This Thursday will be a big day across much of East Asia. Families
will gather for dinner, lanterns will be everywhere, and people will be
out and about, mostly staring at the bright full moon while having aptly
named moon cakes as desserts.
Mid-Autumn Festival, also known by other
names like the Moon Festival or the Moon Cake Festival. It’s celebrated
on the 15th day of the eighth month in the traditional East Asian lunar
calendar, which falls on Sept. 15 in the Gregorian calendar this year.
From Korea to Vietnam, from Japan to Singapore, this occasion will be
marked by various customs and festivities. Here are five interesting
things to know about the day:
The tradition of family gathering and moon gazing in the evening of
Mid-Autumn Festival is associated with the folklore tale of the Chinese
moon goddess, Chang’e.
Legend has it that Chang’e levitated all the way to the moon when she
overdosed on an elixir of life, intended originally for her husband who
shot nine extra suns out of the sky with arrows. Her only companions on
the lunar surface include a rabbit and a man condemned to Sisyphean
tree-cutting.While there have always been different variations of moon cakes across
Asia, including some savory ones, the classic sweet pastry most closely
associated with the festival has been made the same way for centuries:
salty egg yolks stuffed in paste made from lotus seeds or beans.Another popular Chinese folk tale about the Mid-Autumn Festival involves
the 14th century overthrow of the Mongolian empire in China. Ethnic Han
rebels reportedly smuggled written instructions into moon cakes
delivered to their fellow citizens on the evening of one Mid-Autumn
Festival, inciting them to take up arms and overthrow their oppressive
rulers.Traditional handmade lanterns are in paper and lit with candles. More luxurious models might have a rattan or wooden frame,amazing
Great EXPERIENCE While lanterns are still alive and well in Hong Kong, what used to
light them up has become an end in itself. Literally known as
wax-boiling, the highly dangerous act involves melting candles by the
carton in empty moon-cake containers, then splashing water onto the hot,
burning wax.
Predictably, the practice that some people humorously call “annual
legal arson” has caused multiple serious burn cases almost every
Mid-Autumn Festival over the years. By the 21st century, Hong Kong
government made what it calls “tampering with hot wax” illegal in public
areas — surely one of the only jurisdictions on earth to write hot wax
into its criminal code
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