To the Moon: Various boxes of mooncakes on display at 99 Ranch Market, Richmond.
Sunday, September 30th marks the date of China’s annual Mid-Autumn Festival, which falls on the 15th day of the eighth month of the Chinese calendar (for the record, that day will be September 19th next year). Part of the Mid-Autumn Festival’s tradition includes the consumption of mooncakes, which were in plentiful supply last week at Richmond’s 99 Ranch Market. Over the years, mooncakes have become so fundamental to the celebration of the Mid-Autumn Festival that this Chinese national holiday is also commonly known as the Mooncake Festival.
Mooncakes are typically little round pastries filled with a sweet interior, which may also include a salted egg yolk that symbolizes the moon. Boxes of mooncakes are exchanged as gifts during this festival, and the mooncake selection at 99 Ranch proved impressive. The following photo gallery features a few of my favorite mooncake tins (although some are also packaged in fancy cardboard boxes). Enjoy!
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Because I am reading this early, for a minute I thought it was moon pies. These boxes are beautiful and this post reminds me of the celebration of the harvest moon in Japan.
Maybe we can start at Moonpie Festival here in America!