Happy Moon Festival.........kind of

This past week China has been celebrating the moon festival!! This will be a new tradition we will be implementing in our home when Aiden arrives. The "kind of" part in the title is just a grumpy ole mom who is bah hum bug because I wished Aiden was here to celebrate with us and see us try our first  moon cake!!  One of the neurology residents I am working with at CMH is chinese and she brought me 2 moon cakes!!! One we put up in the freezer for Aiden when he arrives home and the other one, Ray and I shared Monday morning!!! It was really good! I guess another bummer on the festival is the CCAA was closed this week meaning NO PROGRESS on the paperwork....UGH!!! (maybe i should move to China where they get weeks off for holidays..lol)...if your still confused about what the Chinese moon festival is read below!!!

Chinese Moon Festival:

The Chinese Moon Festival is on the 15th of the 8th lunar month. It's also known as the Mid-autumn Festival. Chinese culture is deeply imbedded in traditional festivals. Just like Christmas and Thanksgiving in the West, the Moon Festival is one of the most important traditional events for the Chinese. 

The Moon Festival is full of legendary stories. Legend says that Chang Er flew to the moon, where she has lived ever since. You might see her dancing on the moon during the Moon Festival. The Moon Festival is also an occasion for family reunions. When the full moon rises, families get together to watch the full moon, eat moon cakes, and sing moon poems. With the full moon, the legend, the family and the poems, you can't help thinking that this is really a perfect world. That is why the Chinese are so fond of the Moon Festival. 

The Moon Festival is also a romantic one. A perfect night for the festival is if it is a quiet night without a silk of cloud and with a little mild breeze from the sea. Lovers spend such a romantic night together tasting the delicious moon cake with some wine while watching the full moon. Even for a couple who can't be together, they can still enjoy the night by watching the moon at the same time so it seems that they are together at that hour. A great number of poetry has been devoted to this romantic festival. Hope the Moon Festival will bring you happiness.

The moon cake is the food for the Moon Festival. The Chinese eat the moon cake at night with the full moon in the sky. The legend behind the mooncake:  During the Yuan dynasty (A.D.1280-1368) China was ruled by the Mongolian people. Leaders from the preceding Sung dynasty (A.D.960-1280) were unhappy at submitting to foreign rule, and set how to coordinate the rebellion without it being discovered. The leaders of the rebellion, knowing that the Moon Festival was drawing near, ordered the making of special cakes. Backed into each moon cake was a message with the outline of the attack. On the night of the Moon Festival, the rebels successfully attacked and overthrew the government. What followed was the establishment of the Ming dynasty (A.D. 1368-1644). Today, moon cakes are eaten to commemorate this legend. 

 

This is Aiden working hard at school!!! His school has a website that keeps parents up to date with the classroom projects and lesson plans for the month as well as pictures!!! Its a great site!!! Our biweekly update from his teacher was really good! Aiden is starting to settle in at school. He is picking up english pretty quickly. He is very eager to please and is little perfectionist. He loves being the teacher's helper as well!!!