Hawthorn stimulates the appetite, prompting people to eat more in preparation for the collecting action that autumn requires. Lotus seed paste is good for clearing Lung heat that has a tendency to rise, as autumn is the season when the Lungs are most active. And as the general applying TCM principle says: "Nourish Yang in spring and summer, Yin in autumn and winter."ĭuck egg yolks and mushrooms, for example, are great to nourish Yin during the dryness common in autumn. Traditional mooncake fillings tend to be beneficial foods for the autumn season. Other styles of mooncakes exist all across China and the Sinophone world, and in modern times, innovations like mochi crust mooncakes or cakes filled with chocolate, jelly, and liquor infusions. The Bejiing style mooncakes usually feature hawthorne paste or wisteria blossom jam inside a flaky puff pastry crust stamped with red auspicious characters. Other fillings include anything from sweet jujube date paste to crushed mixed nuts to salted meats and mushrooms. The classic Cantonese mooncake features a salted duck egg yolk and sweet lotus paste enclosed in an egg wash pastry stamped with flower and auspicious motifs. They are typically eaten in small wedges accompanied by Chinese tea. Shanghainese mooncakes mooncakes vary by region but are usually rich, heavy, and dense compared with most Western cakes and pastries. The quintessential food is, of course, the mooncake-so much so that some refer to this day as the Mooncake Festival. Mid-Autumn Festival Foods & Wellness Mooncakes (yue bing 月饼)Īs with all major Chinese festivals, the Mid-Autumn celebrations center on an array of seasonal and symbolic dishes. Today, the festival is the second-most important cultural celebration in China, and family reunion is still the highlight of the day-as seen by the surge in train ticket sales as millions of Chinese rush home to spend the day with their loved ones. For centuries, Chinese families and friends gathered on Mid-Autumn to share a bountiful meal beneath the full moon, celebrating the harvest and the bonds of family. The roundness of the full moon represents abundance and the joy of a family reunited and made whole. This is the origin of moon-worship on the 15th day of the 8th month. The people of the town, sympathizing with his sadness, soon joined him. When Hou Yi learned of this, he was so saddened that, on this day each year, he would display Chang’e favorite fruits and cakes out in the courtyard while gazing longingly at the moon. Because she loved her husband deeply and wished to stay nearby, she chose the moon as her heavenly residence. In the subsequent struggle, Chang’e swallowed the elixir out of desperation, and began floating away into the sky, transforming into a deity. On the 15th day of the 8th month, when Hou Yi was away on a hunt, his evil apprentice broke into their home and tried to force Chang’e to give up the elixir, but she refused. Yet the news of the gift of the elixir did not stay hidden for long. However, Hou Yi had a wife named Chang’e whom he loved dearly, and couldn't begin to think of leaving her, so the couple hid it in their home instead. Taking the elixir would turn anyone immortal and they'd need to leave earth behind. As a reward for saving humanity, he granted Hou Yi an immortality elixir. And as the story goes, long ago, China suffered from terrible droughts because ten suns existed in the sky and the extreme heat made people’s lives very difficult. The Jade Emperor tasked a famed archer, Hou Yi, to shoot down nine of those suns. One of the most widely told Mid-Autumn Festival legends is the one of the moon goddess, Chang’e. Read on to discover the rich mythology, history, and food and wellness traditions of this important autumn festival. To show their gratitude for a bountiful harvest, rulers made offerings and sacrifices to the moon and its relevant folk deities-the goddess Chang’e above all others. This day boasts an incredible, bright full moon, earning its common name, the “Moon Festival.” The Mid-Autumn Festival is a time of family reunion and celebration, a major cultural event in China and many other East and Southeast Asian societies.įor millennia, Chinese rulers have worshipped the moon and celebrated the autumn harvest during the fullest moon of the 8th month. Today is the traditional Mid-Autumn Festival (Zhong Qiu Jie,中秋节), the 15th day of the 8th month in the Chinese lunisolar calendar.
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