How are you celebrating the Mid-Autumn festival in 2018? Are you doing anything different or new this year?
15:25I just came back from a bicycle ride with my daughter.Lunar Mid-Autumn Day + Solar Autumnal Equinoxcool Day = What a nice weather with cool breeze!16:06Let’s charge ourselves some energy by grapes, shaddocks and dragon fruits!Ouch! My finger got colored by red dragon fruits!Oh did I mention the yellow round things?Xian Rou Yue Bing (Fresh Meat Moon Cakes)!Being a North Chinese, I got pretty shocked when encountering them in Shanghai. Seriously? Meat in Moon Cake? And eating hot?Comparing to the Moon Cakes I ate in the north, this one is more likely a “moon Pie”. It tastes like a juicy xiaolongbao (steamed dumpling) changed its soft bun clothes to a crispy pie costume.Being a Moon Cake hater (yeah I hate those insanely sweet and strangely tough typical moon cakes!), these Shanghai style “Fresh Meat Moon Cake” are surprisingly acceptable. Because…They don’t taste like Moon Cakes!16:35In neighborhood small market. Looking for some mid-autumn yummies.Oh yes! Duck! The must for this festival!17:10Tada!I found other Mid-Autumn Festival musts too.Taros and peanuts.Edamame.Traditional yummies exist for a reason. But why not try something new too?Shanghai traditional duck soup + bak-kut-teh seasoning I bought from Singapore + leafy veggiesDinner time! Mom’s calling you go home!We don’t drink alcohol. But we don’t mind soaking peanuts and edamame in rice wine sauce and making a nut toast.Now dip the creamy taro with sugar and sweet this full-moon night up!Moon time:Every year on this night we would recall this line by Su Dongpo 900 years ago:但愿人长久 千里共婵娟Mid-autumn festival is about family gathering and enjoying a harvest time together. Sometimes our loved ones are thousands miles away. We can’t see, hear or feel them. Still, as long as we live, we share one moon from all over the earth. We share one joy of moon gazing…But wait!We actually CAN see and hear them!I just video chatted with my mom and dad. We opened mouth saying Ahhh to “feed” each other food from thousands miles away.We feel each other, by the new & cool technology, and the moon.Happy Moon Festival, my love.(All images are from my phone. And thanks for the A2A, Michael.)
How does the Mid-Autumn Festival compared to Thanksgiving?
Most of the time the Mid-Autumn Festival is held outdoors.At both there is always plenty of good food and lots of fun.Thanksgiving some people have to have a foot ball game on ...not at Mid-Autumn...it is more about nature and the season..yes it is pagen and is a time of worship.
What do you think of when you hear Autumn?
It takes me just to hear the word to imagine a whole new relaxing era. Autumn is special to me, I see it different than the others. If it was after me I would stare everyday at the window just to see the nature's changes. I love seeing leaves falling from the colorful trees. They make a whole rainbow carpet where children like to play and relax.Oh and how can I forget? The festivals of course.Halloween is the festival that most of the people enjoy. Do you love making or doing your own funny costume? Teens are going trick or treating and the families are giving candies. Happiness spreads everywhere!Another subject that the word “autumn” leads me to is FOOD!! Pumpkin pies, grapes, turkey, I'M IN LOVE! My mom makes me hot pies everyweek during this season. Don't you just enjoy standing in a comfy chair, sitting next to your parents eating, decorating, carving pumpkins? This just gives you a really good vibe.Some people might not enjoy rainy days but i love them. Hearing the water dripping on my window relax me everytime. I enjoy reading or taking photos during rainy days. Photography is hard in my perspective, you need to find the perfect day to succed in what you need to do.In conclusion autumn is not that bad, you just need to see the things that this season give you. You need to feel it not just see it.
Chinese Lantern Festival?
A story about the Mid Autumn Festival: According to legend, Chang'e and her husband Houyi were immortals living in heaven. One day, the ten sons of the Jade Emperor transformed into ten suns, causing the earth to scorch. Having failed to order his sons to stop ruining the earth, the Jade Emperor summoned Houyi for help. Houyi, using his legendary archery skills, shot down nine of the sons, but spared one son to be the sun. The Jade Emperor was obviously not pleased with Houyi's solution to save the earth: nine of his sons were dead. As punishment, the Jade Emperor banished Houyi and Chang'e to live as mere mortals on earth.Seeing that Chang'e felt extremely miserable over her loss of immortality, Houyi decided to journey on a long, perilous quest to find the pill of immortality so that the couple could be immortals again. At the end of his quest he met the Queen Mother of the West who agreed to give him the pill, but warned him that each person would only need half the pill to become immortal.Houyi brought the pill home and stored it in a case. He warned Chang'e not to open the case and then left home for a while. Chang'e became too curious: she opened up the case and found the pill just as Houyi was returning home. Nervous that Houyi would catch her discovering the contents of the case, she accidentally swallowed the entire pill. She started to float into the sky because of the overdose. Although Houyi wanted to shoot her in order to prevent her from floating further, he could not bear to aim the arrow at her. Chang'e kept on floating until she landed on the Moon. It is not really a religious festival as all Chinese celebrate it, regardless of religion. The date of the Mid Autumn Festival is based on the Lunar Calander. It falls on the 15th of the 9th month of the Chinese Lunar Calander every year. Normally, Chinese celebrate it by lighting paper lanterns, drinking tea and eating mooncakes under the full moon on that day. Family members come together to celebrate it as the big and round moon on the Mid Autumn Festival signifies as "together". Hope I helped!
Famous traditional vietnamese song?
Ramble alert. Just look for the first two links if you want quick results. lol. Here's a common children's song sung/heard around Tết Trung Thu (Mid-Autumn Moon Festival). "Rước Đèn Tháng Tám" (I have no idea what this translates to. I just know the first two words mean "holding/raising lantern") http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blWH8U04W... I'm not sure how traditional it is, but I would dare say most Vietnamese people would know or have at least heard this song. Almost always brings back memories of childhood for me. This one isn't as fun sounding or as easy to understand (what folk songs are?), but I think this probably fits your criteria better: "Qua Cầu Gió Bay" (My translation: Past the Bridge, the Wind Blows) http://youtu.be/hyyaHla57og (I'm actually not too fond of the voices, bit too nasally, but this is the probably the video without *too* many modern additions to the lyrics/melody. It's also kinda funny to watch.) Its a classic song from the northern region (country?) of Vietnam. In most videos and performances I've seen of this song, normally the performers actually don't wear the áo dài, but an older version. (Áo tứ thân, I think.) I've also read that sometimes the northern accent in this song can be rather strong to southern ears? [ Aside: Interestingly, the Jing ethnic minority in China seems to sing this song as well. Jing=Kinh? There are also videos of this on youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NXOiiin2... Her Vietnamese isn't that great, but the way she says some of "d" and "gi" actually sounds reminds me of the southern accent. Makes you wonder... Or at least it does for me, hahaha.]
When can you eat Chinese mooncakes?
This kind of Chinese bakery product traditionally eaten during Mid-autumn festival which is "August 15" in Chinese Lunar Calendar. 12 Sep will be Chinese Lunar date "15 Aug" for this year 2011. Usually mooncakes can be seen as early as one month in advance. There are a lot of confectioneries actually make smaller version of this lotus seed paste pastry or similar kind at any time of the year but they will not name it as mooncake. Please note that mooncake is usually very sweet and oily so best to eat with hot tea.