Mid-Autumn Festival

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival! Well, yesterday actually. And maybe its not mid-autumn where you are (its not really here either--these past several days have been in the high eighties), but according to the traditional Asian lunar calendar, its mid-autumn!

Mid-Autumn Festival is one of my favorite holidays here. Its kind of like the Fair, or a homecoming football game--there's just something inherently fall-ish about it that is wonderful! Some people compare Mid-Autumn festival here to Thanksgiving in America--its all about family and friends getting together for a big meal. After dinner, everyone goes out to look at the moon together (whoever sets the lunar calendar each year always puts Mid-Autumn Festival on a day when there will be a full moon).

The other big tradition, of course, is the giving of mooncakes. Mooncakes are usually small (but not always, see here), dense and sweet treats with "goodies" on the inside. These goodies can be dried fruit, like pineapple or strawberry. Or they can be ham. Or tofu! Some mooncakes are clearly marked as to their fillings, others are a surprise! Mooncakes are a very fun idea in theory . . . But in reality, I have found most people eat them more out of tradition than because they actually enjoy them. One of my local friends even declared this year that he was making it a goal not to have to eat a single mooncake! (Sometimes when someone gives you a mooncake, you have to open it up and cut it into slices and "enjoy" it together.) In fact, if you ask almost any local person if they like mooncakes, they will tell you they don't. Some will even say they hate them. My personal opinion is they are OK, especially if the filling is fruit and not meat or pickled vegetable or beans, but a small sliver is more than enough.

In reality, liking mooncakes is completely beside the point. The point is GIVING mooncakes. And this has become a very, very big deal in the last several years. When I first arrived in Asia, mooncakes were something you purchased for very little money, giving one to each of your friends or family members--kind of like the way we give out valentines: it doesn't matter that the gift is cheap, its just a small way to show someone they are special to you.

These days, however, among SOME people (certainly not all!) mooncake giving has become a much bigger deal. Check out these displays I photographed on my last trip to the store:
Those are boxed sets of mooncakes. Some sets were priced as high as $120 (U.S.) each!

Inside the box, of course, the cakes were wrapped very elegantly and make promises of health or prosperity to those who eat them. The set above promises wisdom (and sells for about $50).

The lady in front of me in line was purchasing 12 or so of these sets. You can do the math and imagine how much this is setting her back! I asked her if she was purchasing these for her company to give to clients, or just for friends and family. "Just friends and family!" she said.

I asked another man in line with me if the mooncakes, such as the ones in the sets for $50 or $100 each, tasted better than the ones you bought at the market for a few cents each.

"Not at all!" he answered with a laugh. "But you don't give them to someone for them to eat them, you give it to them to build a relationship with them."

And that, my friends, is the essence of Mid-Autumn Festival. Not a bad essence for a holiday to have, even if someone out there is making big-time bucks on fancy mooncakes. But we Americans are certainly no one to judge when it comes to the commercialization of holidays. Still, a small slice of a 50 cent mooncake, if it comes with well-wishing as an expression of friendship, is just right for me!