls on September 14th in the year 2008. What is the Moon festival? Every year on the fifteenth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar, when the moon is at its maximum brightness for the entire year, the Chinese celebrate "zhong qiu jie." Children are told the story of the moon fairy living in a crystal palace, who comes out to dance on the moon's shadowed surface. The legend surrounding the "lady living in the moon" dates back to ancient times, to a day when ten suns appeared at once in the sky. The Emperor ordered a famous archer to shoot down the nine extra suns. Once the task was accomplished, Goddess of Western Heaven rewarded the archer with a pill that would make him immortal. However, his wife found the pill, took it, and was banished to the moon as a result. Legend says that her beauty is greatest on the day of the Moon festival. Today, Chinese people celebrate the Mid-Autumn festival with dances, feasting and moon gazing. Not to mention mooncakes. While baked goods are a common feature at most Chinese celebrations, mooncakes are inextricably linked with the Moon festival."

It was a great dinner, and I would have to say that mooncakes are very yummy!

Enjoy ~SJ