Mid-Autumn Festival Mooncake
Author: Xu Jiang Recitation: Qiao Nan
The Mid-Autumn Festival was called the Festival of the Moon Festival in ancient times, which originated from the worship of celestial phenomena and evolved from the autumn festival moon in ancient times. Originally, the festival of the moon was carried out at the autumn equinox of the twenty-four solar terms of the lunar calendar, but the day of the autumn equinox was different every year, and later people determined to be August 15, because the moon was large and round on this day, and it was also the middle equinox day of autumn, so it was called the Mid-Autumn Festival. The main offering used to worship the moon god during the Mid-Autumn Festival is a stuffed dough cake, which is as round as the moon in the Mid-Autumn Festival, so it is called a moon cake.
Mooncakes are also known as hu cakes, palace cakes, reunion cakes, harvest cakes, etc., and each era or place has a different name. As early as the Yin Zhou period, there was already a kind of cake with a thin edge and thick heart in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, called "Taishi Cake", which is said to commemorate Wen Zhong, which can be said to be the ancestor of the moon cake.
In the Han Dynasty, sesame seeds, walnuts, etc. were introduced to China from the western region, adding new ingredients to the filling of the mooncakes, making them more sweet and delicious, and some people called it Hu Cake.
In the Tang and Northern Song Dynasties, the style of moon cakes has been fixed as round, and in addition to the mid-autumn festival, the custom of eating moon cakes has gradually formed, which is very popular in the court and scholars, so it is also known as palace cakes. Su Dongpo once wrote the poem "Moon Cake": "Small cakes are like chewing the moon, and there are crisps and dumplings." Silently taste it, acacia tears stained towel. This is the first verse to associate the moon with the cake, and the name mooncake has become conventional. On the night of the full moon on August 15, after the moon sacrifice ceremony, the whole family sat together and cut the mooncake into pieces and ate it, which also had the meaning of family reunion and missing distant relatives.
After the Yuan and Ming dynasties, the Mid-Autumn Festival of eating mooncakes to give mooncakes is becoming more and more popular, and the reunion image of mooncakes is more obvious. The "Imperial Scenery and Materials" records as follows: "On the fifteenth day of August, the moon will be sacrificed, and its sacrificial fruit cake will be round." "Withdraw their confessions, and the scattered families will be everywhere." It can be seen that the custom of eating mooncakes at that time has spread to the people.
In the Qing Dynasty, there were more and more records about moon cakes, and the production of moon cakes became more and more elaborate. "Suiyuan Poetry" introduced: "Puff pastry mooncake, with pine nuts, walnut kernels, melon seeds and rock sugar, lard as filling, the food is not sweet and fragrant and soft, very unusual." "Now the mooncakes have a new development in quality and variety, and the different raw materials, shapes and production methods make the mooncake family more colorful, not only becoming a unique holiday food, but also a beautiful pastry that is always available in all seasons." There is also such a legend about eating mooncakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival. During the Wude period of the Tang Dynasty, the great general Li Jing won the conquest of the Turks, and on August 15, when a Tubo man who was engaged in business offered cakes to wish for victory, Gaozu Li Yuan took the gorgeous cake box, took out the round cake and smiled at the bright moon in the air, saying: "You should invite the Hu cake to the toad", and then distributed the cake to the courtiers and soldiers to taste. In the later period of the New Century, the story of Yang Yuhuan naming the mooncake was also reported from the palace, which can also be used as a talk after dinner. In the last year of the Yuan Dynasty, in order to pass on the news to each other, Liu Bowen came up with a way, that is, to stuff the note of "August 15th Night Uprising" in the moon cake, and then send people to send it to the leaders of the rebels in various places. Later, when Zhu Yuanzhang won the world, he passed on an edict and rewarded the courtiers with the mooncakes that were used to secretly convey news when they were in the army. This cloth emperor also let the people eat mooncakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival, which has since become a custom. Ming Shenbang said in the "Miscellaneous Records of wanju" that in August, "the furniture of the scholars and the family was left behind by the moon, and the size was not equal, and it was called the moon cake". On the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, the moon is big and round, and it is said that it is closest to the earth, and the whole family worships the moon to enjoy the moon and eat moon cakes, and also tells the story of Wu Gang, Chang'e, Yu Wei and Gui Shu, which is happy and harmonious. Those wandering children in the distance look up to the bright moon to look forward to reuniting with their families, or use the bright moon to express their longing for their hometown and relatives. Relatives, friends and neighbors gave mooncakes to each other to make the connection more united, and there was a scene of "giving each other away in the qi and the things that are not tolerated". As the saying goes: "August 15 is round, mid-autumn mooncakes are fragrant and sweet". August is a busy season, but also the harvest season, people take the Mid-Autumn Festival as a grand festival, celebrate the harvest to reward themselves, but also hope that the next year will be smooth, successful career, family harmony and reunion, so the moon cake is also called reunion cake or harvest cake.
Due to the vast territory of our country, the dietary preferences of people in the north and south are different, so there are many types of mooncakes. According to the place of origin, there are: Beijing-style, Cantonese-style, Su-style, etc.; according to the taste: sweet, salty, spicy, etc.; according to the pie crust: pulp, puff pastry, mixed sugar crust, etc.; according to the filling: five kernels, date paste, egg yolk, etc., of course, each place has its own unique flavor of the mooncake. The mall is full of all kinds of mooncakes, but our generation still loves the old mooncakes of their hometown that are simple but permeated with warmth. The old mooncake I remember was made this way. The flour is ground out of stone, the filling is made of almonds, sesame seeds, brown sugar and lard fried crisps, pressed into a round cake shape with a homemade mooncake mold, and then burned in an iron pot with firewood, constantly turning, but there are many burnt places, much larger than the mooncakes on the market, thick skin filling, less dry and crispy oil, and the aftertaste is left fragrant. In the early 1960s, shopping required tickets, so brown sugar for mooncake filling became a shortage. In the summer, when there is a drought, the branches and leaves of the willow tree produce a white substance of the lens, some people say that it is the honey of bees, and some people say that it is the excrement of oil sweat (aphids), but it is very sweet and non-toxic. People cut back the branches and leaves, washed them with water to remove all kinds of debris, and boiled them into syrup to make a filling for mooncakes, which was also delicious. It sounds like a fantasy now, but that's really the real thing. In order to promote, some merchants have also played the sign of the old moon cake, in fact, all of them are modern operations, and there is no longer the taste of the old moon cake, let alone the feeling of the old moon cake. Mooncakes in ancient times is the offering to worship the moon god, and later into the homes of ordinary people to become the exclusive cuisine of the Mid-Autumn Festival, its long history, legendary stories, beautiful imagery, has been carved in people's lives indelible brand, and the Dragon Boat Festival to eat Zongzi, whether it is Saibei or Jiangnan, has become an ancient cultural symbol.
About the author: Xu Jiang, net name Bowl Shanweng, a native of Jingbian County, Shaanxi Province, a member of the Communist Party of China, graduated from a middle school teacher, first a teacher, then engaged in administrative work, and has now retired.
Anchor profile: Qiao Nan, pen name Lou Lan Twilight Xue, likes to sing, read, dubbing, photography, sports (running, cycling). Motto: Those who have the ambition can accomplish things, break the cauldron and sink the boat, one hundred and two Qin Chuan will eventually belong to Chu, the bitter heart of the people will not bear the burden, the salary will taste the guts, and the three thousand Yue Jia can swallow Wu.
(Listen to the beautiful recitation, please pay attention to the "Universal Classic Literature" public account)