In this activity, students learn about the Chinese Moon Festival and make 'moon cakes'.

Materials

background information about the Moon Festival, see below

homemade dough or tubes of 'ready to use' dough

rolling pin

1 small jar of grape jam or bean paste

oven

round cookie cutter (2")

knife

fork

spatula

spoon

cookie sheet

plate

napkins

cooling rack

oven mitts

Procedure

Explain to students that 'moon cakes' are a traditional Chinese recipe made to celebrate the Chinese Moon Festival or Mid-Autumn Festival. The Moon Festival celebrates the brightest full or harvest moon of the year. Read the Legend of Chang-O and enjoy 'moon cakes'!

If using home made dough, roll out to about 1/4" thickness. Cut into rounds with a cookie cutter. If using prepared dough from the tube, roll 1/4" thin and shape or cut into 2" rounds. Place the rounds on a cookie sheet and let rest for a few minutes. Prick the rounds with a fork to prevent puffing while cooking. Have an adult bake the rounds or 'moon cakes' until puffed, light golden in color and cooked through. The adult should carefully remove the sheet from the oven to a cooling rack with oven mitts. Let cool. With a spatula, remove the 'moon cakes' to a plate. Spread jam or bean paste on one moon cake and top it with another moon cake. If the moon cakes are thick, split them in half then spread jam or bean paste inside. Celebrate!

Follow Up, Extensions and Modifications

Have students research other legends involving the moon. Write stories about the "Legend of the Face in the Moon." Create a moon trivia game.

The Moon Festival

Background Information

The Chinese Moon Festival, or sometimes called the Mid-Autumn Festival, takes place on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month. The festival dates back to the Tang dynasty 618 A.D. and celebrates the biggest and brightest full moon of the year, the harvest moon.

As with many Chinese celebrations, there are ancient legends to explain the holiday. The Chinese were, and still are, an agricultural society. In ancient times, they planted and harvested by the lunar calendar, using the moon as an important time reference and guide.

One of the legends about the Moon Festival is about a builder or architect named Hou Yih. Hou Yih built a beautiful jade palace for the Goddess of the Western Heaven or sometimes called the Royal Mother. The Goddess was so happy that she gave Hou Yih a special pill that contained the magic elixir of immortality. But with it came the condition and warning that he may not use the pill until he had accomplished certain things.

Hou Yih had a beautiful wife named Chang-O. Chang-O was as curious as she was beautiful. One day she found the pill and without telling her husband, she swallowed it.

The Goddess of the Western Heaven was very angry and as a punishment, Chang-O was banished to the moon where, according to the legend, Chang-O can be seen at her most beautiful on the night of the bright harvest moon.

The Moon Festival is a big holiday with family reunions, moon gazing activities, and feasting on "moon cakes" which are round pastries filled with red bean paste, fruit or jam. Dragon and lion dances, whose origins also date back to ancient China, are wonderful dances done during festivals, especially exciting are the dragon and lion dances.

Legend says the dragon dance was invented to stop the spread of epidemics, sickness and disease. Over the years it evolved into a folk activity. The lion dance was originally used for worship and to pray for rain, but now the dance is used for entertainment. The lion chases a scampering clown, who dodges from left to right, jumping to and fro to make fun of the lion.

Internet Links

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