Celebrating the 'Bunny Girl'

A lantern display at Hong Kong Cultural Centre at Tsim Tsa Shui

One of my work colleagues at our head office in Minnesota recently emailed me to ask if we would  miss going to the Minnesota State Fair this year.  "Of course we will," I  replied and quickly listed the things we religiously do, see and eat when we visit the fair each year.   My favorite exhibits include the Honeybees and Canning and Preserving.  What I think I enjoy about these exhibits is how they sum up a season of hard work, either in an apiary or in a garden, in one colorful, attractive (and edible!) jar.  For me, the sight of all those jars lined up in the displays is the tipping point of summer, a signal that it's time to wrap up the intense focus of the past few months and move on to something new.

A mooncake display at a supermarket

In Hong Kong, the same tipping point is marked by the Mid Autumn Festival, a very traditional celebration of the harvest of rice and wheat, with food offerings made in honor of the moon.  The origins of the festival have been traced as far back as the Shang dynasty (the 16th to 10th Centuries BC).  Mid Autumn Festival is an important public holiday in Hong Kong, Taiwan, mainland China, Vietnam and Korea, but it is also celebrated in the Philippines, Singapore and Malaysia.  Like the Chinese New Year, the actual date is based on the lunar calendar and is the fifteenth day of the eighth month

Stalls selling paper lanterns near Queen's Road Central

to coincide with a full moon.  Personally, I think that's too difficult to figure out, so I find it's easier just to look up the actual date on the internet, and this year that day is Monday, September 8.  Celebrations take place in the evening so the public holiday is the following day, Tuesday, September 9.
Celebrations of Mid Autumn Festival, which is also referred to as Lantern Festival or Moon Festival, take various forms, but are closely tied to three conceptual traditions of the holiday:  Gathering of family or friends, Thanksgiving for the harvest and Praying for something material or

The man who sold me some paper lanterns

satisfaction, as in a spouse, a baby, or for a long and happy life.

Moon worship is an important part of the Mid Autumn Festival, and according to Chinese folklore, it originates from the story of an an ancient lunar deity named Chang'e.  There are various versions of the story, but Chang'e was holding an elixir of immortality for her husband, Hou Yi.  She ascended to the moon after consuming the elixir, whether forcibly, intentionally or by accident is where the various versions of the story differ.  Upon learning of his wife's permanent departure for the moon, Hou Yi became so distraught that he chased the moon to try to get her back.  Her only company on the moon is a jade rabbit who stands on his hind legs in the shade of a cinnamon tree.  From that point on, people began worshiping Chang'e by making offerings of food at temples and altars.  During the 1969 Apollo 11 mission to the moon, Buzz Aldrin was told that a newspaper article about the mission suggested the astronauts watch for "a lovely girl with a big rabbit" to which he replied "Okay.  We'll keep a close eye out for the bunny girl."  In 2007, the China National Space Administration launched a series of robotic lunar missions using orbiters named Chang'e and a lunar rover named Yutu, which means "jade rabbit" in Chinese.

People line up to buy mooncakes at a bakery

The most important food consumed during the Mid Autumn Festival is the mooncake.  In the days leading up to Mid Autumn Festival, we noticed advertisements popping up for mooncakes and lines forming outside bakeries where people patiently wait to buy boxes of them.  Typically, boxes of mooncakes are shared with family and given as gifts, especially to business colleagues.  These days, mooncakes are available in an array of varieties ranging from traditional to modern.

Boxes of mooncakes stacked in the bakery window

Having a general weakness for baked goods, I was excited to try them and prepared to put on a pound or two for the sake of expanding my cultural horizons.  I received a traditional mooncake as a gift; it had a very rich filling of lotus seed paste and egg yolk (representing the full moon).  Although it was small  enough to fit into the palm of my hand, it felt like it weighed a couple of pounds.  Some colleagues at work advised me not to "eat it like a hamburger," but rather to cut it into slices, like a cake, and to drink tea while eating it.  Jeff and I gave it a try, and while we liked the flavor well enough, the heaviness and texture were a bit much for us.

Lanterns and rabbits at Hong Kong Cultural Centre

The colorful lanterns and plentiful mooncakes that emerged as Mid Autumn Festival approached offerred us a new angle to Hong Kong.  We appreciate the tipping point in the seasons that the holiday represents.  As for the mooncakes, perhaps we'll try one of the modern varieties next year.