THE MOONCAKE FESTIVAL

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THE MOONCAKE FESTIVAL

WHAT IS MOONCAKE

While most moon cakes are only a few inches in diameter, imperial chefs have made them as large as several feet across, decorated with images of the moon palace, the cassia tree, or the rabbit.

In rural villages, "moon cake societies" are formed to make sure that everyone has an adequate supply of cakes when the festival arrives.

In cities, confectioners make moon cakes and donate them to the poor.

They are sent from neighbour to neighbour and exchanged among friends during the festival.

They are round like the moon and filled with melon seeds, cassia blossoms, orange peel, walnuts, date paste, or smashed bean.

Moon Cakes (Yüeh Ping) is made of greyish flour to resemble the colour of the moon and often stacked in a pyramid thirteen-cakes high to represent the thirteen months of the Chinese lunar year.

THE LEGEND

The midnight attack came as a complete surprise and hastened the dynasty's downfall.

Information about the time and place of the revolution was spread by hiding it on small squares of paper inside the moon cakes that were sent to friends and relatives during the Mid-Autumn Festival in 1353.

A Mongol spy living in every household, and the only way the Chinese people could communicate with each other was to conceal their messages in moon cakes.

Legend says that during the Yuan dynasty (1279-1368), these cakes were used to convey secret instructions to Chinese patriots concerning the overthrow of their Mongol rulers.

THE FESTIVAL