Chinese Moon Cake Festival

Today is the Chinese Moon Cake Festival. It is called the Moon Festival because a special kind of sweet cake (yueh ping) is prepared in the shape of the round moon and filled with sesame seeds, ground lotus seeds and duck eggs. At the time, China was in revolt against the Mongols. A secret cake strategy was planned to take a certain walled city held by the Mongol enemy. When the time for the year's Chung Chiu festival arrived, people opened their cakes and found hidden messages advising them to coordinate their uprising with the troops outside. Whether this sweet Chinese version of ancient Europe's "Trojan Horse" story is true, no one really knows.The moon plays a significant part of this festival. In Hong Kong, any open space or mountain top is crowded with people trying to get a glimpse of this season's full moon. I know many of my readers are not from Melbourne. The moon is round and the world is small. I hope we will cross paths one of these days.

Behind this festival are many legendary stories. One of which tells of the romantic love story between the Weaver Girl (who lives in the moon) and the Cowherd (who lives on earth), and they only get to meet once a year on this day. I wonder how you would feel if you only get to meet the people that you love once a year?