Moon Cakes

Traditionally, on Mid Autumn Festival, Chinese family members and friends will gather to spend time under the moon, eating moon cakes and fruits.

There is another interesting story about moon cake which was happened in the Yuan dynasty (A.D.1280-1368). During the time, China was ruled by the Mongolian people. Those leaders of the preceding Sung dynasty (A.D.960-1280) were unhappy with the foreign rule. They decided to organize a rebellion secretly.

Knowing that the Moon Festival was near, the Sung leaders ordered the making of special cakes. They put inside in each of the moon cakes a message notifying when the attack will begin.

Because it's a Han (the main clan before the Mongolian took over) cake, the Mongolian people were not interested in it and therefore did not discover the message. On the night of that Moon Festival, the rebels took place and successfully overthrew the Mongolian people. What followed was the establishment of the Ming dynasty (A.D. 1368-1644).

Thereafter, moon cakes are eaten to commemorate this story.

Mid Autumn Festival - The Legend