Knowledge about moon cakes

Moon cakes, also known as moon cakes, cookies, harvest cakes, reunion cakes, etc. , is the seasonal food of Mid-Autumn Festival. Moon cakes were originally used as offerings to worship the moon god. Sacrificing the moon is a very old custom in China, and it is actually a worship activity of the ancients to the "Moon God". Today, eating moon cakes and enjoying the moon are indispensable customs in Mid-Autumn Festival. Mooncakes symbolize a happy reunion. People regard them as holiday food, use them to worship the moon and give them to relatives and friends.

As an offering to worship the moon god, moon cakes have a long history. The word moon cake was first included in Liang Lumeng written by Wu in the Southern Song Dynasty. Mooncakes have been integrated into local food customs and developed into Cantonese, Shanxi, Beijing, Suzhou, Chaozhou and Yunnan mooncakes.

Moon cakes symbolize reunion, which should have been recorded in writing since the Ming Dynasty. If we look at the information about moon cakes and Mid-Autumn Festival folk customs in the Ming Dynasty, we should be able to see the historical track of the reunion of moon cakes: after the Mid-Autumn Festival, the whole family will sit together and share moon cakes and fruits (offerings of the moon). Because moon cakes are also round and shared by the whole family, it gradually forms the implication that moon cakes represent family reunion.

Moon cakes often contain plant seeds, such as walnuts, almonds, sesame seeds, melon seeds, hawthorn, lotus seeds, red beans, jujube paste, etc., which have a certain health care effect on the human body.