My first memory of a mooncake is only a series of brief impressions. I’m young — slightly taller than our wooden kitchen table. My mom and brother sit, but my dad stands, cutting a mooncake with a knife. It’s already dark outside because it’s started to get dark earlier and earlier. My dad’s arm casts a shadow under the deep golden light of the fixture above us. There is a feeling of contentment in our after-dinner silence as we wait for him to put the little slivers onto our plates.
Celebrated throughout Asia, the Mid-Autumn Festival involves different customs in different countries. My dad says that in China it’s a time to look at the moon, think about your family and celebrate the abundance of fall. And, of course, to enjoy mooncakes, a round pastry symbolizing the moon.
Here in Arizona, the Moon Festival is also special because it marks the beginning of the incremental release of summer’s death grip on the desert. This year, the holiday falls on Sept. 17, the fifteenth day of the eighth month in the lunar calendar.