A mooncake is a Chinese bakery product traditionally eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋節). The festival is primarily about the harvest while a legend connects it to moon watching, and mooncakes are regarded as a delicacy. Mooncakes are offered between friends or on family gatherings while celebrating the festival. The Mid-Autumn Festival is widely regarded as one of the four most important Chinese festivals.
A Cantonese mooncake filled with lotus seed paste
Cut mooncake showing lotus seed paste filling around the (crumbled) egg yolk "moon"
Mooncakes with Chinese characters 金門旦黃 (jinmen danhuang), meaning the moon cake contains a single egg yolk and is made from a bakery named "Golden Gate". Mooncakes usually have the bakery name pressed on them.
Mooncakes from Malaysia
The Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival or Mooncake Festival, is a harvest festival celebrated in Chinese culture. It is held on the 15th day of the 8th month of the Chinese lunisolar calendar with a full moon at night, corresponding to mid-September to early October of the Gregorian calendar. On this day, the Chinese believe that the moon is at its brightest and fullest size, coinciding with harvest time in the middle of autumn.
Festival decorations in Beijing
Chang'e, the Moon Goddess of Immortality
Houyi helplessly looking at his wife Chang'e flying off to the Moon after she drank the elixir.
Mid-Autumn Festival lanterns in Chinatown, Singapore
