Why do we eat mooncakes during 中秋节 the Mid-Autumn Festival?
Eating mooncakes 月饼 (yuèbǐng) and pomelos 柚子 (yòuzi) while sipping tea as you admire the full moon 赏月 (shǎng yuè) are the most traditional things you can do during the Mid-Autumn Festival.
The most famous mooncakes are the traditional Cantonese ones, filled with lotus seed paste 莲蓉 (lián róng) and salted egg yolks 咸蛋 (xián dàn).
But now there are so many different flavors, pastry textures, fillings and designs, not to mention the increasingly elaborate packaging to justify the ever-increasing price tags!
The most famous legend surrounding mooncakes is about how they were used to overthrow the Yuan Dynasty (set up by the Mongols) and establish the Ming Dynasty.
There were apparently 2 methods:
(1) Concealed messages baked inside the mooncakes;
(2) Secret messages carved onto the pastry, which when assembled a particular way, revealed the instructions.
ACTIVITY TIME!
Let’s Draw Some Mooncakes!
Let’s try drawing a traditional Cantonese-style mooncake.
Let’s draw another version… with some of its filling (white lotus paste 莲蓉 and a salted egg yolk 咸蛋) peeking out!
OK, now that you’ve got the basics, let’s get silly and draw some silly mooncakes!
What happens when you mix food 食物 shíwù … with superheroes 超级英雄 chāojí yīngxióng?
Since it’s the Mid-Autumn Festival, what happens when you mashup a Mooncake月饼 (yuèbǐng) with the amazing Spider-Man 蜘蛛人 zhīzhū rén? You get… Spider-Mooncake! 蜘蛛月饼人 zhīzhū yuèbǐng rén!
Like Japanese anime? Well, there’s no better super-heroine for the Mid-Autumn Festival 中秋节 (zhōngqiū jié) than this mashup of a Mooncake月饼 (yuèbǐng) with the legendary Sailor Moon 水手月亮 (shuǐshǒu yuèliàng): SAILOR MOONCAKE 水手月饼 shuǐshǒu yuèbǐng!
Did you know? In the original Japanese manga and anime, Sailor Moon’s secret identity is Tsukino Usagi (月野 うさぎ) which can be translated as the Moon Rabbit!
