China is one of the most tradition-filled countries in the world, something that many of us know quite well. However, not all of us know in depth their most representative festivals and their origins. One of the most popular ones in the country, and which involves one of the most striking desserts for the international population, is the Mid-Autumn Festival, a time when mooncakes are usually eaten.
But where did this tradition come from, and why are mooncakes so important to the event? Sites such as the Encyclopedia Britannica and travelchinaguide.com tell us that these little cakes are not a tasty complement to the celebration but the column of it and that both their shape and what they represent are linked to the relevance of the festivity.
What Are Mooncakes Made of?
Mooncakes are a kind of dessert that, as we already mentioned, is usually consumed during the Mid-Autumn Festival. They are traditionally made of slightly thin and sweet dough, molded into a round shape, and filled with pastry made from lotus seeds.
The more traditional versions of this food also add a salted egg yolk in the center of the cake to symbolize the moon, whose kanji (a graph that is part of the Chinese written language) is also embodied at the top of the dessert, and covered by a varnish to give it an orange color and a crunchy texture.
Nonetheless, there are other places, such as restaurants and hotels in Beijing, Singapore, and other parts of the world, where they offer more exotic and expensive versions of mooncakes, either because more egg yolks are added to the pastry, or because the filling is changed for a pastry made of red beans, grains, taro, and even salted ham.
There even exist versions that are filled with an edible bird’s nest, which are worked with the saliva of swiftlets; others that are known as “snowy mooncakes,” which are wrapped in a sweetened rice flour paste; and some in an “ice cream” version, which come with fillings made with mango to replace the egg yolk.
Although they are relatively small, people rarely eat a whole mooncake due to its rich yet gooey filling, so they are often sliced, leaving the center, with the yolk and the moon kanji, intact.
What Is the Origin of Mooncakes?
Mooncakes have been around for over 3,000 years in China, and it is said that they were originally regarded as a kind of sacrifice during the Mid-Autumn Festival, a tradition that began, according to ancient records, in the Tang Dynasty, which took place between the years 618 and 907 AD.
Later, during the Song Dynasty (960 to 1127 AD), they began to be consumed only in the royal palace, but during the Yuan Dynasty (1271 to 1368 AD), common people were also allowed to prepare them at home and consume them during the celebration.
These pastries found their inspiration in another type of Chinese dessert, whose antiquity dates back to the 18th century BC, which bore the name of Taishi Cake. It originated in the provinces of Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Over time, they were transformed into Hu Cakes, due to the inclusion of sesame seeds and walnuts in their filling.
Back in the Tang Dynasty, Emperor Li Shimin ordered a general named Lijing to lead his troops to conquer a northern nation called Turk, and because this general returned triumphant about the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month, the Emperor decided to celebrate it in a big way on that same date.
To do this, he offered as a main dish some round cakes that he got thanks to a Tibetan merchant, which gained enormous popularity in the palace, where they began to prepare them every 15th day of the eighth lunar month of each year.
More Fun Facts About Mooncakes
Where did the name “moon cake” come from? Some historical records suggest that it was a concubine of Li Longji, a later emperor in the same Tang Dynasty, called Yang Yuhuan, who named the dessert, and since everyone liked it, it stayed that way for posterity.
In addition, these pastries are said to have been very important during the process of overthrowing the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty, which ruled China between the 13th and 14th centuries, as several of them contained messages describing the plans of the insurgents for his followers to get them safely.
This tradition is also linked to the contemplation of the Autumn harvest moon, a very important time for Chinese culture because it is when Chang’e, the mythical moon goddess of immortality, is usually celebrated.