Tuesday was the Moon Cake Festival. Actually, this festival goes by many names -- Autumn Moon Festival, Harvest Moon Festival, Mid Autum Festival or just plain ole Moon Festival. If you are interested in learning more about this festival, you can go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Autumn_Festival. As with anything that goes by the Chinese Lunar Calendar, it doesn't always fall on the same day on the Gregorian Calendar. The Moon Festival is always on the 15th day of the 8th Lunar Month. Supposedly, it is also the day that the moon is the closest to Earth and would be the biggest and brightest moon that you'll ever see. Alas, that doesn't seem to be the case anymore. I was in Ohio for work this week and caught a glimse of the moon while driving back to the hotel after dinner. I have to say that the moon wasn't really spectacular in any forms or ways. Maybe I am becoming jaded and have lost my wonder for things or maybe it has to do with global warming. Don't really know but do I really care?
In any case, you eat Moon Cakes during the Moon Festival. My friend has alluded to the fact that the Moon Cake is like the Christmas Fruit Cake -- you give it as gifts and it is in circulation but nobody really eat it. I don't know if that is necessarily true. I, for one, like the Moon Cake although I have to say that the varieties available in the US is very limited and pathetic at best. I personally like the less sweet ones and tend to think that the ones available at Chinese bakery in the US tend to be too sweet. There, I said it -- I admit it -- I like Moon Cakes and I actually eat them.
Traditionally, the Moon Festival is also a time for family to come together. A old chinese saying goes; "The Moon is Round, the Family is also Around"
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