Mid-Antumn Festival

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Message de aline123 posté le 2004-09-14 03:17:39 (S | E | F | I)
Since auncient times , the moon has been an eternal subject of chinese culture. The moonlight of Mid-Autumn Festival brings particular warmth and ease to the hearts of chinese people. In china, the full moon has always represented the gatherings of friends and family. Thus, Mid-Autumn Festival is a time for family reunions. Eating moon cakes under the moonlight weith the family is the chinese custom at that night.
and now, Mid-Autumn Festival is around the corner, I am preparing for some moon cakes . In france, besides christmas,what is the traiditionnal festival? could you tell me?

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Edité par yannloic le 21-09-2004 15:40

Réponse: re:Mid-Antumn Festival de yannloic, postée le 2004-09-21 16:02:09 (S | E)
Hello Aline. What is the recipe of moon cakes? I never heard about it ? What do they look like ?

Christmas festival in France depends on the religion we have. Most of us are Christians. So we prepare the Birth of Jesus on the 25th of December.

At home, but I don't know if a lot of french people do the same, we start on the 1st December with the "calendrier de l'avant" (the before calendar should be a good translation). It helps counting days until the 25th. For children it is a carton box with 25 little doors with a number between 1 and 25, they have to found each day. When they open the door, they find a small chocolate or a candy.

Then we bring a Christmas tree that is usually a fir-tree and we decorate it with garlands and boulles.

On the 24th in the evening we prepare a square meal with oysters, lamb legs or turkey, and a yule log for dessert.

Just before midnight we go to church and there we pray during the church service.

Then children go to bed and we talk to the dawn.

When the children arise, they will find gifts in their shoes just behind the Christmas tree. It is a really exciting moment. They are so happy to find games and dolls!

That's my Christmas festival. May be someone else have a different one and could talk us about his own.

Réponse: re:Mid-Antumn Festival de serena, postée le 2004-09-21 22:51:02 (S | E)
Hello aline !

It's nice to talk about some traditionnal festival of different countries.
You only asked about French celebrations, what about saying something about the English ones ?
Anyway, I feel like telling you. Hope you'll be interested.

In America, they celebrate Thanksgiving Day on every fourth Thursday in November.
It's a time to offer thanks, of family gatherings and holiday meals. A time of turkeys, stuffing, and pumpkin pie.

It’s not a Christian celebration like Christmas. It only concerns America, from the time the first British pilgrims settled down to build the “new world”.

So there were British pilgrims who discovered Plymouth Rock on the 11th of November 1620, and signed a peace treaty with the Indians they found there.
After months of suffering from hunger, they had such a good harvest that they decided to celebrate it. It was the very first «Thanksgiving Day», in November 1621. But it was more alike a traditional British harvest festival.

Since that day, the American have celebrated thanksgiving day. But it’s only in 1941 that this day had been declared "legal holiday" in the USA, and established on every fourth Thursday in November.

The American gather all the members of each family, preparing huge and lavish meal with Turkey as the centerpiece. Maybe because turkeys had let their ancestors survive during their hard days. They also decorate their homes with foliage and flowers. It’s a special day where everyone can get as much happiness and love as possible.

As tradition has it in most families, a special prayer of thanks precedes the meal. In many homes, family members will each mention something they are very thankful for.
Thanksgiving is a time for families to create traditions and memories that last a lifetime. It's really a wonderful moment to spend every year.

Then aline, I wish you a good time with your family and friends. And don't forget us while eating your moon cakes !

Réponse: re:Mid-Antumn Festival de traviskidd, postée le 2004-09-22 07:14:20 (S | E)
calendrier de l'avant = Advent calendar

The month before Christmas is called Advent.

Réponse: re:Mid-Antumn Festival de yannloic, postée le 2004-09-22 09:40:11 (S | E)
That's a good subject indeed. What about Paques (I don't know how to translate), Halloween, the new year's day, independance day, the "14 juillet" and so on.

Réponse: re:Mid-Antumn Festival de serena, postée le 2004-09-22 11:09:43 (S | E)
Pâques = Easter

You're right yann ! It would be great to know how people celebrate some important events. But unfortunatly, I've never gone to the USA to talk about their independance day. Thanksgiving day can be celebrated everywhere. Even here, I had the luck to share it with some english families. This is why I felt like telling it.
National festivals are more unknown. So why not talking about yours, yann ? It happens 4 days before my birthday ! .....
Just try, please !

Réponse: re:Mid-Antumn Festival de yannloic, postée le 2004-09-22 11:51:20 (S | E)
Thanks Serena, I should have known.

Well for the National festival things aren't established. In fact, it is free. It isn't like Christmas that is a family meeting or the new year's day we used to eat with our friends.

What we do depends on the events. As I really lives near Paris I can go there. I have been to the Gould defile, to the fireworks (I were at the bottom of the Eiffel tower) and to the soldiers march down l'Etoile avenue.

No ball, no cookies, no cakes, no special food. I just enjoy the surrounding humor and profit from the events that are organized.

