Today is the Mid-Autumn Festival 中秋节 is a festival which most Chinese celebrate with mooncakes and lanterns. The festival is held on the 15th day of the eighth month in the lunar calendar, during a full moon.
Offerings are also made to a more well-known lunar deity, Chang'e, known as the Moon Goddess of Immortality. The myths associated with Chang'e explain the origin of moon worship during this day. One version of the story is as follows, as described in Lihui Yang's Handbook of Chinese Mythology: In the ancient past, there was a hero named [Hou] Yi who was excellent at shooting. His wife was Chang'e. One year, the ten suns rose in the sky together, causing great disaster to people. Yi shot down nine of the suns and left only one to provide light. An immortal admired Yi and sent him the elixir of immortality. Yi did not want to leave Chang'e and be immortal without her, so he let Chang'e keep the elixir. But Feng Meng, one of his apprentices, knew this secret. So, on the fifteenth of August in the lunar calendar, when Yi went hunting, Feng Meng broke into Yi's house and forced Chang'e to give the elixir to him. Chang'e refused to do so. Instead, she swallowed it and flew into the sky. Since she loved her husband very much and hoped to live nearby, she chose the moon for her residence. When Yi came back and learned what had happened, he felt so sad that he displayed the fruits and cakes Chang'e liked in the yard and gave sacrifices to his wife. People soon learned about these activities, and since they also were sympathetic to Chang'e they participated in these sacrifices with Yi. (
wiki)
In the past, I used to gift mooncakes to our parents and grandparents. But as years go by, my parents decided that they prefer the confectionary mooncakes, and not the "branded" mooncakes.
This year, we went ahead and bought mooncakes, but only the durian mooncakes. Both mothers like eating durian. The hubby and I went to our usual (many years ago) place,
Takashimaya Atrium, to purchase a token of our filial piety.
These mooncakes look so special. But sad to say, they taste very normal.
And here I thought that this set of mahjong is actually a tray of mahjong mooncakes. It's parlines.
And we got our durian mooncakes from the
Four Season Durians. Look at the price list. Aren't you amazed by the 100% Mao Shan Wang durian mooncake (box of 4 pieces) at $128? Haha.. We only bought the $56 Pure D24 durian mooncake (box of 4 pieces).
The freezer full of the durian mooncakes.
Haagen Dazs icecream mooncakes. Pretty mooncakes.
Our buys. All as gifts. I wonder if we will get to eat any mooncakes ourselves? haha...
