A huge gas-filled mooncake model stands high in the street of Suzhou,
a scenic city of east China's Jiangsu Province Sept. 9, 2004.

Chinese ancestors took the seventh, eighth and ninth lunar months as autumn and 15th day of the eighth lunar month as the Moon Day which was considered the best day of the year to enjoy the beautiful, round and bright moon.

A harvest festival, Moon Day is a time for relaxation and celebration and most importantly, reunion of families. In the past, food offerings were placed on an altar set up in the courtyard. Special food for the festival included moon cakes and cooked taro, edible snails from the taro patches or rice paddies cooked with sweet basil, and water caltrope, a type of water chestnut resembling black buffalo horns. Some people insisted that cooked taro be included because at the time of creation, taro was the first food discovered at night in the moonlight.

Moon cake also has a story. 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. Contained in 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.

Moon Cake molds