Réponse: re:Mid-Antumn Festival de aline123, postée le 2004-09-22 16:12:11 (S | E)
Bonjour, tout le monde! Thank you for your interest in this subject.
well, The Moon Cake is circular, it was filled with sweet red bean pasted or crushed lotus seeds embedded with a salted coked duck's egg. Nowadays, there are hundreds varieties of moon cakes on sale a month before the arrival of Moon Festival.
Mid-Autumn Festival represents a kind of culture! here, I told a story about first lady on the moon.----It is generally conceded that Neil Armstrong , the American astronaut, was the first man on moon ( he made that historic landing in 1969). But that's not necessarily the truth to Chinese, who believe that the first people on the moon was a beautiful woman who lived during the Hsia dynasty (2205-1766BC)

This somewhat complicated moon-landing story goes like this: A woman , Chang-O, was married to the great General Hou-Yi of the Imperial Guard. General Hou was a skilled archer. One day, at the behest of the emperor, he shot down eight of nine suns that had mysteriously appeared in the heaven that morning. His marksmanship was richly rewarded by the emperor and he became very famous. However, the people feared that these suns would appear again to torture them and dry up the planet, so they prayed to the Goddess of Heaven (Wang Mu) to make General Hou immortal so that he could always defend the emperor, his progeny and the country. Their wish was granted and General Hou was given a Pill of Immortality.

Another version of this story notes that Chang-O, the wife of the Divine Archer, shot down nine of ten suns plaguing the world and received the Herb of Immortality as a reward.

Whoever the hero was, Chang-O grabbed the pill (or the herb) and fled to the moon. In some versions it is uncertain whether she ever actually got there, because Chinese operas always portray her as still dancing-flying toward the moon.

When Chang-O reached the moon, she found a tree under which there was a friendly hare. Because the air on the moon is cold, she began coughing and the Immortality Pill came out of her throat. She thought it would be good to pound the pill into small pieces and scatter them on Earth so that everyone could be immortal. So she ordered the hare to pound the pill, built a palace for herself and remained on the moon.

This helpful hare is referred to in Chinese mythology as the Jade Hare. Because of his and Chang-O's legendary importance, you will see - stamped on every mooncake, every mooncake box, and every Moon Cake Festival poster - images of Chang-O and sometimes the Jade Hare.

I know many festivals in other countries. Unfortunately, I have no experiences in myself. anyway, I'm very glad to share diffrent experience with everyone. Thank you again!

Réponse: re:Mid-Antumn Festival de serena, postée le 2004-09-22 20:06:11 (S | E)
Nice story aline !

I understand now why the oldest person in the world is chinese !
It will be kind of you if you send me a moon cake, maybe there'll be some Herb of Immortality in it !

Thank you to let us know this traditionnal chinese festival. I've never heard about it before. And I hope we'll know other ones from different countries.

Réponse: re:Mid-Antumn Festival de aline123, postée le 2004-09-24 13:52:02 (S | E)
Mid-Autumn Moon Cake Recipes

By Yan Can Cook, Inc

Makes 2 dozen
1 can (17-1/2 ounces) lotus seed paste
1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts

Dough
4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2-cup non-fat dried milk powder
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1 cup sugar 1/2 cup solid shortening, melted and cooled
1 egg yolk , lightly beaten

1. Mix lotus seed paste and walnuts together in a bowl; set aside.

2. Sift flour, milk powder, baking powder, and salt together into a bowl. In large bowl of electric mixer, beat eggs on medium speed until light and lemon colored. Add sugar; beat for 10 minutes or until mixture falls in a thick ribbon. Add melted shortening; mix lightly. With a spatula, fold in flour mixture. Turn dough out on a lightly floured board; knead for 1 minute or until smooth and satiny. Divide dough in half; roll each half into a log. Cut each log into 12 equal pieces.

3. To shape each moon cake, roll a piece of dough into a ball. Roll out on a lightly floured board to make a 4-inch circle about 1/8-inch thick. Place 1 tablespoon of lotus seed paste mixture in center of dough circle. Fold in sides of dough to completely enclose filling; press edges to seal. Lightly flour inside of moon cake press with 2-1/2 inch diameter cups. Place moon cake, seam side up, in mold; flatten dough to conform to shape of mold. Bang one end of mold lightly on work surface to dislodge moon cake. Place cake on ungreased baking sheet. Repeat to shape remaining cakes. Brush tops with egg yolk.

4. Bake in a preheated 375 degree F. oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer to a rack and let cool.
----------why don't you have a try? ;)

Réponse: re:Mid-Antumn Festival de aline123, postée le 2004-09-24 14:00:31 (S | E)
In China, spring festival is the most important holiday, also known as the chinese New Year. To the chinese people it is as important as christmas to people in the west.
hi, everyone. why don't you talk about your experience in Halloween?

Réponse: re:Mid-Antumn Festival de serena, postée le 2004-09-25 19:40:04 (S | E)
Thanks for giving us the recipe, aline !
Even if there are no "pills", it's ok !

I'd also like to know how people spend Halloween.
As for me, there's not a special day for that. Here, everyday is Halloween !

See you !

Réponse: re:Mid-Antumn Festival de aline123, postée le 2004-09-28 12:45:30 (S | E)
hi,everyone:
Today is Mid-Autumn Festival. and I could get moon cakes to eat.

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