Candle-lit paper lanterns, a special tasty cake, lots of fresh fruits and a big family dinner is what Anne So remembers most when celebrating China’s second biggest festival of the year.
The Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Harvest Moon and Moon Festival, is an annual family celebration, which gives thanks for a bountiful food harvest. In the Chinese calendar, it is always held on the 15th day of the eighth month, coinciding with the full moon. In the western calendar, it changes every year. This year’s festival falls on Sept. 27.
So grew up on a farm in Canton, giving her an appreciation for the celebration.
“In traditional, Chinese culture, it was a special day for farmers,” So said. “My family always celebrated this when we were in China.”
So moved to Canada about 20 years ago and she still celebrates the event with family in her Richmond home, hanging up paper lanterns with her 10-year old son, Andrew Zhao. But for the younger generation, play and eating a special cake made once a year, is what kids celebrate.
“I get to play with lanterns and eat mooncakes and all that awesome stuff,” Zhao said. “It’s fun.”
So is also the general manager of Saint Germain Bakery, so her family will never be deprived of the moon cakes which symbolizes the festival. The round, desserts are filled with various ingredients such as mixed nuts, dried scallop and preserved duck eggs. A single cake, measuring 7x7 cm and four cm in thickness can cost more than $9 each, depending on what’s inside.
“The most popular is the double (duck egg) yolk with white lotus seed,” So said. “Most Chinese bakeries, about 80 per cent of them, charge $35 - $40 for a box of four pieces.”
Making the double egg with lotus seed mooncakes takes almost two months to prepare, So explained. The duck eggs take 45 days to preserve and the lotus seed needs to be stewed in hot water before it’s mashed into a fine paste, with oil and sugar added to it. The amount of time it takes to produce some of the cakes may partially explain why farmers would traditionally make this treat only once a year.
“It’s a very long process to make,” So explained, adding the special day is similar to celebrating Thanksgiving. “It’s a very traditional gift for the Mid-Autumn Festival.”
While the festival is traditionally a family affair and is not widely celebrated as Chinese New Year here, the Richmond Chinese Community Society (RCCS) is hosting its annual Mid-Autumn Festival Celebration at Lansdowne Centre on Sunday, Sept. 27, with an opening ceremony at 12:30 p.m. The celebration will include lion and folk dancing, Chinese calligraphy and game booths. Small pieces of mooncake will be given out for free.
“We’ve been doing this for 20 years in Lansdowne,” said Henry Beh, RCCS executive director. “Everyone is welcome.”
The story behind the mooncake festival stems from the overthrowing of the Mongol rulers, 2,000 years ago, Beh explained. “The Chinese decided to rebel against the (Mongolian) government and they made mooncakes to put messages in there, like ‘lets rebel against the government on this day,’” Beh said. “On that day, all the citizens came out with weapons and they were quite successful in overthrowing the government.”
There is also a lot of mid-autumn fairytales and folklore and some of those stories will be told, in Chinese, at the Richmond Public Library, Brighouse location on Saturday, Sept. 26 at 2 p.m. Geared to children, ages six to 12, the traditional stories will be told by Andy Li, who studied ancient Chinese literature and worked as an editor in Beijing for 17 years.
“These are basic folktales, every Chinese person should know them,” Li said, through a translator. “They are old stories.”
One traditional story is about a time when there were 10 suns in the sky, burning all the plants on earth and causing people to die. To rectify this, a man shot down nine suns with a bow and arrow, saving the people and the planet.
Also at the Brighouse library being presented in Chinese for adults, is the Appreciation of Chinese Couplets event from 1 to 3 p.m. Chinese couplets are two complementary poetic lines, usually written to express a person’s love for their motherland, to describe the beauty of nature or to offer best wishes, explained Ronald Chance, who will lead the event.
The 61-year-old became interested in literature and poetry while studying to get his high school diploma at a Vancouver adult eduction school when he was 40.
“People can bring couplings they have found and want to discuss or they can bring something they wrote,” Chance said. “We are going to talk about couplings that are about the moon festival.”
Both events at the library require advance registration at yourlibrary.ca or by calling 604-231-6413.
