THOUGHTS
A Moon Cake Tale and Why Turtle Hatchlings Look For Moonlight
Celebrating Mid-Autumn Festival in South East Asia
In a month and the half, Chinese in South East Asia, will celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival.
This festival marks the end of the autumn harvest. In the old days, farmers will give thanks by holding a simple prayer for a good harvest.
For me, it is the end of summer; the weather is cooler and the surrounding colour changes.
I know for sure, my favourite raspberries will be difficult to find in the local markets and I would watch leaves gradually fall turning reddish brown.
Like most Chinese festival, there is a special delicacy to enjoy and a folktale to share.
When will the festival take place?
15th day of the 8th month of the Lunar Calendar during a full moon — when the moon is at its brightest, or when the moon will orbit closest to earth, which most likely to take place around mid-September to early October. This coincides with the end of autumn harvest
The festival started more than 2,000 years ago as a post-autumn harvest celebration, which was devoted to thanking the God of Heaven. Many believed that it was formally recognised during the Song Dynasty.
Since 2008, it has become a major public holiday in China and Hongkong. It is usually one of the busiest time of the year similar to Chinese New Year.
I remember, as children, we would normally come out of our houses, in pajamas carrying paper lanterns, strolling around the neighbourhood under the bright moonlight.
It’s an occasion where family would gather to share a meal and enjoy mooncakes. Often these delicacies are paired with tea to balance the sweetness.
What is a mooncake?
It is a sweet delicate pastry. Baked with a soft crust and stuffed with a sweet dense filing made of lotus paste.
This sweet stuffing may sometimes come with bits of lotus seeds, which are my favourite or they can be red bean paste or even green tea flavour paste.
These days with commercialisation, you can find fillings of all sorts. My late father prefers the nuts and fruits version, my mum and siblings prefers the original lotus filling, while I like the lotus filling with salted egg yolk center.
This yummy salted egg yolk in the moon cake is symbolic to the moon. The saltiness from the egg elevates the taste of the moon cake, making it sweet and salty as you chomp down a piece.
There is a famous Mid-Autumn festival folktale — Chang’er & Hou Yi love story
While there are many other, the story of Chang’er is the most widely circulated folklore for the celebration.
The story starts with the existence of ten suns scorching earth. The heat from these suns made people’s lives and harvest difficult.
Hou Yi, a skillful archer, used his mighty strength to shoot down nine of the ten suns. 😅
Upon hearing what Hou Yi did, people from afar came to train with him. Among them is a student by the name Pang Meng.
Hou Yi married a beautiful and kind-hearted woman named Chang’er.
When the Queen Mother of the West heard how Hou Yi saves the people, she rewarded him with a bottle of ‘immortal’ elixir. But the elixir was only enough for one.
Although Hou Yi did wanted to become immortal, but he loved his wife, Chang’er more. So, he decided Chang’er should keep the elixir safe and away from him.
Unfortunately, Pang Meng heard about this immortal potion and wanted it. He demanded for Chang’er to hand over the elixir while Hou Yi was away.
After much struggle, Chang’er took out the elixir and drank it immediately to prevent Pang Meng from stealing it.
The moment she drank it, she flew towards the big bright moon that night.
Hou Yi grieved for losing Chang’er. He would gaze at the big shining moon calling out her name and imagine seeing the silhouette of his wife on the moon.
From that day on, every full moon, he would place food liked by Chang’er on an altar and offered it as a sacrifice for her.
Since then, the custom of offering sacrifice to the moon has spread among the common folks.
Many story-tellers have retold and adapted the story Hou Yi and his moon goddess. No one actually knows if there is any truth at all.
Meanwhile, in reality, did you know the moon light is extremely important to turtle hatchlings?
Last year to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival, my friends and I made a short trip to the East Coast of Malaysia.
One of the major highlight of the trip was to release a batch of rescued hatched baby turtles(hatchlings) back to the sea.
Side note: In Malaysia, especially in the East Coast local markets, turtle eggs are still being sold.
We gathered by the sea shore around 10pm and were told not to use our camera light but the moon was bright that night.
Inside a cardboard box, we could hear soft scrambling noise from 200 hatchlings. All eager to be out of their confined space.
The spot where we release the hatchlings was slightly sloppy and was close to the seashore. The waves were gently lapping the shores as we stood in anticipation.
Our guide tilt the box, and a mad scramble started. The hatchlings rushed, crawling over each other as they made their way towards the waters.
Guided by the sand slope and the moonlight reflections, they swam out towards the open sea.
We were told hatchlings follow the bright reflection on the water and use it to navigate. Because of this, they release most of the rescued hatchlings during full moons.
Once in the water, the waves will help these babies swim forward.
They will carry the hatchlings, turning these baby turtles around several times, until they are able to swim and navigate confidently on their own.
The turtle hatchery at Lang Tengah, Malaysia is a project started by Hayati Mokhtar.
Together with WWF support and the local state government, a cosy hut and 2 large nesting huts have been set up by the beach to allow visitors the opportunity to learn about the sea turtles, biology, ecology and conservation effort in that area.
Visitors can opt to participate in their nest adoption program.
I hope you have enjoyed and discover something different about moonlight. Nature has always been able to support itself. Unfortunately often, it has become necessary to protect nature from human predators.
Thank you for taking the time to read.
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