For ethnic Chinese or people of Chinese descent, the moon cake is certainly not a stranger anymore. In his native country, China, moon cake festival or moon cake celebration becomes a special celebration in autumn welcome. In Chinese or Chinese folk traditions, the whole extended family will gather to eat moon cakes to celebrate the month-long moon cake festival that falls every full moon or moon. Usually family members who are separated for a while with family, will return to gather with their extended family. Therefore, the celebration of this moon cake became the second biggest Chinese public holiday after the Lunar New Year.
The Origin of the Moon Cake
The moon cake festival, or in Mandarin is the Zhong Qiu Jie Festival, is a day of joy symbolized by the presence of a full full moon. Based on the calculation of Chinese lunar calendar (Imlek), this festival falls on the 15th of the 8th month. According to the Chinese people, this date is a time when the moon is closest to the earth, adjacent to the skyline and shining red, which symbolizes the union of man (sun) with woman (moon), like Yin and Yang in Chinese tradition.
This tradition first appeared during the Xia Dynasty and Shang Dynasty. This tradition is a ritual Chinese tradition, but this ritual was popular only during the Tang Dynasty. This ritual comes from the Chinese agricultural community, where they asked the God of Earth to be given a good season and harvest.
At the end of the harvest, which is about the middle of the 8th month, the farmers will worship the Gods who have given abundant crops. The worship is gratitude and thanks to the Gods. Many believe that the Mid-Autumn Festival or the Festical Cake of the Moon comes from here.
In addition, there are still other legends concerning this month's cake festival. It is said that in ancient times, the earth had 10 suns and made people drought and suffer. Then an archer named Hou Yi, went to shoot 9 suns so that only one sun remained. Hou Yi is also considered a hero and was appointed King in China.
One day, Hou Yi goes to the Kun Lun mountains to meet with queen Xi Wang Mu. The queen also gave him a panacea that can make people fly to the sky and become a god. Hou Yi also entrusted the drug to his wife named Chang'E. A court clerk named Peng Meng, was aware of the function and the existence of the drug so intend to steal the drug.
One day when Hou Yi is out of the palace, Peng Meng breaks into Hou Yi's room and forces Chang'E to hand over the drug. Chang'E who realizes that he is not an equal opponent to Peng Meng, immediately takes the drug and runs away.
Suddenly Chang'E felt her body become very light and then fly into the sky. While worried about her husband, Chang'E had landed on the moon, the closest celestial body to the earth. When Hou Yi comes home, he is very sad after learning what happened. Hou Yi then makes an altar to remember his wife, Chang'E who has become the Goddess of the Moon. There he placed Chang'E's favorite food and fresh fruits as a form of offering to his wife on the moon. That said, Chang'E beauty will be very visible from the earth at the time of the month in the most full and brightest state.
This is the origin of ancient Chinese people who started offering food and fruits to the Moon Goddess, one of them is the famous Moon Cake. Here are the types of moon cake
Types of Moon Cake Contents
Lotus seed paste (lian rong).
Lotus seed paste, this cake is considered the most luxurious, most precious and most delicious. In some places, due to the high price of uncooked lotus seed paste, it is sometimes used white kidney bean as an additional filler.
Sweet bean paste (dou sha, often pronounced tau sa in Indonesia)
Sweet bean paste, this cake is mostly made from azuki beans, so it is known by the name of red bean paste. But in some other places made from Mung bean or black bean. It is also widely available in Indonesia, which spelled the contents "tau sa" usually black.
Jujube paste
Jujube paste, this pastry-shaped cake is sweet, made from ripe fruit from jujube plants. The color of this paste is usually dark red, slightly acidic, there is a taste like smoked accents. Sometimes it can be confused between jujube paste and red bean paste. Jujube paste content is almost never found in Indonesia, because it is not popular at all.
Jujube paste
Jujube paste, this pastry-shaped cake is sweet, made from ripe fruit from jujube plants. The color of this paste is usually dark red, slightly acidic, there is a taste like smoked accents. Sometimes it can be confused between jujube paste and red bean paste. Jujube paste content is almost never found in Indonesia, because it is not popular at all.
Five kernels
Five kernels, this cake contains 5 kinds of nuts and seeds roughly chopped, and glued together in a moon cake with maltose syrup.
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