The Many Faces of Mooncakes

Hello! An article regarding the traditional mooncake has captured my attention as I browsed Reader's Digest Asia's website this morning. Here's something to share this festive season. A piece written by Tan Su-Lyn for Reader's Digest Asia.

The Many Faces of Mooncakes

Celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival

By TAN SU-LYN

When tradition matters, nothing beats the White Lotus Seed Mooncake with Double Yolk. Photo: Marriott Hotel

As a child, one of my favourite Chinese celebrations was the Mid-Autumn or Mooncake Festival. Traditionally observed by the Chinese on the fifteenth day of the eighth Lunar month, it is a harvest celebration that also marks the night when the moon is at its fullest and roundest.
Families gather, usually outdoors, to admire the moon, savour mooncakes and each child would carry his or her own candlelit (although these days battery-operated flashing lights seem more common) lantern in a fun-filled lantern procession. At school, we fashioned our own lanterns out of wire, colourful cellophane, glitter and tassels. Occasionally, school-wide moon-viewing parties were even organised. Each student would contribute a selection of mooncakes, the school grounds would be dotted with lanterns and we would learn about the traditions of this age-old celebration.
The historic origins of this festival are unclear. The myth most strongly associated with it revolves around an archer named Hou Yi and his wife Chang Er who after taking (or, in some versions of the story, stealing) the pill of immortality is transported to the moon, permanently parted from her husband, and eventually becomes known as the moon goddess or lady in the moon.
Another character closely linked to the tale is the rabbit in the moon that is usually preoccupied with using its mortar and pestle to prepare herbs or medicine. Sometimes, it is described as working to re-create the pill of immortality in the hopes of helping Chang Er reunite with her husband Hou Yi. Traditional lanterns and mooncake packaging often depict this myth. Another explanation for the significance of this festival – especially the tradition of gifting friends and family with mooncakes – is the oft-repeated (albeit unsubstantiated) tale of how the Chinese were instructed to rebel against the Mongols during the Yuan dynasty through messages hidden in mooncakes.

Whatever its origins, the Mid-Autumn Festival has become a highly commercial celebration that revolves around the business of retailing, gifting and eating of mooncakes. Enjoying these seasonal delights is my favourite part of this festival.
There is a broad range of traditional mooncakes across China and Taiwan, but the ones most commonly enjoyed in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and the Philippines (where it is commonly referred to as hopia ) have origins in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong. The baked, intricately moulded crust is sweet and slightly chewy rather than crumbly and the mooncake is usually stuffed with lotus, red bean or red date paste dotted with melon seeds. The most luxurious ones contain whole salted duck egg yolks perfectly positioned so that every wedge of mooncake will contain a sliver of this delightful delicacy.
More contemporary versions feature unusual fillings as well as novel crusts such as the unbaked sweet snowskin which is made of a combination of glutinous rice flour and Hong Kong flour (a highly bleached flour commonly used to make bao, Chinese steamed buns).
But what I’ve found most interesting is that the tradition of moon-gazing is not limited to the Chinese. And each culture not only similarly marks the occasion with special food, but does so with its own version of mooncakes.

The Japanese also practise the tradition of tsukimi (moon viewing) on Jugoya (the fifteenth night of the eighth month on the lunar calendar) and enjoy moon viewing rice dumplings. The dumplings are sometimes shaped like rabbits to depict the legend of Tsukiyo no Usagi, The Rabbit on the Moon. On the same day, Koreans celebrate Chuseok or Hangawi, a harvest celebration where they make offerings to their ancestors and enjoy a crescent-shaped sweet glutinous rice cake called songpyeon. In Vietnam, the same day is celebrated as Tet Trung Thu or Children’s Festival, a time when parents busy with harvesting set time aside to focus on their children and mark the festivities by eating banh trung thu (mid-Autumn cakes).
This September, as the moon rises and lanterns are lit, take time out to learn a little more about the many overlapping histories, traditions and myths we share in Asia but rarely celebrate collectively across borders.

Who would have thought that the mooncake, something that’s considered uniquely Chinese, is actually present in so many other countries and cultures?

Yes, I do wonder how unique my heritage is and how this tradition of watching the moon is spanned across many countries in Asia. I am proud to be a Chinese (that is for the first time, too!). Enjoy your mooncake in a different conception this coming Mid-Autumn's Festival! =)