One of my favorite Chinese holidays is the Mid-Autumn Festival, which we also just call the Moon Festival. It happens in September or early October, on a night when the moon is supposed to be the biggest and brightest of the whole year.
The whole point of the festival is to look at the moon. There’s an old legend we learn about a lady named Chang’e who lives there. She drank a magic potion and floated up to the moon, and now she’s there forever with her little jade rabbit. So when we look up at the moon, we’re not just seeing a rock in space; we’re looking for Chang’e. It makes the whole night feel a little magical.
But let’s be real, the best part is the food. The most important food is mooncakes. They are these small, round pastries with intricate designs on top. They look cool, but the inside is the real surprise. My favorite is the ones with red bean paste and the ones with cocos nut. There are also some from the south of china where there is some white thing with egg inside. The yolk is supposed to look like the full moon.
My family’s tradition is to go up to my grandparents’ apartment. We normally just eat lunch give give each other mooncakes. The festival is much of a big deal for us we actually only eat lunch together and don’t stay till night to look at the moon.
So, for me, the Mid-Autumn Festival is very yummy. The main part just why I like it is because of the mooncakes but I also like the stories behind all this. If you want to know more about the stories I will be publishing and writing a few posts about the different stories.