Why do we eat mooncakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival? The origin of mooncakes!

There is still more than a month until the Mid-Autumn Festival. As we all know, mooncakes and pomelo are the most common foods during the Mid-Autumn Festival. In China, during the Mid-Autumn Festival, people often give mooncakes as gifts to show respect to their relatives and friends. Chinese people eat mooncakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Because their shape resembles the bright moon in the sky, they usually have the beautiful meaning of reunion. The so-called spending a wonderful full moon represents people’s yearning for a better life, and it is also an important moment for wanderers to return home and reunite with their families.

Why do we eat mooncakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival?

Mooncakes have many nicknames. In many places, mooncakes are also called small cakes, reunion cakes, moon cakes, palace cakes, Hu cakes, etc. They are mainly used to worship the moon god during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Later, it gradually spread to the present day and there is a custom of eating mooncakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Because Mid-Autumn Festival is a very important traditional festival in China, on this day, the moon in the sky will be round, big and bright. Therefore, from ancient times to the present, people have placed their lovesickness on the Mid-Autumn Festival moon, looking forward to the good wishes of relatives and friends gathering together.

The Origin of Mooncakes

Because mooncakes are round in shape, they symbolize reunion and are an indispensable food for the Mid-Autumn Festival. It is said that the origin of eating mooncakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival dates back to the late Yuan Dynasty. During the Yuan Dynasty, because the people in the Central Plains were brutally ruled by the Mongols, they rose up one after another and resisted the Mongolian army under the control of Zhu Yuanzhang. Because it was inconvenient to send information in ancient times, some people were afraid of being searched. Therefore, at the suggestion of Liu Bowen, a kind of mooncake was used as a tool to convey information. A note about the August 15th Uprising was hidden in the mooncake, and the information was delivered to the rebels through mooncakes.

To commemorate the achievements of the August 15th Uprising that overthrew the Yuan Dynasty, the custom of eating mooncakes began to be passed down during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Regardless of when mooncakes originated, they are regarded as a sacred object of reunion and are used to commemorate loved ones or hometowns. Expecting a better life is the good wish of people all over the world.

It is worth noting that mooncakes are indeed associated with the Mid-Autumn Festival in the Ming Dynasty. At that time, a kind of fruit mooncake appeared in Beijing. During the Mid-Autumn Festival, people make mooncakes for themselves and give them to friends and relatives to express their reunion and congratulations. At that time, the sizes and shapes of mooncakes were very irregular and varied greatly, and the names were also very peculiar.

Now, mooncakes have been given a newer culture. In addition to mooncakes of traditional shapes and flavors, there are now mooncakes of more shapes and flavors. This year, I ate mooncakes with tea filling for the first time. Black tea, green tea and white tea were added to the fillings respectively. It was sweet but not greasy with a hint of tea flavor and fragrance. It was very special! The shape of this mooncake is also very unique, with the shapes of lotus, lotus leaves, lotus pods and lotus roots. It is very beautiful. It is said that the mooncake was inspired by Zhu Ziqing's "Moonlight over the Lotus Pond". A box of mooncakes also comes with egg yolk pastry, but it is not the ordinary egg yolk pastry. The filling inside is also added with Baihao Silver Needle, which has a very unique taste. This kind of mooncake is very unique, and it is also a very special gift for the Mid-Autumn Festival, allowing the recipient to feel your special intentions. A piece of tea mooncake paired with a cup of green tea or black tea to chat and reminisce is also very wonderful!