Han Chinese has a special attachment to the moon. They associate the full moon and its completeness as a symbol for family reunion, and it has a tendency of making Chinese travelers homesick. Moon cake is the main traditional Chinese treat for Mid-Autumn Festival. Its shape is round like a full moon and is special to the festival.
According to K.C. Chang in “Food in Chinese Culture,” traditionally, moon cakes are made with sweetened lotus seed paste and preserved egg yolk. In southern China, some moon cakes are salty and filled with ham, walnuts, and pork.
To celebrate the festival, Chinese families will customarily get together and eat moon cakes. As they enjoy the beauty of the full moon, parents tell their children the story of Chang’e, the well-known Chinese folklore about the origin of Mid-Autumn Festival.
In a previous time, Chang’e was the wife of Houyi, a heroic king in ancient China. To protect the pill of immorality that was given to her husband by Jade, the Emperor of Heaven, from wicked people, Chang’e accidently swallowed the pill, as a result, she became immortal. She chose to live on the moon, the closest place to the earth, where she could see her husband. To remember his faithful wife, Houyi laid a table outside the house with fruits and treats that Chang’e had favored and to tell her he loved her deeply. Houyi’s people ever since then have followed the practice every year and called it the Mid- Autumn Festival, according to Haiwang Yuan in “The Magic Lotus Lantern and Other Tales from the Han Chinese.”
Rebecca Yuan, a sophomore in marketing from Shandong, China, wished BYUH students “zhong qiu jie kuai le” – “Happy Mid-Autumn Festival” in Mandarin. She said her family likes to celebrate the festival with lanterns and moon cakes. In northern China where she is from, people also eat grapefruit, chestnuts, and taro for the festival.
“We eat barbecue in Taiwan to celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival,” said Michelle Chen, a sophomore in exercise science from Taiwan. “When we eat barbecue, everyone in the family can gather together and watch the moon. We also eat grapefruit, Chinese mochi, and hotpot.” She recalled her favorite activities were playing firework and burning grapefruit peels to keep mosquitos away because of the smoke it made.
“We have a similar activity called ‘otsukimi’ in Japan. It means [to have] fun in watching the moon,” said Fujika Kinjo, who is the Japanese chapter vice president and a sophomore in communication from Japan. Japan holds the festival from Sept. 13 to 14 when the moon is full. She said people from Japan eat mochi and otsukimi dango because they are round and it represents the shape of full moon. “There is also an event called otsukimi dorobo. It’s like ‘Halloween’ in Japan I guess. Children are allowed to steal otsukimi dango from their neighbors and eat it secretly.”
Justin Sunwoong Choi, Korean chapter president and also a senior in marketing from South Korea, said Choo-seok – Korea Mid-Autumn Festival – is celebrated like Thanksgiving in United States.
“We give thanks to our ancestors by visiting their tombs or get together as a big family in one house, and set food there and eat them all together.” Like Taiwan and Japan, Korea has its unique food customs for the festival. “We have all different kind of jeons, something like meat jeon here in Hawaii, kimchi, rice cake, fishes, vegetables, tofu, and so on.”
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