The Universal Migrator

The Moon Festival, also known as the Mid-Autumn Festival 中秋节 (zhong qiu jie), takes place each year on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month. This is the date of the Autumn Equinox, when the moon is at its farthest point from the earth and hence appears bright and completely round.

Traditionally, the Moon Festival marks the end of the summer harvest. To the farmers of China, the festival is a celebration of thankfulness for heaven’s bounty. It has been celebrated by the Chinese people since the first century. It is a time of gathering for family and friends, similar to the Christmas and Thanksgiving in the west.

The traditional treat of the Moon Festival is the mooncake, or yue bing 月饼 (pictured to the left). Traditional mooncakes are typically baked and consists of a thin tender skin enveloping a sweet and slightly oily filling. The moon cake can also contain single or multiple whole salted egg yolks in its center to symbolize the full moon. The saltiness of the yolk balances well with the sweet filling in the mooncake. Although rarely so, mooncakes can also be steamed or fried.

Traditional mooncakes have an imprint on top consisting of the Chinese characters for “longevity” or “harmony” as well as the name of the bakery and filling in the moon cake. Imprints of a moon, a woman on the moon, flowers, vines, or a rabbit may surround the characters for additional decoration.

Mooncakes are expensive and are considered a delicacy. Making them and their fillings is also a labor intensive process; as such, few people make them at home and choose instead to purchase them at Asian markets and bakeries.

Click these link for more information on mooncakes and the Mid-Autumn Festival.

My first meetup with the Chinese language group took place at the 2006 Moon Festival at Colima Hong Kong Plaza in Rowland Heights. The festival itself seemed a bit too commercial for my tastes, but all in all it was a fun experience. It was really great to connect up and be a part of some of the Chinese culture here in Southern California. I met a lot of great people in the group and look forward to meeting up with them more in the future.

The best part of the day was at one of the restaurants in the plaza. I don’t remember the name of the place, but it had some of the most authentic Chinese food I’ve ever eaten in the States. It actually tasted like the food in China! You can see some of our Moon Festival antics in the pictures below. Click the thumbnail to view a larger image.