Mooncake festival

THE STAR

Saturday September 13, 2008

Stories of the moon and the cake

By LIZ PRICE

There are lots of cakes to eat during the Mooncake Festival but do you know the stories behind the festival?
The choice of mooncakes on sale during each Mooncake Festival is quite astonishing.
Apart from the traditional brown ones, there are more colourful offerings as well, such as those that are pandan green, white, and even purple. And the packaging and boxes are also very colourful.
The Mooncake Festival celebrates the birthday of the moon and is also known as the Mid-Autumn Festival. The Chinese calendar is based on the lunar cycle, and the festival is held on 8/15 of the lunar calendar, on a full moon night.

Sweet success: Sally Phang and Azrina Amenidin of BreadTalk say mooncakes are as popular as ever.

This year it falls on Sept 14.
The moon is important to the Chinese and determines many of their festival dates. On the Autumn Moon Festival, the moon is round and families unite. Families get together to eat a special dinner, which includes the mooncakes.
Mooncakes are round like the moon, and the shape is a symbol for togetherness and harmony. The cakes are made of pastry and have sweet fillings. Among the huge array, I have seen red bean paste, lotus seed paste, coconut, black sesame, green tea, pandan and nuts. Some have egg yolks in the centre, to represent the moon.
I have also noticed mooncakes with more modern fillings, such as white coffee with chocolate bits, tiramisu, Japanese macha, and even durian. Maybe these new recipes are designed to tempt the younger generation.

Colourful lanterns are sold during the Mooncake Festival

The sweetness of the cakes represents good fortune or good harvest. But there are some mooncakes that are savoury and made with salted lotus and dried shrimp sambal, or with fruits and chicken bits.
The cakes take a long time to make so nowadays most people prefer to buy them in the shops. Special designs are embossed on the top of each cake. Some of these designs are of traditional Chinese characters representing the old legends of the mooncakes, while others are embossed with the logo of the shop or hotel that makes them.
I spoke to Sally Phang Phat Yee, 20, and Azrina Amenidin, 22, from BreadTalk, and they said mooncakes are still very popular now, so the tradition is not dying out. Sally told me that a classic mooncake would be the white lotus with single yolk. They offered me a taste of the different varieties they were selling, and my favourites were the classic, as well as the pandan one.
As well as eating these cakes, people enjoy the moonlight on this special night. Some households decorate their houses with paper lanterns. In the old days people carried paper lanterns containing candles and climbed the hills to get a good view of the full moon.
They gave thanks to the bright, silvery moon. Unfortunately this tradition is dying out especially in cities and towns which are bathed in electric lights, obliterating the night sky.

Round and round: The shape of a mooncake is meant to represent togetherness and harmony.

The traditions of this festival date back to the days when many people were farmers. They grew their own crops and reared animals for meat, milk and eggs. After the autumn harvest, families and friends would gather together to give thanks for all that they had to eat. They would also remember the rain, the sun and the earth which made all life possible.
In the northern hemisphere countries, which of course includes China, days get shorter in the autumn, and this is when the moon triumphs as there are more hours of darkness. It is said that the moon is roundest on the 8/15.
Of course, there are legends associated with this special time. One of the most popular describes how Chang Èr, also known as Lady Moon, flew to the moon. Ten suns existed back then, and a long drought persisted, so the emperor asked for archers to shoot down the suns.
The best archer was Chang Èr’s husband, and he shot down nine of the suns. He was made King and was given an immortality pill. However he became a tyrant with his new power. To save the country, his wife stole the pill and swallowed it herself.
She flew to the full, bright moon on 8/15 of the lunar calendar and became the Moon Goddess. It is said that she still lives there with a rabbit and a cassia tree. It is because of her that mooncakes are stamped with designs of the Moon Lady, the Jade Rabbit, or groves of cassia trees.
Another story relates more to the mooncakes. During the 14th century, China was under the harsh rule of the Mongols. The Chinese decided to revolt and, in order to send secret messages regarding the time and place of uprising, they embedded the information in the cakes.
When the Chinese cut the mooncakes to eat, they found the secret message about the revolt. On 8/15, the Chinese revolted against the Mongols and drove them out of China.
Nowadays some bakers put printed pieces of paper on mooncakes, so don’t be suprised if you find one on the bottom of a cake or pasted on top of the cake box.
And if you have a secret wish, why not whisper it to Chang Èr, and see if she will grant you your special fancy.                     

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