Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋節, zhōng qiū jié).

The Mid-Autumn Festival falls on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month (tomorrow will be it, the 14th of Septembar'08) of the Chinese calendar (usually around mid- or late-September in the Gregorian calendar), a date that parallels the Autumn Equinox of the solar calendar. The traditional food of this festival is the mooncake, of which there are many different varieties.

There are so many variations and adaptations of the Mid-Autumn Festival.

One of them, according to a widespread folk tale (not necessarily supported by historical records), the Mid-Autumn Festival commemorates an uprising in China against the Mongol rulers- Khubai Khan of the Yuan Dynasty (1280–1368) in the 14th century. As group gatherings were banned, it was impossible to make plans for a rebellion. Noting that the Mongols did not eat mooncakes, Liu Bowen (劉伯溫) of Zhejiang Province, advisor to the Chinese rebel leader Zhu Yuanzhang, came up with the idea of timing the rebellion to coincide with the Mid-Autumn Festival. He sought permission to distribute thousands of moon cakes to the Chinese residents in the city to : "bless the longevity of the Mongol emperor". Inside each cake, however, was inserted a piece of paper with the message: "Kill the Mongols on the 15th day of the 8th Moon" (八月十五殺韃子). On the night of the Moon Festival, the rebels successfully attacked and overthrew the government. What followed was the establishment of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), under Zhu. Henceforth, the Mid-Autumn Festival was celebrated with moon cakes on a national level.

I wonder what would this mean for all the Malaysian celebrating the mooncake festival this year !