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Legends on the Moon cakes
Having read so many tales about deities and animals on the moon, what about the origin of the moon cake? There are two tales on how this delicious sweet festive pastry is derived.
Legends on the Moon cakes-1
The first one is based on the
Legend of Chang Er. Yearning to meet her husband again, Chang Er instructed Hou Yi to, on the day of full moon, create a pill made of flour, as round as the moon. He was to place this flour pill at the west side of the house and call out her name. As promised, on the night of full moon, Chang Er flew down to reunite with him once every Mid-Autumn. The moon cake tradition then evolved from there.
Legends on the Moon cakes-2
The seconnd tale is set in the late
Yuan Dynasty (A.D. 1279 – 1368). This is a famous legend about Zhu
Yuanzhang (朱元璋） who gathered the masses to rebel against the tyrannical Yuan government. However, the Yuan soldiers conducted stringent checks which made communication among the rebel groups difficult.
Liu Bowen(刘伯温）, strategist of Zhu Yuanzhang, then came up with an idea. He instructed the writing of ”八月十五夜起义” (Up-rising on the 15th daynight of the 8th month) on slips of paper which were then stuffed into pastries. These boxes of pastries with the secret message on the date of rebellion were sent to the ally forces without notice from the Yuan soldiers.
On the fateful day which was set on the Mid-Autumn day, Zhu Yuanzhang led a successful rebellion and founded the
Ming Dynasty. Since then celebrations on the Mid-Autumn Festivals included these moon-cake pastries to commemorate the event.
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