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Mid-Autumn Festival : An Introduction

Chinese people love festivals and there are many festivities. Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the most popular ones. In fact it is so popular that many places in China designate it as a public holiday. Many historians come up with different versions as to the origin of this festival.

I am more in favor that moon cakes Festival is a festival to celebrate the harvest for the year. China has been an agricultural country for thousands of years. After a full year of hard labor, the farmers have to find a way to celebrate after the harvest is done. There is no better month to hold the occasion than August.

And what better day than the 15th of August ( lunar calendar ) when the moon is full. It is no coincidence that this year (1998), the autumn mooncake Festival falls on October 5th and the Thanksgiving Day in Canada falls on October 12th, just one week apart. Both days are celebrating the harvest time.

The legends, folklores and mythology associated with the Mid-Autumn Festival are many and you can find them under other topics in this special feature. It also plays a part in the Chinese history. While Chu Yuen-chang [¦¶ ¤¸ ¼ý] was able to take advantage of the Festival and passed his war messages in the moon cakes, Li Yu [(§õ ·Ô ] was not as fortunate.

After surrendering his kingdom to the Emperor of Sung , Li was under house arrest in the capital. The beautiful autumn moon can only bring him great grief and he was executive by the Emperor after writing this famous Ci.

Source: http://www.chinapage.com/Moon/moon-intro.html

History
Mooncakes have played a central role in Mid-autumn Festival traditions. Once, according to Chinese legend, mooncakes helped bring about a revolution.

The time was the Yuan dynasty (AD 1280-1368), established by the invading Mongolians from the north. The Mongolians subjugated the Han Chinese.

According to one Chinese folk tale, a Han Chinese rebel leader named Liu Fu Tong devised a scheme to arouse the Han Chinese to rise up against the ruling Mongols to end the oppressive Yuan dynasty. He sought permission from Mongolian leaders to give gifts to friends as a symbolic gesture to honor the longevity of the Mongolian emperor.

These gifts were round mooncakes. Inside, Liu had his followers place pieces of paper with the date the Han Chinese were to strike out in rebellion — on the fifteenth night of the eighth month.

Thus Liu got word to his people, who when they cut open the mooncakes found the revolutionary message and set out to overthrow the Mongols, thus ending the Yuan dynasty.

Today, far from the exotic and heroic legends, Chinese communities all over the world make and consume mooncakes during the traditional autumn Mooncake Festival.

The Moon Cake festival or Mid-Autumn Festival also commemorates the patriot Shu Yuan Zhang, who plotted to overthrow the tyrannical rule of the Yuan dynasty in the 14th century, and is said to have passed his plans to his fellow rebels hidden in mooncakes.

Hence today, these moon-shaped pastries with sweet fillings of red bean and lotus seed paste are exchanged as gifts. Lanterns of all shapes and sizes are carried in processions. In Singapore the Chinese Garden is the special venue for this most beautiful of all the Chinese festivals.

Source: http://www.kevdesign.com/midautumnfestival/mooncake.htm

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See Also: Mid autumn festival, Moon cakes festival, Autumn mooncake