Happy Mid-Autumn Festival! 中秋節快樂. Don’t forget to check out the full moon tonight – although the saying is that the moon will seem rounder/fuller tomorrow (十五的月亮十六號圜).

Tidbits

  • September 24th of this year marks Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋節), which is celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar
  • Sometimes referred to as the Moon Festival, this is a celebration that brings together families for a reunion – really that’s all there is to it: eating together
  • There are 2 main traditions around Mid-Autumn Festival and some newer ones

    • Mooncakes (月餅) – there are 3 sweet flavors and 1 savory one that I’m familiar with: sweet – red bean (紅豆), lotus seed paste (蓮蓉) and date paste (棗泥), since they are all sweet, sometimes there is a duck egg yolk (or two) in the middle; savory – five kernel (五仁), usually filled with nuts and seeds, e.g., almond, walnut, date seed, melon seed and sesame seed
      • I’ve heard/read about more modern mooncake flavors that include fillings like ice cream, green tea, chocolate, fruits (melons, litchi and pineapple), and seafood – have you tried any of these before?
      • There are also snow skin (雪皮) mooncakes, which are not baked, but have a frozen glutinous rice skin – very popular in Hong Kong
    • Lanterns (燈籠) – not to be confused with the Lantern Festival during Chinese New Year, at Mid-Autumn Festival, kids (or adults) light/make lanterns, then, on the lanterns, people write riddles (謎語) – even if you don’t make the lanterns, you can still guess riddles
    • Pomelos (柚子) – this grapefruit-resembling fruit with a green (or yellowish) skin is very popular to eat and gift during Mid-Autumn Festival.  It’s one of my favorite fruits!! (It is similar to yuzu in Japan – or it might be the same thing…) I don’t know if eating pomelo is a main tradition, but I know it happens around this time, and I love it =)  You can wear the skin as a hat if you peel it properly  
    • BBQ (烤肉) – apparently the more recent “in” thing to do during Mid-Autumn Festival in Taiwan is to barbecue!!  This new trend was started by two local barbecue sauce manufacturers who successfully marketed their awesome sauces and made BBQ now a tradition on this holiday #marketingFTW

Origin

The origin story that I know about has 2 main characters: (1) Hou Yi (后羿) who shot down 9 of the 10 suns that were scorching the earth and (2) his wife, Chang’e  (嫦娥) who drank an immortal elixir and floated up to the moon. Oh, and there was a jade rabbit who lived on the moon and was her friend. The details are muddy for me, so handy-dandy wikipedia filled in some blanks.

There are a lot of versions of the story on wikipedia, but the recurring plot is that Hou Yi saved the world by shooting down 9 of the 10 suns that were destroying the planet and was awarded an immortal elixir.  After that, the versions differ – one is: Peng Meng, his apprentice heard about the elixir and tried to steal it. Chang’e protected the elixir by drinking it, but then floated up to the moon and was separated from her husband forever.  #anotherSADoriginstory.  Another one is that Hou Yi became a bad person after his fame and glory and Chang’e drank the elixir to save the world from him and ended up floating up to the moon #stillSAD

How you can celebrate this year

  • Have dinner with your family – or if they’re not close by, call them and wish them 中秋節快樂! (and teach your kids to say it!!)
  • Listen to this Mid-Autumn Festival origin song:  https://youtu.be/SqLbraCEuFg – I found it on a mommy blog and found it entertaining – it’s weird, but covers the origin story
  • Make paper lanterns
  • Eat moon cakes – but remember that the calorie count is high, so better to share it!!
  • Read this moon-related book by Eric Carle that has a Chinese version: “Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me” – the Chinese version is “爸爸, 我要月亮”
  • Teach your kid(s) Li Bai’s 静夜思, the poem about the moon – or just recite it to them:
    床前明月光, 疑是地上霜, 舉頭望明月, 低頭思故鄉
  • Last but not least, admire the big round moon

Events by TACL programs

A lot of events happened this past Sunday (sorry I didn’t post earlier), but if you’re in Atlanta, there is a mooncake tasting and voter registration event tomorrow, Sep 25th.  Check out the event information here: https://www.facebook.com/events/301949727272142/)

Email me at jacqui.wu@tacl.org if you want to share anything about what you did this year!

 

WHAT IS MY TA MOM LIFE?

As a Taiwanese American mom in the US, I recently realized that my 22 month-old (HH) will not only miss out on Taiwanese food that I don’t cook, but also Taiwanese holidays and traditions that I fail to remember because I took those celebrations for granted when I grew up in Taiwan.  (#momfail #dontjudgeme) So, with the help of google calendar, wikipedia and my shoddy memory, here is my attempt to introduce HH to as much of his Taiwanese roots as possible with my blog on Taiwanese holidays.

Disclaimer: A lot of holiday traditions are family-specific, so if what you do differs from what my family does, feel free to share what you do!!