By: Meredith Butenhoff, Allyn Wiggins, Hattie Grant, & Brandon Bank
History of Mooncakes
Mooncakes (yue bing) were first made by the people of the Tang Dynasty to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival. This tradition passed on through dynasties, and became extremely popular during the Song Dynasty. Mooncakes were both sacrificed to the moon as offerings and eaten during worship of the celestial body. While the mooncake varies drastically by region, authors Carol Stepanchuk and Charles Wong tell us that “its perfectly round shape forming the ideal symbol of familial harmony and unity” is a constant throughout regions. Bigger mooncakes might have carvings of the Moon Palace and Moon Rabbit on them. The fillings typically changed by province ranging from sweet to salty, and from rich to bland. Today, it is not uncommon for mooncakes to be filled with bean paste, cocoanut paste, lotus seed paste or even an egg yolk.
Mooncakes were originally used as a way to pay tribute to the moon and Chang E, the “Moon Goddess” who allegedly lives in the Moon Palace and supervises the ritual. With their widespread consumption during the Mid-Autumn Festival, it is told that the cakes were conveniently used to organize a rebellion against the Mongol government during the Yaun Dynasty. This well known legend suggests that the time and location for the revolution against Kublai Khan’s descendants were sealed inside of mooncakes and sent to friends and family during the Mid-Autumn festival in 1353. Although many of the customary activities of the Mid-Autumn Festival are disappearing, mooncakes remain an important part of the Chinese culture. Families and friends still gather together during the Mid-Autumn Festival and share modern day mooncakes that represent completeness, and remind them of Chinese tradition and history.
