Moon Cake Madness

The Mid-Autumn Festival is upon us and the kids get Monday off from school.  I'll be golfing in the U.S. for a work related outting, so I will miss any of the local festivities.  That being said, the traditional food for the season is the moon cake.  The office is flooding with them from vendors, landlords, etc.  We typically put them out for everyone to share.  Below are some Wikipedia pictures of more traditional ones, although the pastry and filling options are endless as you can imagine.  They are getting mixed reviews at my house mainly due to the texture, rather than the taste.  You kind of get used to bean flavored desserts in Asia, but the dense texture of these would be hard to get through if you were to eat a whole one by yourself.

Also, the "What's on in Suzhou" newletter came out with the following explaination of the holiday and cakes origins:

Legend has it that Houyi an immortal and Chang'e his beautiful wife were banished from heaven because the other immortals were jealous of Houyi and slandered him before the Jade emperor. Houyi became a famous archer on earth and so when one day the then 10 suns of that time circled the earth together causing it to burn Emperor Yao of China told Houyi to shoot down all but one of the suns. When he did this he received a pill from the Emperor that granted eternal life. Emperor Yao told him he should prepare himself by praying and fasting for a year before taking the pill so he hid it at home. One day Chang'e his beautiful wife noticed it and swallowed it out of curiosity. When Houyi found out he got angry with his wife and she flew out the window to the moon. Houyi only made it half way to the moon before having to turn back because of strong winds. Chang'e realizing she was on her own got upset and commanded the hare living on the moon to make another pill based on the part of the one that she had coughed up when she arrived so that she could return to earth. The hare is still trying to make the pill. Houyi built a palace in the sun, representing "Yang" in contrast to Chang'e's home on the moon which represents "Yin". Once a year on the night of the mid-Autumn festival Houyi visits his wife and this is why the moon is so full and beautiful on this night.

According to folk tales the innocent looking moon cake is responsible for the overthrow of Mongol rule and the resulting establishment of the Ming Dynasty in 1368. Noting that the Mongols didn't eat moon cakes the Chinese rebels of the time put a piece of paper in the cakes to gather together and defeat the Mongols on the 15th day of the 8th month (at the time group gatherings were banned). They were successful and since that time moon cakes are eaten on this day.