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Mooncakes

Mooncakes have play a central role in Mid-Autumn Festival traditions. Mooncakes symbolize the gathering of friends and family. According to popular belief, the custom of eating mooncakes began in the late Yuan dynasty.

According to Chinese legend, the Han people were invaded by Mongolians from the north leading to the the tyrannical rule of the Yuan dynasty during the 14th century. The Chinese patriot Zhu Yuanzhang plotted to overthrow the Yuan dynasty.

Zhu needed to find a way of uniting the people to revolt on the same day without letting the Mongolian rulers learn of the plan. Zhu’s close advisor, Liu Fu Tong, devided a brilliant idea. Liu sought permission from Mongolian leaders to honor the longevity of the Mongolian emperor by giving gifts to friends and family.

The gifts to be given out were round mooncakes. The mooncakes were then distributed only to the Han people. When the Han people cut the cakes open, they found a message, “Revolt on the fifteenth of the eighth moon.” This informed the people to come together on the designated day to overthrow the Yuan.

Some historian believe the message in the mooncake was the precursor to the fortune cookie. Since then, mooncakes have become an integral part of the moon cakes Festival. Today, Chinese communities all over the world make and consume mooncakes during the traditional autumn Mooncake Festival.

The most commonly seen mooncakes are soft white or red lotus seed paste packed in a smooth golden brown pastry. Lotus paste is a combination of lotus seed and lye water boiled and blended into a paste. The addition of peanut oil and glutinous rice flour results in a sticky paste which is then rolled into a ball.

The ball is covered with a well-mixed dough and stamped with an intricate pattern. Mooncakes come in plain or with one, two or up to four salted egg yolks in the lotus paste filling. The ones with the single egg yolk are thought to represent the loneliness of the Chinese goddess Chang E who flew to the moon to escape the clutches of her husband. Apart from egg yolks, some lotus paste fillings are also sprinkled with assorted nuts and fruits. If you haven’t tried one, buy a mooncake today.

Source: http://www.sanfranciscochinatown.com/culture/mooncakes.html

Chusok, also known as the Korean Thanksgiving or Mid-Autumn Festival, is one of the most celebrated Korean holidays. Held on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month, Chusok is often called a great day of moon cakes festival in the middle of August.

It occurs during the autumn mooncake season. Thus, Korean families take this time to thank their ancestors for providing them with rice and fruits. Chusok will be held on September 12, 2000.

The celebration starts on the night before Chusok and ends on the day after the holiday. Thus, many Korean families take three days off from work to get together with family and friends.

The celebration starts with a family get-together at which rice cakes called “Songphyun” are served. These special rice cakes are made of rice, beans, sesame seeds, and chestnuts. Then the family pays respect to ancestors by visiting their tombs and offering them rice and fruits.

In the evening, children wear their favorite hanbok (traditional Korean clothing) and dance under the bright moon in a large circle. They play games and sing songs. Like the American Thanksgiving, Chusok is the time to celebrate the family and give thanks for their blessings.

Source: http://kevdesign.com/midautumnfestival/korea.htm

The latter half of the Middle Ages (circa 1000 CE to 1500 CE) was a turning point in European history. Having finally emerged from the Dark Ages (circa 500 CE to 1000 CE), European civilization finally began to recover the ground it had lost when Rome fell. One of the results of this recovery was the re-emergence of recorded music, or sheet music in both religious and secular life.

During the Middle Ages, Catholicism was the central power in Europe. It was incorporated into every aspect of life and its power stretched to every corner of the known world. And one of the methods through which the Church asserted its power was music. Although modern churches regularly use music as a natural part of worship, the pairing of music and Christianity has not always been so straightforward. A thousand years ago, music was often regarded as sinful. The problem was, churchgoers tended to enjoy it, and the fathers of Catholicism understood that it could be used to strengthen people’s ties to the Church.

Accordingly, music was eventually incorporated into Catholic worship, and vise versa. The sheet music of the era is often adorned with religious frescos. The monasteries and abbeys of the period created and stored huge quantities of sheet music, up to 4000 texts at a time in some cases. Indeed, it was this mass production of recorded music that led to the evolution of square notation. The monks needed a universal way to record and recognize the music written by their peers in other monasteries; square notation made this possible.

However, church was not the only place a person living in the Middle Ages would hear music, not by a long shot. Also common at the time were wandering poets, or troubadours, who were the keepers and purveyors of secular music. Some of the oldest surviving sheet music was written by these people, who were encouraged in their work by patrons such as Eleanor of Aquitaine. The area of Provence, modern day southern France, was particularly known for its troubadours, and the region is said to have been known as The Land of Song.

The Church is known to have fought the advent and proliferation of secular music, which it would certainly have regarded as sinful in the extreme. However, fortunately for us, it was unable to stem the music’s spread. The most popular topic of such secular music was that of courtly love, which may explain why the Church was so against it. Courtly love deals with situations in which lovers are unable to consummate their feelings, usually because one or both is wed to another.

This theme is still famous today thanks to the well-known story of King Arthur, Queen Guinevere, and Sir Lancelot. Other popular secular topics included the seasons, the crusades, beautiful women, and nature, all of which were idealized and exalted in song. Such songs would never have become as ubiquitous as they were, however, without the sheet music produced by the troubadours of the age.

Source: http://www.floweradvisor.com.sg/lifestyle/interests/music/52484/sheet_music_in_the_middle_ages/

See Also : Mid autumn festival, Moon cakes festival, Autumn mooncake