Eating Duck in Mid-Autumn Food Culture

Eating DucksThe Mulao folks in Yunnan Province of China all buy cakes and kill ducks on August 15 to celebrate this traditional festival.

Legend has it that once upon a time, the Mulao people lived in a place where the mountains and water were good and the seasons were like spring. The villages were blessed with prosperous livestock and a good harvest every year. However, one year, there were some "ghosts" who came to the village and killed people, robbed and raped people everywhere, causing the Mulao people to have no peace and quiet day and night. A couple and their son, a candy seller in the village, were determined to lead the resistance. They came up with a plan: to sell candies in the village, and to gather the villagers together to kill the "Fan Gui Lao" on the night of August 15, and most of the "Fan Gui Lao" were killed in the night. Most of them were killed and some of them jumped into the river and turned into ducks. The Mulao people took the ducks back to their village and killed them as a meal to celebrate their victory. Since then, in order to commemorate the three members of the family, every year on the 15th of August, Mulao people would buy cakes and kill the ducks, so as to educate the future generations not to forget the struggle against the invasion.