The Moon Festival is a Chinese festival celebrated on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month. It is a time for families to come together and is celebrated worldwide. Moon cakes are a traditional food, and the festival is accompanied by song, dance, and parades.
The Moon Festival is a Chinese festival celebrating the moon, also known as the August Moon Festival or the Mid-Autumn Festival. It is celebrated by the Chinese community on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month every year and is a time for families to come together. Traditionally, it was all women who took part in the rituals of the festival, as the moon is considered feminine, but now it is celebrated by all Chinese communities around the world.
Chinese mythology regularly features the moon and the sun and the moon were objects of veneration. One of the myths features a character called Chang E, who flew to the moon with his pet rabbit made of jade and a woodcutter called Wu Gang. It is thought that on clear nights, when the moon is full, they can still be seen there, dancing.
In modern times, the Moon Festival is celebrated with families and friends gathering in a similar way to the American holiday, Thanksgiving. It’s a time of joy, dancing, singing, eating and watching the full moon. As with many traditional festivals, the Festa della Luna also has a food inextricably linked to it, the moon cakes.
Moon cakes are a Chinese delicacy that consists of a shortcrust pastry shell filled with a sweet paste made from red beans and lotus seeds. Depending on the cook, they may contain one or more salted duck egg yolks in the filling. Traditionally, they have an imprint on the topping of the pastry which will be Chinese symbols showing a message such as ‘Longevity’ or ‘Harmony’. While these sweets were always made at home, they are now also produced commercially by bakeries during the Moon Festival period.
These cakes are presented by business people to their clients, friends to their guests and families to each other during the festival. There are many regional variations to the recipe and some modern variations as well. The traditional moon cakes were cut into slices and eaten, but there are also modern, small, single-portion versions.
The Moon Festival is not only celebrated every year in China, but in communities around the world. Every year Chinese communities gather in August and host song, music and dance in the streets. This is accompanied by parades and the hanging of lanterns and can last two or three days.
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