O-Tsuki mi - A Moon Cake Festival not so different>>>
By Jun Wee • Urbanwire

Single-yolk, double-yolk, strawberry skin, snow skin . . . it's time to feast on your favourite mooncakes again. And just when you thought there are too many variants to choose from, here's one more.

If you are sick of eating greasy mooncakes that require cup after cup of oolong tea to wash down, chew on this - a Japanese version of mooncakes, which is healthier minus the oil and can be eaten without gallons of tea.

These Japanese versions not only resemble their Chinese counterparts, they some might argue they even share other traditions.

O-Tsuki mi or Moon Viewing Festival, is the Japanese version of the Chinese mooncake festival, and Tanabata is a similar celebration.

O-Tsuki-Mi

O-Tsuki-Mi falls close to the day of the Chinese mooncake festival - 15 September. The legend behind O-Tsuki-Mi may be slightly different, but it is largely celebrated in the same way.

Kumiko Azuma, a 24-year-old teacher told Urbanwire that she celebrates both festivals at the same time.

"I enjoy mooncakes and tea as I view the full moon with my friends," she said.

O-Tsuki-Mi is a time for families to gather to admire ("shang yue") and make offerings to the moon.

Unlike the Chinese version of the legend, where the weaver girl Chang Er had a rabbit pet, the Japanese tale portrays the rabbit as the hero of the story and it thus has an important part of the festival.

Rabbit-shaped mochi and Japanese-style mooncakes can be bought at Minamoto Kitchen during both O-Tsuki-Mi, and Tanabata festive periods. Tanabata, translated as Festival of the Stars, which precedes it and is often celebrated together, is a facsimile of another Chinese celebration- the Double Seventh Festival.

Tanabata

Tanabata falls on 7 July, according to the lunar calendar, but is celebrated much later. Tanabata can be celebrated as late as at the end of July, or even in September in some parts of Japan, Azuma said.

Tanabata, like the Chinese Moon Cake festival, has many variations of the legend behind it. One popular version recounts the story of Princess Orihime and Prince Hikoboshi.

In punishment for their misdeeds, Orihime was sent to be a weaver and Hikoboshi, a cowherd. The playful couple, however, incurred the king's wrath further when they failed to perform their duties. The angry king then separated the couple, banishing them to opposite ends of the Amanogawa River (Milky Way). The literally star-crossed lovers were only allowed to meet once each year - on 7 July. Coincidentally, the Chinese based their Double Seventh Festival on pretty much the exact story.

Believers of the legend trust that the lovers - reunited on this special day - would grant them their wishes. They pray for fine weather on Tanabata because the separated couple would not be able to meet if it was raining.

While large-scale street performances held during Tanabata celebrations can only be experienced in Japan, especially in Sendai City in Miyagi prefecture, the festive season is also celebrated in some parts of Singapore.

Celebrations in Singapore

Ai Origuchi and Yuka Ideuchi, good friends who are both Singapore residents, describe the festive spirit of Tanabata away from home in Japan. "We write our wishes on pieces of coloured paper," said Ideuchi, 17. Their families then decorate a simple potted bamboo plant with the coloured paper containing their wishes.

Those who wish to celebrate Tanabata but do not have a bamboo plant at home need not fret. Minamoto Kitchen, located at Takashimaya's basement one, celebrates Tanabata every year and allows people to write their wishes and hang it up on the bamboo plant at a corner of the store.

Minamoto Kitchen sells all sorts of Japanese delicacies ranging from mochi (rice cakes) to senbei (rice crackers), and carries the largest number of traditional Japanese sweets in Singapore.

A special Wagashi (traditional Japanese sweet) eaten during Tanabata is called "goshiki mame"; it is a must-have because its colours are symbolic of the legend - the blue represents the Milky Way, and the gold and silver represent the stars.

On Tanabata, the Japanese decorate their homes with colourful streamers that represent the weaving of thread, and some even make paper dolls that are supposed to resemble the weaver princess and cowherd prince.

Global Thanksgiving Festivals

Unsurprisingly, both Tanabata and O-Tsuki-Mi originate from Chinese traditions. Other festivals similar to the Chinese mooncake festival occur elsewhere around the globe as well, but particularly in Asia.

The Chinese mooncake festival was originally known as the harvest festival as it is celebrated at the end of a crop harvest. It was a time for peasants and farmers to give thanks to the gods for bounty in the fields, as well as a time for reunion and rejoicing.

In America, the Thanksgiving festival is celebrated in tribute of the pilgrims' first harvest, which dated some 400 years ago.

In Korea, the people celebrate Chusok, a mid-autumn harvest festival that falls on the same day as the Chinese mooncake festival - the 15th day of the 8th month on the lunar calendar.

In Vietnam, another mid-autumn festival called Têt-Trung-Thu (tet-troong-thoo), which literally means mid-autumn festival, is celebrated on that same day.

Têt-Trung-Thu traditions are very similar as they involve families getting together, parents feeding mooncakes to their children playing with paper lanterns, and telling their own version of Chang Er - the lady in the moon.