Mid-Autumn Festival Becomes Mooncake Festival
Mid-Autumn Festival, originated in China, is widely celebrated in Asia. But here in my living city Wuhan, I guess it’s also the same case in the whole China, the atmosphere of the festival seems to fade away. The traditional culture behind the festival is forgotten. The only thing left is the mooncake. And the main purpose of the mooncake is neither for eating, nor to enjoy the full round moon, but used as gifts for connections. The price of the mooncake is much higher than its real value as manufactures tried their best to make glorious packaging, catering to consumers who want their gifts to be better-looking.
Now, I’m spending this year’s Mid-Autumn Festival in my dormitory. This day is never a special day for me. I may eat some mooncakes, well, I don’t care.
Now, I’m spending this year’s Mid-Autumn Festival in my dormitory. This day is never a special day for me. I may eat some mooncakes, well, I don’t care.
6 Comments:
not that bad, families are still getting together at this time of year. However, we do have few official holidays for traditional festivals, and that maybe why we are having "tradition fading problems". but personnally i'm not very annoyed, cultrue's changing(mixing especially) all her way--the char"化" in the chinese word"文化" for culture, actually means what i'm talking about.changing explains eternity.any way we don't look back for memorize only.
plus,good thoughts on english blog,
and i pretty like the "life is random" thing, maybe i should have one either :)
---- an old friend passing by
thanx 4 ur visiting!
nor do i feel annoyed by these changes.
c'est la vie...
btw
if u wanna have a blog,i strongly recommend u to use blogger,cuz anything can be DIY.u can do well in html,don't u?
well...in china,from the north to the south,different areas have their own particular traditions.take Xiamen for example,you could google 博饼 and see how we celebrate mid-autumn day here.of course the convention has been improved in diverse ways nowadays.
mooncake gambling is a very interesting game.one day maybe we could play it together,though not on mid-autumn day.
people in 武夷山 will climb to the top of 天游峰 in that evening to take a closer look of the big full moon with mooncakes and tea at hand.
the mooncake is still for eating.every year we receive a piece of mooncake from college.whatever how much it is,it is delicious in mouth and sweet in heart.
You'd think growing up in America I'd have eaten a fair share of fruitcake. But upon thinking about it, I don't think I ever ate one before. Nor do I have any desire to ever do so.
Moon cakes on the other hand, now that I have eaten once a year, every year. (Well, that is until I moved away for college and never had any incentive to go to special Asian markets to look for them myself.)
You've probably heard this before, but moon cakes are to the Chinese, as the fruit cake is to the Americans. Well, for ABCs anyway. No one likes them and I have no idea why they keep selling them and everyone keeps giving them away. Regifted over and over until the season is over and everyone has a mix of moon cakes that will not be eaten.
This year, I am spending my year studying in Wuhan and as a result, received more than my usual amount of moon cake gifts. As I was reading your relatively old post, I was reminded of the two moon cakes that are still sitting on my shelf, and wondering, how long is it before the moon cake expires? I guess at that point I will throw them out. But until then, I can't bear to think of throwing out perfectly wrapped food. No waste. But too late to regift. That's the Chinese in me.
So, a question to a real Chinese: Do you like moon cakes?
I really loved the food when I was a kid, both the shape and the flavor. But now moon cakes can no longer catch my attraction. For me, it is just a kind of cake which can only be mentioned on Mid-Autumn Festival.
But I can’t represent other Chinese. Eating moon cakes is still a big fancy thing for many of my friends, and from the blog of a fomer-classmate of mine who’s now studying in America, I can see how joyful she was while eating moon cakes in that country.
Maybe things are just like that. As a REAL Chinese, I seldom take notice of such kind of the food. And I would think of the Yellow Crane Tower (黄鹤楼), a nation-wide famous pagoda in Wuhan. The only cause for a Wuhanese to visit there is to be with his non-Wuhanese friends.
Oh, I loved reading your post (even if I was two years late) and all the comments. I am an American mother of an adopted Chinese daughter who is from Wuhan. I always wish for her to have a strong connection to her Chinese roots and fellow countrymen.
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