Welcoming the moon: China’s mid-autumn festival

Even the non-Chinese among us happily join in the celebration of Chinese New Year, but how many know about another big day on the Chinese calendar, happening around this time and honoring the moon? The Mid-autumn Festival is celebrated every year on the 15th day of the eighth month on the Chinese calendar. This year, the festival falls on Sept. 30. The festival has been celebrated since ancient times, with emperors worshipping the sun during spring time and the moon in autumn. Always falling on a full moon, the mid-autumn festival is one of the most important holidays for the Chinese—perhaps second only to the Chinese New Year itself. According to China's official press agency Xinhua, it is held in thanksgiving for a good harvest and a celebration of family. The usual lion and dragon dances mark the festivities, but there’s also matchmaking—according to the article, Chinese belief dictates that the moon god is a great matchmaker. Most importantly, there is also mooncake, which has become so widely associated with the mid-autumn festival that the celebration is also called the Mooncake Festival. The parent of the Filipino favorite hopia, mooncake is a soft, doughy cake traditionally filled with red bean paste. Today, there are two popular variants of mooncake: the traditional mooncake, which is oven-baked, and the snowskin, which is served chilled like mochi. To celebrate the festival, families partake of the mooncake outdoors, under the light of the full moon. This year, there are many options for those who want to join the mid-autumn festivities, or simply crave for a mooncake fix. Several hotels are serving up specialty mooncakes that are different from your regular Binondo fare. Makati Shangri-la is offering mini- and large mooncakes in a variety of flavors: white lotus, white lotus with less sugar, red bean, green tea, chestnuts and mixed nuts. A box of eight mini mooncakes comes at P1,988, a box of four large mooncakes at P2,188, and a box of eight large mooncakes at P4,088. You could also check out the Mandarin Oriental’s mooncake selection for some really unique flavors in both snowskin and traditional variants. Made by the hotel’s executive chef Hann Furn Chen, Mandarin Oriental’s mooncakes come in 18 flavors, including durian paste with melon seed, white lotus paste with Grand Marnier chocolate, lotus seed paste and rum wine, milk custard paste and raisin, and pineapple and osmanthus syrup. Those on a tight budget can also hit up Lucky Chinatown mall in Binondo on Sept. 30 at 4 p.m. for the mooncake festival eating ceremony—the first of its kind in the country—where over 2,000 mooncakes will be given away for free. Of course, there are many other ways to join the mid-autumn festivities other than gorge on mooncake. Mandarin Oriental is also hosting Sheung Yuet Night at 6 p.m. on September 29 at their MO Lounge. Guests can partake of a seven-course lauriat, participate in mooncake games and a paai shan ritual promoting positive chi, and enjoy a lantern-lighting ceremony by international geomancer Joseph Chau as well as musical numbers by the Chiang Kai Shek cultural ensemble. Tickets to the event are priced at P2,688 for adults, and P1,388 for children, and are available at the Mandarin Oriental lobby. Meanwhile, the Ateneo Confucius Institute will be holding their annual Mid-autumn Festival party at the Shangri-la Plaza grand atrium on Sept. 30. A traditional dice game will be held from 12 nn to 4 p.m., giving participants the opportunity to win prizes. Hosts from Filipino-Chinese lifestyle show Chinoy TV will also be giving a special performance from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Not to be outdone is the Lucky Chinatown mall, where week-long mid-autumn celebrations include a Chinese painting exhibit which opened on the 24th and will run until the 30th; a grand Mid-Autumn Cultural Showcase on September 29 at 4 p.m. at the Lucky Chinatown Atrium featuring performances from Chiang Kai Shek College, St. Stephen’s High School, Philippine Cultural College and Philippine Tiong Se Academy; and a Sam Tai Chi and Lion Dance performance on September 29 at 7 p.m. Free feng shui consultations and fortune-telling, as well as a special mid-autumn bazaar are also being held at the mall for the week. — BM, GMA News