The brightest moon of the year rises and tracks across the night sky this Sunday (September 14). After gathering for a family feast, millions of Chinese people around the world will ascend to their rooftops or trek to a nearby hilltop park for an annual moon-gazing ritual called shang yue, or “admiring the moon”.

Then it’s time for dessert. Fruits like melons, plums, grapes, oranges, pomegranates, and pomelos—chosen for their moonlike shape—will be laid out alongside cups of tea, and perhaps star fruits, which resemble the constellations. At the centre of this bounty, in their rightful place as the evening’s headliner, will inevitably be a stack of mooncakes.

The occasion? The Mid-Autumn Festival (zhong qiu jie), sometimes known simply as the Moon Festival. Second in importance only to Chinese New Year, the spring festival, this fall celebration is on the 15th day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar.

It’s a time for families to gather and enjoy the fruits of their labour. In China, those who have had to leave home to find work will travel long distances to return home for a visit. Those of Chinese origin in Vancouver may recite this poem by the famous Tang dynasty poet, Li Bai (AD 701–762) to their children in a tribute to their cultural roots:

Chuang qian ming yue guang Bright moon rays in front of my bed

Yi shi di shang shuang Or is it frost on the ground?

Ju tou wang ming yue I raise my head to gaze at the moon

Di tou xi gu xiang I lower it in remembrance of the village I left behind

For kids, the Moon Festival is just plain fun. They get to stay up late, run around with lanterns, and eat sweet mooncakes. Young women may make an offering to the mythical old man in the moon, who is believed to hold their matrimonial destiny in his hands. And the fragrant smoke of burning incense dedicated to the kind-hearted beauty Chang Er, who resides in the moon palace with the jade rabbit, will bring peace and good fortune for all.

Mooncakes, the culinary centrepiece of the festival, are believed to have been instrumental in the overthrowing of China’s Mongolian rulers at the end of the Yuan dynasty (AD 1280–1368), restoring China to the Hans. Embedded in mooncakes, secret call-to-action messages were passed among the revolutionaries in order to synchronize the attack. Mooncake gifting soon became established as a tradition to commemorate the operation’s success. The tradition is so strong that in Hong Kong, certificates reserving mooncakes from famous bakeries are sold months in advance—as if they were wine futures—and are so coveted that they are scalped for exorbitant prices as the festival approaches.

Locally, bakeries like Keefer Bakery (251 East Georgia Street), Boss Bakery (532 Main Street), and Maxim’s (257 Keefer Street) are popular mooncake producers. The Kirin restaurant group (various locations) started selling mooncake gift certificates at the beginning of August and offers volume discounts.

For the uninitiated, mooncakes are dense pastries made of lotus-seed, adzuki-bean, or nut pastes and covered with a glazed crust that’s similar to a pie crust. Some mooncakes contain a salted duck-egg yolk to mimic a round, yellow moon suspended in a dark sky when they’re cut. Usually, the more egg yolks in a cake, the more expensive it is. Jellied mooncakes, such as Isabelle’s Dreamy Moon—which come in mango, pineapple, litchi, green apple, mango, honeydew, and strawberry flavours—have become quite popular for those seeking something novel and a bit lighter. The Isabelle’s brand cakes are available at T & T supermarkets alongside big Hong Kong brands such as Kee Wah and Maxim.

But the mooncakes that really capture the imagination this year are the ones created by Pan Pacific Vancouver Hotel executive chef Daryle Nagata. They’re made from Niagara icewine, maple syrup, filberts, walnuts, and dried Okanagan cherries and cranberries. There’s a catch, though—they’re not for sale. Café Pacifica diners receive one as a gift at the Asian-inspired Moon Festival lunch buffet that’s on until Friday (September 12), and at the Moon Festival brunch on Sunday (September 14). For more info, see www.dinepanpacific.com/ or call 604-895-2480.

If you sample Nagata’s mooncakes and like them, let him know. Perhaps he’ll make the cakes on a larger scale next year, and he’ll let you buy futures.