「烙團圓餅」的習俗
中秋佳節又快到了！「花好月圓人團圓」這是亙古不變的夙願。
有一位網友給我分享了他家的中秋趣事，與當地特有的風俗，我也把這有意思的過節方式跟大家分享。希望大家都能在中秋這天與最愛的家人團聚，共享天倫。
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【網友分享】
我的家鄉在中國西安，在當地中秋節有烙「團圓餅」的習俗。
在這一天，大哥、嫂子都會帶著5歲的小侄兒從外地趕回來。那天，爸爸和媽媽會用糖、芝麻、桂花和蘋果、麵粉等來做大月餅時，小侄兒非要來壓花，他把他的玩具兔子壓在上面、用一個小圓盒壓成月亮、還用牙籤雕刻了一顆桂花樹。烙好後，看著大月餅出爐，他高興得直跳！
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到了晚上，明月升起，爸媽搬了張桌子放在院子裡，把烙好的團圓餅放在桌子上，將月餅、石榴、棗子等瓜果供於桌案上拜月，媽媽說：先給月亮吃。小侄兒說：既然月亮會吃，那我試試砸一下看她會疼嗎？說著就用一個小月餅拋向空中，月亮不但沒有反應，他的月餅差點砸中旁邊的小狗。爸爸一看笑著說：「月亮離我們十萬八千里呢。」把我也笑得差點暈過去。
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拜完月之後，全家人圍桌而坐，由爸爸將餅按人數分切成塊，每人一塊，那年二哥遠在東北讀大學沒趕回來，父親也為他留下一份，表示闔家團圓。現代生活多元化了，二哥雖然沒回來，但我們還用手機和他視頻，千里之外化為零距離。
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一家人邊吃邊談，帶著思念，共賞明月……。
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你的中秋將如何過呢也歡迎在這兒與大家共同分享吧!!
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#中秋節、#烙團圓餅、#拜月、#分月餅rnrn”Bake Reunion Cake” custom
The Mid-Autumn Festival is approaching! The festival may have originated in China, yet it is also a traditional local festival in parts of East Asia such as Japan, Vietnam and Korea. The different regional cultures in these places mean that customary practices vary as well. A netizen shared an interesting story about his family’s mid-autumn festival activities and unique customs and I would like to share the appreciation for this meaningful occasion with all of you too. I wish that everyone can reunite with relatives and close friends on the Mid-Autumn Festival day to enjoy familial bliss.
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“The flowers are always blooming, the moon always round and bright and our loved ones always together” – these are the eternally cherished wishes of everyone. My family is most lively during the Mid-Autumn Festival, with my elder siblings, sister-in-law and 5-year-old nephew visiting in earnest from abroad. In Xi’an, China where my hometown is, there is a local custom to “bake reunion cake” during the Festival. On that day, my father and mother will use sugar, sesame, sweet-scented osmanthus and apple with flour to bake a big moon cake. My small nephew will always be involved during the process, imprinting his toy rabbit on the cakes, molding the ingredients in small round boxes into the moon-shape, and carving osmanthus trees with toothpicks. Seeing his creations turn out well from the oven into big mooncakes, he will jump for joy!
In the evening, as the moon gently rises into view, our parents will shift a table into the courtyard and serve our freshly-baked reunion cake, including moon cakes, pomegranates, dates and other fruits on the table as offerings to the venerable moon. My mother explained one year, “.. offer these first to the moon”. My little nephew then asked, “Since the moon will eat, then I will try to hit it to see if she will be hurt?” He then hurled a small moon cake into the air in the moon’s direction. The moon was not only unresponsive but the cake almost hit a puppy that was nearby. Father smiled and said, “The moon is more than 108,000 miles away from us.” I almost fainted with laughter at the hilarious moment.
After making the offering to the moon, the whole family will sit by the table, with father serving the cake. Dividing it by the number of family members. That year, my second brother was in university in the north-east and could not make it back home. Father left him a slice too, symbolic of the family reunion. In this versatile modern age, when second brother was not present, we connected with him on video using the mobile phone, bridging the thousands of miles as if he was physically here with us.
The family reunites, in the bliss of warm ties and comfort food, with kind thoughts and remembrance, in appreciation of the brilliant moon …
#MidAutumnFestival, #BakeReunionCake, #MoonWorship, #ShareReunionCake