CHINESE FESTIVAL.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LII, Issue 5804, 2 October 1879, Page 5

CHINESE FESTIVAL.

The “Misket,” a festival annually celer brated in China in honour of the “Birth-day of the Moon,’’ was duly observed oh Tuesday at the. establishment of Messrs Ohiag Won and Ching George, , market gardeners, St Albans. This, which, is the chief among the Chinese minor festivals, and second only to the great festival held in .honour of the New Year, is divided into two parts, the first commencing with a religious ceremony, and ending with a feast, being set apart solely for the use of men; the second, which , , begins immediately on the termination of the first, being devoted to the delectation of the juveniles.

Shortly after half-past seven o’clock, the discharge of upwards of 500 crackers and other fireworks, announced that the festival had begun. , The religious ceremonies, which consisted of the burning of silver paper, the lighting of perfumed rushes, called torchlights, and pouring libations of brandy on the 'ground, with, the offering up of prayers for temporal prosperity, combined with a variety of genuflexions and prostrations followed, and these were succeeded by the feast which was composed of boiled ducks and fowls and pork with rice and vegetables in season, together with a very small portion of brandy served in minute cups of rare old china. The most remarkable feature was the “moon cakes.” These are made of wheaten flour, mingled with candied cocoanut, almonds, a variety of preserved fruit and nut oil ; they are round, of about Sin diameter and lin thick, are each stamped with an image of a full moon, and are of an agreeable flavour. The men’s feast lasted about three-quarters of an hour, and then the children’s festival commenced. Last night this consisted of placing a number of moon cakes ” upon a table out of doors and surrounding them with lighted coloured tapers and perfumed rushes (torches), and was oter in less than a quarter of an hour, simply because there were no children to take part in it. In China, however, the children are, feasted the same as the men, and the noise they make in invoking the moon to descend and partake of the delicacies provided for her is described as something deafening and is continued far into the night. It may be as well to mention that the“Misket” is always held when the moon is at full.