Moon worship is a very ancient custom in China. Mooncakes were offerings to the moon goddess during the Mid-Autumn Festival and are also a seasonal food for the festival. In ancient times, a moon worship ceremony was held every Mid-Autumn Festival night. A large incense table was set up, with mooncakes, fruits, and other offerings placed on it. Under the moonlight, the image of the moon goddess was placed facing the moon, red candles were lit, and the whole family worshipped the moon in turn. Then, the matriarch of the family cut the round mooncake.
Mooncakes, as offerings to the moon goddess, have a long history. The earliest existing document mentions the term "mooncake" in Wu Zimou's *Menglianglu* from the Southern Song Dynasty. Enjoying the moon and eating mooncakes are essential customs for celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival throughout China. As the saying goes, "The moon is perfectly round on the fifteenth of the eighth lunar month, and the Mid-Autumn mooncakes are fragrant and sweet."
Mid-Autumn Festival Food Customs of the Han Chinese (August 15th of the Lunar Calendar) The great Song Dynasty poet Su Dongpo praised mooncakes with the lines, "Small cakes like chewing the moon, filled with butter and sugar," indicating that mooncakes in the Song Dynasty already contained fillings of butter and sugar.
By the Ming Dynasty, the custom of eating mooncakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival had become even more widespread. Shen Bang's *Wanshu Zaji* (Miscellaneous Records of Wanshu) states, "Scholars and commoners alike make and exchange cakes of various sizes during this month, calling them mooncakes." *Zhuozhong Zhi* (Records of Zhuozhong) says, "In August, the palace admires begonias and jade hairpins. From the first day of the eighth lunar month, mooncakes are sold, and by the fifteenth, every household offers mooncakes and fruits. Any leftover mooncakes are stored in a dry, cool place to be shared at the end of the year, called 'reunion cakes.'" Through the Yuan and Ming dynasties, the custom of eating and gifting mooncakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival flourished, and mooncakes acquired the symbolic meaning of "reunion." From the Qing Dynasty to the present day, mooncakes have seen new developments in both quality and variety. Differences in ingredients, preparation methods, and shapes have led to a rich variety of mooncakes, resulting in distinctive styles such as Beijing-style, Suzhou-style, and Cantonese-style. Mooncakes are not only a unique festive food but also a popular and delicious pastry enjoyed year-round.
The term "mooncake" first appeared in Wu Zimou's *Menglianglu* during the Southern Song Dynasty, where it simply referred to a type of snack. Later, people gradually associated moon-viewing with mooncakes, symbolizing family reunion and expressing longing. Mooncakes also became an important gift for friends to exchange during the Mid-Autumn Festival. At that time, mooncakes were rhombus-shaped and existed alongside chrysanthemum cakes, plum blossom cakes, and five-nut cakes, and were available "all year round, at will, without delay." This shows that mooncakes were not limited to the Mid-Autumn Festival at that time. The origin of the term "mooncake" is now unknown. However, the famous Northern Song Dynasty scholar Su Dongpo wrote the line, "Small cakes like chewing the moon, filled with crispness and sweetness," which may be the source of the name and the basis for the method of making mooncakes.
Numerous records about mooncakes date back to the Ming Dynasty. By this time, mooncakes were already round and eaten only during the Mid-Autumn Festival, becoming the main offering for the popular Mid-Autumn Festival moon worship. The *Dijing Jingwu Lue* states, "On the fifteenth of the eighth month, the moon is worshipped, and the offerings of fruits and cakes must be round." "Families set up a moon-viewing altar in the direction where the moon rises, bow to the moon, burn moon-viewing paper, remove the offerings, and distribute them among family members. Mooncakes and fruits are exchanged among relatives and friends; some mooncakes are two feet in diameter." The symbolism of mooncakes for reunion likely began to appear in written records in the Ming Dynasty. By combining Ming Dynasty records of mooncakes and Mid-Autumn Festival customs, we can see the historical trajectory of mooncakes symbolizing reunion: after the Mid-Autumn Festival moon worship, the whole family would sit together and share mooncakes. Mooncakes (offerings for moon worship). Because the mooncake is round and the moon is round, and it's shared by the whole family, it gradually came to symbolize family reunion. In some parts of Guangdong, there's a custom of worshipping the moon during the Mid-Autumn Festival, mainly by women and children, with the proverb "Men don't worship the moon, women don't worship the stove god." In the Jiangnan region, Mid-Autumn Festival customs are diverse. In Nanjing, besides mooncakes, people traditionally eat the famous Nanjing dish, Osmanthus Duck, which is associated with the fire dragon dance. In Sichuan province, besides mooncakes, people also make glutinous rice cakes, slaughter ducks, and eat sesame cakes and honey cakes.
