Mid-Autumn Festival is the third largest holiday in Vietnam. No matter where they go or where they go, on the full moon day of the 8th lunar month, people eagerly buy boxes of moon cakes to worship and give as gifts. However, few people know much about the legend, the meaning of moon cakes and the most widely spread touching story.
1. Legend of moon cakes
Moon cake does not appear together with the Mid-Autumn Festival. Legend has it that at the end of China’s Yuan Dynasty, there were two leaders of the peasant uprising movement: Zhou Yuanzhang and Liu Ba Wen. These two men organized the people to rise up against the brutal ruling gang. In order to secretly convey news and orders, people made round cakes with a piece of paper stuffed inside, estimating the time of the uprising as the brightest moon on the full moon night of the eighth lunar month. calendar.
After that, these cakes were passed on to each other and became a means of communication that was both safe and effective. Thanks to these cakes, news of insurrection was spread everywhere. Later, the Chinese made moon cakes on the full moon day of the eighth lunar month to commemorate that event.
However, many people also believe that moon cakes have existed since the Tang Dynasty and were considered an offering to worship the moon god. At that time, this cake was called small cake (tieu Binh) or sweet cake (Diem Binh) and in the capital Truong An, there were shops making and selling moon cakes.
Many people believe that moon cakes have existed since the Tang Dynasty and were considered an offering to worship the moon god.
Although it does not originate from Vietnam, for thousands of years, every August full moon day, Vietnamese people have come together to celebrate the third biggest holiday of the year – Mid-Autumn Festival.
Mid-Autumn Festival activities are mainly held at night – when the moon is fullest and brightest. Mid-Autumn Festival has also appeared in legend with the story of uncle Cuoi – sister Hang. On the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, adults drink tea, enjoy the moon, and sing military drums. Children carry lanterns, watch lion dances, sing Mid-Autumn Festival songs and happily enjoy candies and fruits beautifully displayed in the moonlit night tray after completing the procedure of burning incense to worship the full moon. . According to tradition, children enjoying fruit and candy on this Mid-Autumn Festival night is called “breaking the feast”.
On the evening of the Mid-Autumn Festival, adults drink tea to enjoy the moon while children enjoy the feast to watch the unicorn.
Among the many types of cakes and fruits displayed in the Mid-Autumn Festival tray, every home must have at least a few moon cake with both types of chewy and grilled. In there:
Soft cake Made with the main ingredients being white glutinous rice flour stuffed with sweet sugar and fragrant grapefruit perfume and cast in a round wooden mold. The filling is lotus seeds or crushed green beans.
Baked cakes consists of two parts: the crust and the filling. The crust is made of fermented wheat flour mixed with chicken eggs and a little wine, the filling can be plain, usually made of green beans, taro, or mashed lotus seeds covering one or two salted duck egg yolks with a vanilla scent. or durian or a mixed filling including everything like ham, roasted meat, bird’s nest, coconut, melon seeds, tangerine peel, lotus root, and squash.
Sticky or baked moon cakes are often round in shape. The ancients explained that it is a symbol of reunion and the desire for happiness. Because of that, many people also call it “Moon”. Doan” or “Moon cake”. Overall, Moon cakes are not only a food and gift but also an indispensable spiritual value during the Mid-Autumn Festival.
The meaning of moon cakes is not only a food and a gift but also an indispensable spiritual value every Mid-Autumn Festival.
There are many Meaningful story about moon cakes But the following touching story is the most widely spread.
“Once upon a time, there was a family whose family was in poverty. They were often short from one day to the next, sometimes hungry and full at times. To have food, they have to work hard all day, and even have to borrow money from neighbors to get by.
During the Mid-Autumn Festival, while everyone excitedly went to the market to buy cakes and fruits and lanterns to prepare, then at night, children played in the yard, adults set up offerings tables, because of their poverty, a family had to the door closed silently.
After worshiping the moon, everyone shared cakes to eat. The family’s two children suddenly burst into tears, insisting on moon cakes. Their parents couldn’t stop coaxing them, so the father took out the newspaper, pointed to the types of cakes with advertisements printed on them and asked which one the children liked. The two children stopped crying, they pointed at the newspaper and kept saying: “I like this, I choose that”.
Meanwhile, a person in the upper neighborhood and also a creditor of this family passed by and heard his debtor’s house bustling with laughter and children competing to choose the cakes they liked. The creditor thought to himself: “If you lack money, I won’t pay you, but instead I’ll buy moon cakes for your children to eat, and I’ll buy many for your children to choose from.” He angrily kicked in the door and rushed in to scold the debtor thoroughly. But when the door opened, he saw the homeowner’s husband and wife and two children with their heads pressed against the newspaper, making the gesture of picking up bread to eat. He was stunned to the point of tears. He went to the homeowner to share and promised to clear all his debt.
Then, he brought a box of moon cakes to give to his family. From here, there is the custom of giving cakes to each other with the meaning of wishing the family to be reunited, happy, full and completely happy.
From the legends, meanings of moon cakes and touching stories spread by many people, the Mid-Autumn Festival is becoming more and more known and becoming a major holiday. Every year, no matter where they go, during the Mid-Autumn Festival, everyone tries to reunite with their families, exchanging boxes of sweet cakes with the flavor of their homeland.
