I've been told that the Mid Autumn Festival is to Hong Kong what Thanksgiving is to the United States of America. It's a public holiday here in Hong Kong celebrating the harvest. We officially celebrate the Mid Autumn Festival this coming Tuesday, but the kids have a four day weekend off from their school, so as a family, we are celebrating all weekend long.
I've also learned that the festival is all about spending time with family. Having an evening picnic on the beach, grilling together as a family, and watching the moon. Families will have battery operated lanterns with them and children will carry glow sticks.
The moon plays a large part in this particular holiday.
We've eaten our first mooncakes as a family and my kids get excited about them every time they see them advertised on a billboard. Both kids have tasted the cakes in their Mandarin class and can read the Chinese characters printed on the surface of the mooncakes. The mooncakes we ate as a family were not what one would consider the traditional cake, but rather a more contemporary non-baked style of cake. We ate what is referred to as a "snowy mooncake". A glutinous rice crust with a pandan filling.
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