Cultural soaking in food 2

Do you ever taste Chinese Moon cake?

No? Here , try this?

Why called moon cake? Because it is specially made for this particular night.
In China we have Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter four seasons to fill one year. Autumn is harvest season and the weather always nice, soft cold breeze, rainless, sky is higher then ever. For some reason the moon in the middle August is the best of all the year. When you belly is full, then spiritual will start work, plus is harvest season. So back then CHUN QIU time, 3000 years ago, our ancestor put the table in the yard full fruit on it. The family get reunite together watching the moon. After a full of year struggle life, now give self and the family a tiny break under this beautiful moon lights.The wife of the family use what she got making some cookies. That is come out the moon cake.

Of course in the folklore always have some interesting rumor spread.

Rumor one:

Once up on a time, there are 10 suns up in the sky, they burned all the crops, people couldn't get any water to drink. May of them had died from the heat of the suns. There a man called Hou Yi ( here the hero come as you knew it when I start the story), he is the best bow and arrow man. He climbed on top of the Kun Lun Mountain (Kunkun mountain at south west of Qing hai province, now you can see it is impossible. Because by then, the people who lived in Qing hai province all is Muslim, and the rumor is spread by Han Chinese, and that mountain sea level is 5500---6000m), shoot off 9 suns, ordered the last one work 12 hours, sleep 12 hours in the sea. He is hero now, the most beautiful woman married him, they lived happily together.

Hang on, the story not finish yet. Did you find there any thing relevant about the moon? No! So the story have to keep going, isn't it?

A god heard his story, come down to the world give him a pill, if he eat this pill, he could live for ever. But only enough for one person. Hou Yi couldn't leave his beautiful wife behind so he hind the pill away.
One man heard he got the magic pill, he choose a day, that Hou yi not at home. He use sword to push Hou yi's wife give him the pill. Hou yi's wife don't want to a such inferior man get the pill. So she swallowed the pill. She fly up to the sky. Because she miss her husband, so she choose the nearest place to stay, the moon. Hou yi miss his wife, so he sit in his yard beside the table full of cookies that his wife made for their dinner watching the moon, he can see his wife up in the moon moved round try to come to him, but sadly, they only can see each other , never can get together again.

Hou yi is the hero, people want to commemorate him and the love between him and his wife, every family will reunite together at middle of august night, woman would cooking the same food that as Hou Yi's wife had cooked for Hou Yi.

Hey , Hey, You two keep the last piece for me !
Rumor two? Let me finish this piece of moon cake


Rumor two is from mu mum.

Mum said, tonight our whole family sit together enjoy the moon, the food, same every family is happy. isn't it?

“yes.” I said with mouth full of moon cake.

“Do you know there are families crying tonight?”
“No, which family? Why?”
“The DA families.”
“ Long time ago, the DA people came convert Han Chinese. They send one DA person at each home. This DA person is the master. The Han families have to give the best food, the best cloth to the DA people. The DA people can kill any Han Chinese when ever he want. After so many year, Few of HAN people start want to fright back. But how? One woman find a way! She put the little cloth with message on it in the cookies, give to other families, then other families do the same. Soon , whole the HAN families know that at the middle of august when the moon right up to the top, every HAN family will kill the DA person in your own home. Yes, they did success. Since then every Middle of august when the moon comes up, the whole HAN Chinese will reunite the family, celebrate. The cookie that smart woman made for pass the message became the famous for every family. But the DA people would gather together crying in the same night.”

Here I have to say, I have done some research, there isn't any DA ethnic people in the history. All I can get is at Yuan dynasty there is war from Zhu yuan zhang (he is the first empire for Ming dynasty, which is the dynasty placed Yuan dynasty. That story is close to Mum's story).

I think the whole the world know that YUAN dynasty initiate by Ghengis khan So now we can guess, that DA people is Mongolian.



How to make moon cake?

GO search on the internet, hahahaha!