The Moon Cakes Moon cakes are to the Mid-Autumn Festival (or the Moon Festival) what mince pies are to Christmas. Mooncakes are traditional snacks/desserts of the Mid-Autumn Festival, the second most important festival in China. It is said that there is a moon goddess who makes these cakes, so people call them mooncakes. People often give mooncakes as gifts when visiting friends and family around the Mid-Autumn Festival. There are many flavors of mooncakes on the market. On the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar, the moon is round and the fullest and brightest during the evening on that day and the Chinese people mark it as their Moon (or Mid-autumn) Festival. The round shape to a Chinese means family reunion. Therefore, the Moon Festival is a holiday for members of a family to get together wherever it is possible. On that day sons and daughters will bring their family members back to their parents’ house for a reunion. Sometimes people who have already settled overseas will come back to visit their parents on that day. As every Chinese holiday is accompanied by some sort of special food, on the Moon Festival, people eat moon cakes, a kind of cookie with fillings of sugar, fat, sesame, walnut, the yoke of preserved eggs, ham or other materials. In Chinese fairy tales, there live on the moon the fairy Chang E, a wood cutter named Wu Gang and a jade rabbit which is Chang E’s pet. In the old days, people paid respect to the fairy Chang E and her pet the jade rabbit. The custom of paying homage to the fairy and rabbit is gone, but the mooncakes are showing improvement every year. There are hundreds of varieties of mooncakes on sale a month before the arrival of the Moon Festival every year. Some mooncakes are of very high quality and very delicious. An overseas tourist is advised not to miss it if he or she happens to be in China during the Moon Festival. In 2008, the Mid-Autumn Day was established as a legal holiday. There are two legends which claim to explain the tradition of eating mooncake s. One is about the Tang Dynasty myth and the other is about a peasants’ rebellion in Yuan Dynasty. One Tang Dynasty myth holds that the Earth once had 10 suns circling it. One day all the 10 suns appeared at once, scorching the planet with their heat. It was thanks to a skillful archer named Hou Yi that the Earth was saved. He shot down all but one of the suns. As his reward, the Heavenly Queen Mother gave Hou Yi the elixir of immortality, but she warned him that he must use it wisely. Hou Yi ignored her advice and, corrupted by fame and fortune, became a tyrannical leader. Chang-E, his beautiful wife, could no longer stand by and watch him abuse his power so she stole his Elixir and fled to the moon to escape his angry wrath. And thus began the legend of the beautiful woman in the moon, the Moon Fairy. Hou Yi loved his beautiful wife so much that he refused to shoot her down the moon. From then on he missed his wife every day and would look up the moon in the sky. In memory of his wife, Hou Yi erected an incense table in the garden, laid on it her favorite sweet cookie and fresh fruit. Later on, the sweet cookie was developed into the present mooncake. The mooncake is regarded as commemorating the Goddess Chang E. The Mid-Autumn Festival mooncakes are the traditional food. Mooncakes are round, symbolizing the reunion, and reflects the people's aspiration for family reunion. Mooncakes not only are delicious, but also have some beautiful patterns such as moon palace, the rabbit and Chang E flying up to the moon, bringing people into the wonderful myth and story of Chang E.