Moon Cakes

Mr. Wu showed up at the door this afternoon with this box of moon cakes for us, to celebrate the Autumn Moon Festival (Mid-Autumn Festival). I had tried several varieties of moon cakes from the grocery store and found them not to our liking... these were better, but still not something I would choose. I'm sure they are an acquired taste! The presentation of the cakes, however, was lovely, so I took pictures of the layers of wrapping. Below is the box they came in.
When the two sides of the box were unfolded, we found these four smaller boxes inside.
Inside each small box was a different flavor of moon cake, wrapped in celophane. I opened each box while Mr. Wu was here so he could tell me what flavor they were. The four kinds were bean paste, two types of egg, and a green tea flavor.
Isn't the cake itself pretty? This one is the tea flavor. The filling is very dense and sweet. I would write in my vote for chocolate one... but I don't think I would win!What follows is some details about what the Moon Festival is about, for those who don't know.

On the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar, the moon is round and the Chinese people mark their Moon (or Mid-autumn) Festival. The round shape to a Chinese means family reunion. Therefore the Moon Festival is a holiday for members of a family to get together wherever it is possible.

On that day sons and daughters will bring their family members back to their parents' house for a reunion. Sometimes people who have already settled overseas will come back to visit their parents on that day.

As every Chinese holiday is accompanied by some sort of special food. On the Moon Festival, people eat moon cakes, a kind of cookie with fillings of sugar, fat, sesame, walnut, the yoke of preserved eggs, ham or other material. In Chinese fairy tales, there live on the moon the fairy Chang E, a wood cutter named Wu Gang and a jade rabbit which is Chang E's pet. In the old days, people paid respect to the fairy Chang E and her pet the jade rabbit.

The custom of paying homage to the fairy and rabbit is gone, but the moon cakes are showing improvement every year. There are hundreds of varieties of moon cakes on sale a month before the arrival of the Moon Festival this year. Some moon cakes are of very high quality and very delicious. An overseas tourist is advised not to miss it if he or she happens to be in China during the Moon Festival.

Well, I guess one must try the moon cakes...