The Dark Side of the Mooncake

Today is the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival (Zhongjiu Jie), also sometimes called the Mooncake Festival or Lantern Festival. This is a popular harvest festival dating back over 3,000 years to the Chinese Shang Dynasty period. The Mid-Autumn Festival is celebrated on the 15th day of the eighth month of the Chinese calendar, which is sometime in September or October on the Gregorian calendar. It also corresponds with the Autumn Equinox when the moon is supposed to be at its fullest and roundest.

During this Mid-Autumn Festival period, many Chinese and Vietnamese are likely to consume a lot of delicious mooncakes.

These days, the mooncakes come in all sorts of interesting flavours ...

and shapes ...

There is also a story you might have heard about the role of mooncakes in a Chinese uprising against Mongol rulers (during the Yuan Dynasty) in the 14th century. In this tale (which I'm not sure is fully supported by historical facts), the mooncakes were used as an early form of e-mail ... the "e" being "edible" rather than "electronic" .LOL.  Anyway as group gatherings were banned, it was very difficult for the Chinese to make plans for a rebellion. So one bright chap called Liu Bowen (from Zhejiang), who was a confidant of the rebel leader Zhu Yuanzhang, suggested timing the rebellion with the Mid-Autumn Festival. He applied for and got permission to distribute thousands of mooncakes to Chinese residents in the city to bless the longevity of the Mongol emperor. Apparently the Mongols did not eat mooncakes, so inside each cake distributed was concealed a piece of paper with the message "Kill the Mongols on the 15th day of the eighth month". And on the night itself, the rebellion was successful and the Mongols were overthrown. The Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) was thus born.


Like everyone else, I like my mooncakes too. My favourites are tau sar, ling yun, single or double yolk and the ones with mixed nuts. Yummmmmmmy ...

However doctors and healthcare professionals have always been cautioning against over-indulging in mooncakes. They say that a small mooncake may contain as any calories as a bowl of rice! As mooncakes are generally made from flour, sugar and butter, one egg-yolk filled mooncake weighing about 60 g can contain up to 270 calories. That would take an averaged sized person about an hour to walk off, says a nutritionist friend of mine.

A health report from Taiwan that I read also noted that aside from moon cakes, many people also celebrate the festival by eating barbequed and processed meat, which are high in calories and sodium. Eating too much of such foods not only led to weight gain, but consuming more sodium than is recommended on a daily basis could also strain the kidneys and the cardiovascular system, the report said. Some health bureaus in China advised people to consume only moderate amounts of moon cakes and where relevant to substitute meat for vegetables such as mushrooms and green onions when having a barbeque. Pomelo, another traditional Mid-Autumn Festival food, is also recommended because of its high vitamin C content. The fruit is also known to lower cholesterol and decrease risk of heart disease.

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Well, having shared all that, I must say it's only once a year and so long as we don't go overboard with stuffing our faces with mooncake, it should be fine ... tau sar, ling yun, double yolk ... here I come !!!!

HAPPY MID-AUTUMN FESTIVAL !!!

Mid-Autumn Festival

The Mid-Autumn Festival  ( zhōng qiū jié in Mandarin ) is also known as the Moon Festival. It is a popular East Asian celebration of abundance and togetherness, dating back over 3,000 years to China's Zhou Dynasty. In Malaysia and Singapore, we also refer to it as the Lantern Festival or "Mooncake Festival."


The Mid-Autumn Festival falls on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month of the Chinese calendar (usually late-September or early October), a date that parallels the Autumn Equinox of the solar calendar. This year it falls on 3rd October 2009. This is apparently the ideal time, when the moon is at its fullest and brightest, to celebrate the abundance of the summer's harvest. The traditional food of this festival is the mooncake, of which there are several varieties.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the two most important holidays in the Chinese calendar (the other being the Lunar New Year). Farmers celebrate the end of the summer harvesting season on this date. Traditionally, on this day, Chinese family members and friends will gather to admire the bright mid-Autumn harvest moon, and eat moon cakes and pomeloes together. Other interesting customs include: carrying brightly lit lanterns, putting pomelo rinds on one's head, burning incense in reverence to deities, planting Mid-Autumn trees,and collecting dandelion leaves for distribution among family.

Children often hear the tale of the moon fairy living in a crystal palace, who comes out to dance on the moon's shadowed surface. This legend of the "lady living in the moon" goes back to ancient times, to a day when ten suns appeared at once in the sky. The Emperor ordered a famous archer to shoot down the nine extra suns. Once the task was accomplished, the Goddess of Western Heaven rewarded the archer with a pill that would make him immortal. However, his wife found the pill, took it, and was duly banished to the moon. Legend says that her beauty is greatest on the day of the Moon festival.

The other famous legend surrounding the Moon festival is linked into Chinese history. During the Yuan dynasty (AD 1280-1368), China was ruled by the Mongols.  The leaders from the preceding Sung dynasty (AD 960-1280) were unhappy at being subject to foreign rule, and began to furtively organise a rebellion. The rebel leaders, knowing that the Moon festival was drawing near, ordered the making of special cakes. Baked into each moon cake was a message outlining attack plans. The mooncakes - which the Mongols did not eat - were the perfect vehicle for hiding and passing along these plans. Families were instructed not to eat the mooncakes until the day of the festival, which was when the rebellion took place, and the government was overthrown. This led to the establishment of the Ming dynasty (AD 1368-1644).

Great stories, huh? Would make great swordfighting movies ala Shaw Brothers or John "Red Cliff" Woo. Anyway, always good to know the legends, customs and traditions behind any festival. Now who says this blog is not educational? LOL.

For those who celebrate it, do share how you spent your Mid-Autumn Festival ...