Mooncakes and Mid-Autumn Festival: The meaning of traditional Chinese culture

Why eat mooncakes?

Eating mooncakes is one of the important customs of the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival. Mooncakes symbolize reunion and perfection, implying reunion and happiness. The round shape of mooncakes implies reunion. At the same time, mooncakes are also loved for their rich and diverse fillings, with different flavors such as red bean paste, lotus seed paste, and five-nut, which can meet the taste needs of different people. Every Mid-Autumn Festival, families will taste mooncakes together, symbolizing reunion and happiness, and conveying the warm meaning of family reunion.

The tradition of eating mooncakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival originated from ancient Chinese cultural traditions and historical stories. The stories are related to reunion, resistance to foreign enemies, and transmission of information. Below I will tell you two legends related to the tradition of eating mooncakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival.

1. The old lady of Wu surrendered to the enemy and passed on the cake

The story is said to have happened during the Tang Dynasty, when the Wu Kingdom in southern China was invaded by the enemy and the country was in danger. There was a smart and kind grandmother named Han Xueqing, who planned to find ways to pass on intelligence to support the army. So, she pretended to send mooncakes to visit a sick person, secretly hid the intelligence in the mooncakes, and gave them to the generals in the army. The army got the intelligence and successfully repelled the enemy, and the Wu Kingdom defended its homeland. In order to commemorate this brave grandmother, people began to eat mooncakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival to express gratitude and commemorate her.

2. The Legend of Chang'e and the Sweet Osmanthus Sugar and Lotus Seed Mooncake

Another legend related to eating mooncakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival is the story of Chang'e. According to legend, there was a hot summer in ancient China for ten days and one night. People could not bear it, crops died, and the people suffered. In order to save the suffering of the world, the Jade Emperor decided to send ten suns to rise alternately. Houyi was a sharpshooter of one of the suns. He successfully shot down nine suns, saved the people, and was appreciated by the Jade Emperor.

The Jade Emperor gave Houyi the elixir of immortality and gave him his beautiful wife Chang'e. But Houyi was unwilling to leave the world and hid the elixir of immortality so that the people on earth could not get it. One day, Houyi was not at home, and Chang'e saw the place where the elixir of immortality was hidden. She accidentally swallowed the pill and ascended to the Moon Palace.

Houyi returned home and found that his wife was gone. He missed his wife and made mooncakes with her favorite osmanthus, sugar and lotus seeds to commemorate his wife. This also became the habit of eating mooncakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival to express the feelings of reunion and missing.

These two stories inherit the custom of eating mooncakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival, which symbolizes good wishes such as reunion, gratitude, and resistance to foreign enemies. Eating mooncakes has become one of the indispensable traditions of the Mid-Autumn Festival, making this festival more colorful.

Mooncake style

Mooncakes have many different styles, which are rich and varied, each with its own characteristics. Traditional mooncakes generally have the following styles:

Cantonese mooncakes: famous for their delicate skin, diverse fillings and exquisite patterns. The fillings of Cantonese mooncakes usually include red bean paste, lotus paste, five nuts, etc., with thin skin and rich fillings, and unique flavor.

Beijing mooncakes: famous for their crispy shell and unique fillings. The fillings of Beijing mooncakes generally include red bean paste, lotus paste, nuts, etc., and their characteristics are crispy skin and non-greasy fillings.

Su-style mooncakes: famous for their delicate skin and rich fillings. The fillings of Su-style mooncakes include lotus paste, jujube paste, pine nuts, etc., and their characteristics are fine production and unique taste.

In addition, the styles of modern creative mooncakes are becoming increasingly colorful, including ice skin mooncakes, milk skin mooncakes, coffee mooncakes, etc., which meet the taste needs of different people.

Other customs

In addition to tasting delicious mooncakes, there are other colorful customs during the Mid-Autumn Festival:

Moon-watching: On the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, people will gather together to enjoy the bright full moon. The moon symbolizes reunion and beauty, and moon-watching has become an indispensable custom of the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Moon-walking: In some places, "moon-walking" activities are held, where people hold hands and form a circle, walking around the moon together, implying reunion, happiness and well-being.

Moon-worship: On the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival, some families will prepare offerings, worship the moon, and pray for family peace and happiness.

Playing with lanterns: There is also a traditional custom of playing with lanterns during the Mid-Autumn Festival. People make exquisite lanterns, which imply brilliance and brightness, and also show the festive atmosphere of the festival.

As a traditional Chinese festival, the Mid-Autumn Festival is not only a symbol of reunion, happiness and good wishes, but also provides us with an opportunity to spend quality time with our families. We sincerely hope that friends around the world can feel the warmth and joy of the festival on this day. No matter where you come from, if you are interested in Chinese culture, you are welcome to join us to learn about and share these time-honored traditions. May the charm of this culture and the reunion spirit of the Mid-Autumn Festival bring us together and send us our best wishes.