The Mooncake Festival fell on the 30th of September this year and it was wonderful to be in Phuket Old Town on that day.
Phuket has a great number of links to the Chinese community and is thus rich in Chinese traditions. If you want to learn more about the growth of the Chinese Community in Phuket I recommend that you visit the Phuket Thai Hua Museum.
The Chinese celebrate this lunar festival by distributing "mooncakes". The mooncake is thin pastry enveloping a sweet dense filling – traditionally made from red bean or lotus seed paste. These days you can find all sorts of fillings, including shrimp and durian, while some have a salted egg yolk in the middle to enhance taste. Each cake is imprinted on the top with a Chinese symbol representing ‘longevity’ or ‘harmony’ or "fortune". You are meant to cut and share the cake by eating only a small wedge.
The celebrations that I saw involved eating mooncakes (obviously), matchmaking, markets, floating lanterns, burning incense and Dragon Dances.
If you are not lucky enough to see this at least try a mooncake or visit a Chinese Temple – I was lucky and did them all.
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