Post by janggut on Oct 22, 2006 3:44:43 GMT
this thread is made as per request from Shan & Fille. i hope the rest of u will enjoy it too.
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as i am half Chinese by parentage, i also get to experience Chinese festivals intimately with my Chinese relatives. a significant number of Chinese festivals are not religious, rather it has a lot to do with racial traditions & history. one of the festivals we celebrate is Mooncake Festival.
as the name says, it's all about the mooncakes. ;D it's pastry filled with many kinds of fillings. the traditional pastes are red bean, green bean, lotus seed, mixed nut & a few more. there are more modern recipes nowadays with new exciting (or even terrifying) flavour such as green tea, chocolate, coffee, cheese, tropical fruits, apricot, kiwi fruit, peach, & more. a number of these new recipes cater to the type of mooncake which is not baked but chilled. here is an example some chilled version of mooncakes of various flavours;
Mooncake Festival is also closely related to Lantern Festival which is celebrated almost at the same time, which is between 2nd week of September & 2nd week of October. at times, people would treat the two as one festival & enjoy mooncakes while lighting up lanterns at the same time. it is a time enjoyed by both adults & children.
how did the two festivals came about? as for mooncake festival, it has a number of variation for its origin.
Archer Hou Yi
i recall this story has been told by Gal in the Folk Tales & Legends thread made by Shan. anyway here's a recap of it.
Hou Yi was an immortal living in the heavens with a mortal wife, who worked as an attendant for the Jade Emperor's wife. after banishment due to some slander by some jealous party, he and his wife stayed on earth & late ron became a famous archer.
at those times, there were 10 suns that took turn to circle the earth. one day, all the suns came out together thus schorching the earth. the Emperor of China then commanded Hou Yi to kill all but one of the suns. once he has done so, the emperor rewarded him with a pill, an elixir of life, and told him to first prepare himself with prayers & to fast for a year. so Hou Yi did to mend his spirit. while he was in the middle of his preparation, he was again summone dby the emperor. while he was away, his wife noticed a beam of light from where hou Yi hid the pill, & swallowed it. immediately she found that she could fly. just at that moment, Hou Yi returned & realised what has happened. he reprimanded his wife, who then flew out of the window & to the sky. bow in hand, How Yi ran after her & the pursuit continued halfway across the heavens. due to the force of the wind, Hou Yi had to return to earth. meanwhile his wife reached the moon, who then was breathless & coughed part of the pill out. at this time, the hare is already on the moon (this is another folk tale altogether), so Hou Yi's wife asked the hare to make a pill out of that part that fell out of her mouth earlier so she could return to earth to Hou Yi. until today the hare is still pounding to make that pill. Hou Yi made a palace in the sun as 'Yang' while his wife's is 'Yin'. once a year on the 15th day of the full moon, Hou Yi visits his wife. that is why the moon is always full & beautiful on that night.
more stories & variations in Wikipedia.
for those who want to try out the recipes to make their own mooncakes, here are some from The Star which is a Malaysian newspaper.
this link provides some more information on other kinds of food related to mooncake festival.
some more pictures for your enjoyment.
well that is it for now. too bad i didn't have any camera with me when i was mooncake shopping but i hope to have one next year. maybe i can show u all sorts of mooncakes & mooncake festival-related food. after all, it's all about FOOD!
*******************
as i am half Chinese by parentage, i also get to experience Chinese festivals intimately with my Chinese relatives. a significant number of Chinese festivals are not religious, rather it has a lot to do with racial traditions & history. one of the festivals we celebrate is Mooncake Festival.
as the name says, it's all about the mooncakes. ;D it's pastry filled with many kinds of fillings. the traditional pastes are red bean, green bean, lotus seed, mixed nut & a few more. there are more modern recipes nowadays with new exciting (or even terrifying) flavour such as green tea, chocolate, coffee, cheese, tropical fruits, apricot, kiwi fruit, peach, & more. a number of these new recipes cater to the type of mooncake which is not baked but chilled. here is an example some chilled version of mooncakes of various flavours;
Mooncake Festival is also closely related to Lantern Festival which is celebrated almost at the same time, which is between 2nd week of September & 2nd week of October. at times, people would treat the two as one festival & enjoy mooncakes while lighting up lanterns at the same time. it is a time enjoyed by both adults & children.
how did the two festivals came about? as for mooncake festival, it has a number of variation for its origin.
Archer Hou Yi
i recall this story has been told by Gal in the Folk Tales & Legends thread made by Shan. anyway here's a recap of it.
Hou Yi was an immortal living in the heavens with a mortal wife, who worked as an attendant for the Jade Emperor's wife. after banishment due to some slander by some jealous party, he and his wife stayed on earth & late ron became a famous archer.
at those times, there were 10 suns that took turn to circle the earth. one day, all the suns came out together thus schorching the earth. the Emperor of China then commanded Hou Yi to kill all but one of the suns. once he has done so, the emperor rewarded him with a pill, an elixir of life, and told him to first prepare himself with prayers & to fast for a year. so Hou Yi did to mend his spirit. while he was in the middle of his preparation, he was again summone dby the emperor. while he was away, his wife noticed a beam of light from where hou Yi hid the pill, & swallowed it. immediately she found that she could fly. just at that moment, Hou Yi returned & realised what has happened. he reprimanded his wife, who then flew out of the window & to the sky. bow in hand, How Yi ran after her & the pursuit continued halfway across the heavens. due to the force of the wind, Hou Yi had to return to earth. meanwhile his wife reached the moon, who then was breathless & coughed part of the pill out. at this time, the hare is already on the moon (this is another folk tale altogether), so Hou Yi's wife asked the hare to make a pill out of that part that fell out of her mouth earlier so she could return to earth to Hou Yi. until today the hare is still pounding to make that pill. Hou Yi made a palace in the sun as 'Yang' while his wife's is 'Yin'. once a year on the 15th day of the full moon, Hou Yi visits his wife. that is why the moon is always full & beautiful on that night.
more stories & variations in Wikipedia.
for those who want to try out the recipes to make their own mooncakes, here are some from The Star which is a Malaysian newspaper.
this link provides some more information on other kinds of food related to mooncake festival.
some more pictures for your enjoyment.
well that is it for now. too bad i didn't have any camera with me when i was mooncake shopping but i hope to have one next year. maybe i can show u all sorts of mooncakes & mooncake festival-related food. after all, it's all about FOOD!