Alexis Online Flower Guide

Mooncakes, the Origin

Mon, 06 Sep 2010 02:14:44 +0000

Mooncakes have played a central role in Moon cakes Festival traditions. Once, according to Chinese legend, mooncakes helped bring about a revolution.

The time was the Yuan dynasty (AD 1280-1368), established by the invading Mongolians from the north. The Mongolians subjugated the Han Chinese.

According to one Chinese folk tale, a Han Chinese rebel leader named Liu Fu Tong devised a scheme to arouse the Han Chinese to rise up against the ruling Mongols to end the oppressive Yuan dynasty. He sought permission from Mongolian leaders to give gifts to friends as a symbolic gesture to honor the longevity of the Mongolian emperor.

These gifts were round Chinese mooncake. Inside, Liu had his followers place pieces of paper with the date the Han Chinese were to strike out in rebellion — on the fifteenth night of the eighth month.

Thus Liu got word to his people, who when they cut open the mooncakes found the revolutionary message and set out to overthrow the Mongols, thus ending the Yuan dynasty.

Today, far from the exotic and heroic legends, Chinese communities all over the world make and consume mooncakes during the traditional Mid autumn festival.

Source : http://www.orientalfood.com/culture/festival/originofmooncake.shtml

Autumn Moon Festival in San Fransisco

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 03:06:49 +0000

Autumn Moon Festival brings music, cuisine, and culture
to the streets of San Francisco

Chinatown’s Most Attended Annual Festival to Celebrate 20th Year

SAN FRANCISCO (July 14, 2010) – The 20th Annual Autumn Moon Festival will be held in Chinatown on Saturday and Sunday, September 18th and 19th, 2010, beginning with an opening ceremony and parade at 11am. Presented by the Chinatown Merchants Association, the “Moon Festival”, as it is popularly known, will include a street bazaar, live entertainment, and multiple parades to be held along historic Grant Avenue
between California Street and Columbus Avenue until 6pm daily. Over 100,000 people are expected to attend the Mid autumn festivals, a traditional

Chinese holiday celebration.
Entertainers this year will include martial artists and acrobats from the well-known Yau Kung Moon Gung Fu Studio, popular radio host and writer Ben Fong Torres, who will sing a medley of famous songs, dancers in ornate costume from the China Dance School and Theatre, the St. Mary’s Drum and Bell Corps, the Miss Asian America Queen and Court and the Moon God and Goddess . A variety of other performances will be offered on three stages throughout the festivities, hosted by Mistresses of Ceremonies Anita Cheung and Rose Chung. A giant Chinese mooncake, a traditional Chinese pastry and symbol of the holiday, will be on display to mark the 20th anniversary celebration.

The Chinatown community cordially invites the public to join us in this grand celebration.
A special gift will be offered to those dressed in Chinese-themed costume.

Celebrated in Asia for more than 1,000 years, the Moon Festival marks a time to reflect upon the bounty of the summer harvest, the fullness of the moon, and the myth of the moon Goddess, Chang O (or Chang E). The Moon Festival is a distinctly and authentically Asian holiday which has been likened to a sort of “Chinese Thanksgiving”. It is among the most popular holidays in Asia, ranking alongside the celebration of the lunar New Year in cultural significance.

Attendance at the Moon cakes festival is always heavy, so the public is encouraged to use BART or MUNI.

Source : http://www.moonfestival.org/

The Origin of Mid Autumn Festival

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 02:59:05 +0000

The Mid Autumn Festivals is a traditional festivity for both the Han and minority nationalities. The custom of worshipping the moon (called xi yue in Chinese) can be traced back as far as the ancient Xia and Shang Dynasties (2000 B.C.-1066 B.C.). In the Zhou Dynasty(1066 B.C.-221 B.C.), people hold ceremonies to greet winter and worship the moon whenever the Mid-Autumn Festival sets in. It becomes very prevalent in the Tang Dynasty(618-907 A.D.) that people enjoy and worship the full moon. In the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279 A.D.), however, people send round Chinese mooncake to their relatives as gifts in expression of their best wishes of family reunion. When it becomes dark, they look up at the full silver moon or go sightseeing on lakes to celebrate the festival. Since the Ming (1368-1644 A.D. ) and Qing Dynasties (1644-1911A.D.), the custom of Mid-Autumn Festival celebration becomes unprecedented popular. Together with the celebration there appear some special customs in different parts of the country, such as burning incense, planting Mid-Autumn trees, lighting lanterns on towers and fire dragon dances. However, the custom of playing under the moon is not so popular as it used to be nowadays, but it is not less popular to enjoy the bright silver moon. Whenever the mooncakes festival sets in, people will look up at the full silver moon, drinking wine to celebrate their happy life or thinking of their relatives and friends far from home, and extending all of their best wishes to them.

Source : http://www.chinavoc.com/festivals/Midautumn.htm

http://www.floweradvisor.com/florist/canada/occasions/mid_autumn_festival/121/