|
Mooncake Festival
So today is the once-a-year Mooncake Festival or Mid-Autumn Harvest or just plain Mid-Autumn Festival. This a festival that is celebrated one month in advance, thanks to modern commercialization and mass marketing.
According to legend, Chang Er, wife of Hou Yi, consumed an immortality pill that granted her everlasting life but (somehow) made her too light, and so she floated to the moon and now resides there. There are many versions of the story, in one, her ate the pill so that her evil husband would not gain immortality. In another, she was a greedy wench that wanted continuous life and youth. And yet another, the couple were supposed to share 50:50 of the pill. In any case, she is now revered as sort of a goddess of the moon, and is often depicted as a beautiful young lady with flowing robes and an ornate hairstyle.
The pill itself has different stories too, it was presumably given to Hou Yi by the Empress of the West for some reason, or was a reward for shooting down the 9 suns, or was made with 100 children (!).
Chang Er is said to live with a (Jade?) rabbit or hare, and some guy who is cursed to hack away at a sort of tree, but is destined to always fail. I forgot why they were there though. sweatdrop
I always tend to think of the mochi-pounding rabbit in Hermes' Moon after the EI came out too. xp
This also brings to mind the Japanese Tsukimi festival, where they eat dango and admire the moon and stuff. Yet another Japanese festival based on Chinese folklore.
But of course, the bright, shining star of this day is no other then the Mooncake. I remember LOVING mooncakes when I was younger, but I seem to not like them so much nowadays. The lotus and red bean pastes are too sweet and rich for me. But I still like the snow skin versions. Mooncakes are not the healthiest snack though, an-eighth of one can amount to 250 calories! Of course, there are those "healthy" ones that claim to be low in fat and sugar, but if you take a closer look at the nutrition information, the sugar content has been reduced by only 50 grams. rolleyes
I did take a lot of photos of mooncakes and stuff, but I'll upload later. I still like the pretty packages mooncakes come in, even if I don't like mooncakes so much anymore.
Oh, and for the first time in my life, I've finally seen ling kok, or in English, water caltrops! They were definitely the cutest things I've ever seen, just like a pair of bull's horns. whee Literally translated as "spiritual horns", they supposedly play some part in ancient Chinese rites, together with pomelos and (mini) yams. I bought some, and boiled them, but they didn't really taste nice though, no wonder they're only used for prayers and not eaten.
We'll probably be playing with candles and lanterns later tonight. This is the only night where us kids are allowed to play with fire! xd Mini bonfire, here I come!
|
