Highland Barley Mooncakes In Tibet

Moomcake is a must for Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival. It is a popular harvest festival celebrated on the 15^th day of Aug. in the Chinese calendar, on which day, the full moon will appear once in a blue moon. Chinese government listed it as an “intangible cultural heritage” in 2006, and made it a public holiday in 2008. This festival mainly celebrates reunion of a family.
There is a legend telling how the Mid-Autumn Festival came into being. In the ancient past, there was a hero named Hou Yi, who was excelled in shooting. He shot down 9 suns out of 10, relieving people from burning weather. Hou Yi was gifted with the elixir of immortality for his deeds from god. However, Hou Yi didn’t want to leave his wife--Chang’e behind, being immortal alone. One day, a man broke into Hou Yi’s house, searching for the magic pill. Chang’e, in order not to leave the elixir to the bad guy, swallowed it and flew into the sky before he could reach out his evil hands. As a consequence of nostalgia, she chose moon for her residence. Her husband would eat mooncake to memorize her when it comes to full moon. As time went by, eating mooncake became a tradition.

But, the mooncakes in Tibet are a little bit different from those of mainland. Upon the arrival of Mid-Autumn Festival, mooncakes made of highland barley appeared in the market of the Tibet Autonomous Region. This kind of special mooncake is especially for Tibetan local people. It contains typical Tibetan flavor stuffings like yak meat, saffron crocus, highland barley with other cereals. Once these mooncakes had been put into market, they became a hit in Lhasa and were extremely welcome by Tibetan people.