mid- September Mooncake Festival
In China the Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋节), also known as Lantern Festival, Moon Festival or Mooncake Festival, is a holiday that is all about the appreciation of the moon. mandarin matrix.org. Mid-autumn-festival-traditions-and-activities .
This one-day festival is celebrated on the 8th lunar month of the Chinese calendar and also known as the Mid-Autumn Festival. A harvest celebration of the successful reaping of rice and wheat with food offerings made in honour of the moon. Today, it is still an occasion for reunions among friends and relatives to eat mooncakes and watch the Moon, a symbol of harmony and unity.
Mid-Autumn Festival Activities
- Reuniting with the family over dinner
- Eating mooncakes
- Appreciating the moon
- Worshiping the moon
- Make and hanging colourful lanterns
- Drinking Osmanthus wine (made from China's national drink, Baijiu (meaning 'clear spirit') - distilled from wheat or glutinous rice, and was first made 5,000 years ago)
- Giving gifts
- Sending celebration messages to loved ones
- Shopping
*Over the years, some traditions like worshiping the moon have slowly started fading away and been replaced with new ones like shopping and travel.
These ingredients are suggested in a recipe from - www.ricenflour.com -how-to-make-traditional-baked-mooncakes which contains much help and information.
- 240 grams flour (I used 120 grams cake flour (protein 8%) and 120 grams bread flour (protein 11%))
- 160 grams golden syrup
- 30 grams peanut oil or vegetable oil
- 1 egg yolk (18 – 20 grams)
- 10 grams (2 heap teaspoons) creamy peanut butter
- ¼ teaspoon five-spice powder (only used when the filling is savoury)
