Mid-Autumn Festival

The Mid-Autumn Festival is held on the 15th day of the eighth month in Chinese calendar, which is usually around mid or late September in the Gregorian calendar. It is a date that parallels the autumn and spring Equinoxes of the solar calendar. The traditional food of this festival is the moon cake, of which there are many different varieties.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the two most important holidays in the Chinese calendar, the other being the Chinese New Year, and is a legal holiday in several countries. It is a time for family reunion as well. Farmers celebrate the end of the summer harvesting season on this date. Traditionally, on this day, Chinese family members will gather to admire the bright mid-autumn harvest moon, and eat moon cakes and fruits together.

Moon Cake

Moon cakes are round in shape resembling the full moon on that day. A thick filling usually made from lotus seed paste is surrounded by a relatively thin (2-3 mm) crust and may contain yolks from salted duck eggs. Moon cakes are rich, heavy, and dense compared with most Western cakes and pastries. They are usually eaten in small wedges accompanied by Chinese tea. Traditional moon cakes have an imprint on top consisting of the Chinese characters for "longevity" or "harmony" as well as the filling type in the moon cake. Along generations, moon cakes have been made with sweet fillings of nuts, mashed red beans, lotus-seed paste, taro paste or Chinese dates, wrapped in a pastry. Salt and pepper moon cakes are ccommonly found in flaky Suzhou-style and are filled with roasted black sesame.