One of the best things about teaching abroad is getting to celebrate the holidays that are unique to the foreign country you’re living in. China certainly celebrates some interesting traditions. Since it’s September, I’m thinking about the Mid-Autumn Festival, or Moon Festival, which is typically observed in mid to late September, depending on the Chinese calendar, followed by a nation-wide one week vacation that all public schools take in early October. It’s wonderful to celebrate a holiday with a “mandatory” week off.
Even after two years living in China, I still couldn’t quite figure out exactly what I was celebrating during the festival. Part of the problem is that the holiday is based on a myth that has been re-told many times, so that now there are 5 accepted versions, none of which contain much historical fact. Each myth (all long, slightly complicated tales) involve a charming young woman, a savior disguised as a handsome mortal, some magic elixir, an emperor and a wicked merciless man, of course, right? Like any good fairy tale, the main theme is love. And the end result is that the Autumn Festival remembers the charming young woman’s move to the moon to remember the handsome young man (or savior) whom she loved deeply. Thus, the whole night is meant to be spent staring at the full, round autumn moon, while eating mooncakes. Mooncakes are round pastries, usually 10cm in diameter and 4 cm thick (and VERY dense). They have a thick filling, usually made from lotus seed paste or yolks from salted duck eggs. My friend Caleb, a fellow ESL teacher, once ate an entire package (20 or so) of mooncakes and slept for an entire day-they’re that dense. If you don’t enjoy a lot of salt with your sweets, skip the duck egg version and go for the lotus seed.
The mooncakes may even hold a significant role in ancient Chinese history. According to legend, the festival commemorates the Ming Dynasty’s victory over Mongol rulers in the 14th century. As group gatherings were banned by the Mongol Dynasty, it was impossible for the rebel leaders to make a plan for rebellion. Noting the Mongols didn’t eat the dense mooncakes that the rest of the Chinese people enjoyed, they came up with a plan to carry messages inside the mooncakes to the rest of the Chinese people, with a message for attack to be carried out on the night of the Mid-Autumn festival. Like a very dense and rich fortune cookie, inside each cake, there was a paper with the message, “Kill the Mongols on the 15th day of the 8th month.” On the night of the Moon Festival, the rebels successfully overthrew the government. What followed was the establishment of the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, the Mid-Autumn Festival hence forth was celebrated (and still is) with the eating of mooncakes!
Another food the Chinese enjoy during the festival are pomelos; they’re like smaller and sweeter grapefruits that originated in Asia. Even though pomelos look just like mini grapefruits, they actually have no botanical relationship. Sometimes people put pomelo rinds on their heads during the festival, and I have yet to figure out why other than it’s a silly thing to do that gets a laugh!
Carrying brightly lit lanterns is also a tradition-a beautiful one. Burning incense for Chang’e (the charming young woman who moves to the moon), planting trees and collecting dandelion leaves and distributing them to your family members are also some of the common traditions associated with this holiday.
Besides eating mooncakes (which are everywhere from August-October throughout each Chinese city and suburb), just looking at the moon and celebrating the start of fall is what I heard about the most while I was there. I was lucky enough to be invited to a fellow Chinese teacher’s home for dinner on the Autumn Moon Festival. I managed to eat half a salted duck mooncake (considered the best because they are more expensive) and was happy to have a view of the very full moon from her beautiful high-rise apartment. Just like any American holiday, it was an excuse to be with family and eat special foods. It was also a way to give thanks to “the gods” for changing the season. With fall being my favorite season, I’ll definitely be looking at the moon this week and thinking of that country across the world that I love so much. I just might skip the mooncakes though…
