Today is the Chinese Mid-Autumn festival (中秋节) which falls on the 15th day of the 8th month of the Chinese calendar every year. This year, it happens to coincide with a particularly special National Day (see previous post), and so China (and me!) is enjoying the entirety of 1 to 6 October as national holidays.
For several weeks before the Mid-Autumn festival, all over the country you will catch sight of people laden down with boxes and boxes of traditional mooncakes to share with their friends and family during this age-old festival. Yes, moonCAKES! You can no doubt imagine the thrill that this sends down the unsuspecting laowai's spine on his or her first encounter with the festival. Mooncakes are often 'enjoyed' with tea:
For several weeks before the Mid-Autumn festival, all over the country you will catch sight of people laden down with boxes and boxes of traditional mooncakes to share with their friends and family during this age-old festival. Yes, moonCAKES! You can no doubt imagine the thrill that this sends down the unsuspecting laowai's spine on his or her first encounter with the festival. Mooncakes are often 'enjoyed' with tea:
BE WARNED! Really, please pause and take note. Mooncakes are typically round, heavy and dense pastries, filled with a thick lotus seed paste and salted duck egg yolks. Perhaps I did not stress this enough to Mary before she insisted on trying one of these little pockets of calamity:* 
*Bahahahahaaaaaa. Really, she insisted!
No comments:
Post a Comment