 Mooncakes are to Mid-Autumn Festival what mince pies are to
Christmas. The seasonal round cakes traditionally have a sweet filling of
lotus seed paste or red bean paste and often have one or more salted duck
eggs in the center to represent the moon. And the moon is what this
celebration is all about. Mid-Autumn Festival falls on the 15th day of the
8th lunar month, it is the time when the moon is said to be at its
brightest and fullest.
There are two legends which claim to
explain the tradition of eating mooncakes. One Tang Dynasty myth holds
that the Earth once had 10 suns circling it. One day all 10 suns appeared
at once, scorching the planet with their heat. It was thanks to a skillful
archer named Hou Yi that the Earth was saved. He shot down all but one of
the suns. As his reward, the Heavenly Queen Mother gave Hou Yi the Elixir
of Immortality, but she warned him that he must use it wisely. Hou Yi
ignored her advice and, corrupted by fame and fortune, became a tyrannical
leader. Chang-Er, his beautiful wife, could no longer stand by and watch
him abuse his power so she stole his Elixir and fled to the moon to escape
his angry wrath. And thus began the legend of the beautiful woman in the
moon, the Moon Fairy.
The second legend has it that during the Yuan Dynasty, an underground
group led by Zhu Yuan Zang was determined to rid the country of Mongolian
dominance. The moon cake was created to carry a secret message. When the
cake was opened and the message read, an uprising was unleashed which
successfully routed the Mongolians. It happened at the time of the full
moon, which, some say, explains why mooncakes are eaten at this time.
 Mooncakes are usually stamped with Chinese characters
indicating the name of the bakery and the type of filling used. Some
bakeries will even stamp them with your family name so that you can give
personalised ones to friends and family. They are usually presented in
boxes of four which indicate the four phases of the moon. Traditional
mooncakes are made with melted lard, but today vegetable oil is more often
used in the interests of health.
Mooncakes are not for the diet-conscious as they are loaded with
calories. The best way to wash down one of these sticky cakes is with a
cup of Chinese tea, especially Jasmine or Chrysanthemum tea, which aids
the digestion.
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