Mid-Autumn

I suspect that one of the reasons the Mid-Autumn Festival (or Moon cake Festival) is such an irresistible celebration lies in the fact that it involves candles and fire. You actually have a good reason to light them up in massive quantities, and no one would think it weird that a bunch of people are excited to have their fingers burnt from the wax.

For most of us, lighting lanterns and eating mooncakes during this festival are as necessary as having Easter eggs and Lent in Spring. Celebrating this with the Low family this year made it absolutely amazing!

Candle

There are many folktales surrounding this tradition. One of them is regarding a goddess called Chang Er who, as a human, swallowed the pill of Immortality that belonged to her husband (could have been either to avoid her tyrannical husband from continuing his rule or out of curiousity) and found that she could fly to the Moon.

Another one talks about the Jade Rabbit who pounds herbs to make the said pills of Immortality. Some people say the rabbit is Chang Er's pet; others say it is the creature who sacrificed itself to feed several fairies.

There is also a story about Wu Kang, an impatient man who angered his immortal teacher and was banished to the moon until he can chop down a magical tree that will never fall. Too bad for him!

A row of lights

Let's go back to the fun part. I believe that in many cultures, the lighting of candles symbolize the dispelling of darkness and evil. Within minutes, the garden was illuminated by the soft glow of flickering flames behind colourful paper lanterns and bobbing on the surface of the melted scented wax. There is something incredibly warm and surreal about it, somehow, particularly in the way the dark can never touch the light until the fire dies off.

Beautiful painting

Left to Right: Mei Shan, me, Vincent

Do we look like we're holding a shard of starlight in our hands?

Moon Cakes

Later that night, we ate mooncakes too, which basically are little cakes with sweet fillings in them. The usual ones would have full egg yolks in the center to represent the full moon. Nowadays, there are different sorts to suit contemporary tastes, such as mooncakes with chocolate paste and snowskin crusts made of glutinous rice  or as the Japanese might call mochi.

It is said that during the Mongolian ruling in China, a rebellion was planned by slipping messages into mooncakes and selling them to the public. On the night of the planned attack, the government was overthrown. Lots of stories behind a simple tradition, aren't there?

Lanterns!

Walking down the streets holding lanterns had those nostalgic feelings rush back to us. Mid-Autumn Festival is far too irresistible to miss. That night, apart from dinner and a very interesting round of Pictionary (with our newly dubbed 'Jack' and 'Rose' capable of recognizing each other's drawings when everyone else can't make head or tail out if them- I mean, how can a pool of water with odd shaped objects sticking out of it be the 'Titanic'?), there were good long talks about many things. Secrets and spoilers!

You've got to love it each year. You would have a good reason to meet up with great friends!