The Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival

The Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival, on the first full moon night of the 8th month on the lunar calendar, is celebrated by Chinese people all around the world. Chinese moon cake festival takes place at the time of the autumn equinox, when the moon is supposedly at its fullest and roundest, and many of the traditional festivities center around admiration of the moon and eating foods that resemble the moon.

Traditional Chinese Mooncakes

Chinese mooncakes are small pastries about the size of a human palm that consist of a cookie-like crust and various fillings, ranging from lotus seed paste to red and green bean paste. Traditional mooncakes usually have a bright orange salted duck egg enclosed in the filling, which symbolizes the moon. Mooncakes are very rich and heavy, so each mooncake is usually cut into 4 wedges and shared. The traditional way to enjoy mooncakes is to sit with family and friends, and to eat the mooncake while admiring the moon.

Modern mooncakes have also made an appearance – many of these use fruit fillings instead of the traditional fillings, and others replace the traditional crust with glutinous rice crusts (known as mochi). There are also frozen mooncakes that are made with ice cream, as well as jelly mooncakes.


Source: http://www.suite101.com/content/the-chinese-midautumn-festival-a155100