O-tsukimi: let’s enjoy the moon!
In many countries in Asia, people celebrate the mid-fall. For the Japanese, it is an opportunity for moon-viewing during O-tsukimi which is set today!
Also called the Harvest Moon Festival or Mid-Autumn Festival, O-tsukimi is a popular celebration in Japan. It takes place on the 15th night of the lunar calendar, a night when the moon, though not always full, is said to be the brightest of the year. A great opportunity of moon-viewing!
O-tsukimi is rather a quiet and solemn festival today but it has not always been so. It came from China to Japan in the Nara period (710-794) but really developed in the Heian period (794-1185). On boats, the aristocrats would cruise to admire the moon’s reflection on the water. In the Meiji period (1868-1912), parties would go long into the night.
For O-tsukimi, people traditionally eat tsukimi dango – rice dumplings – and other season products such as taro, chestnuts, and kabocha – Japanese pumpkins. Some dishes are also “tsukimied” by adding a raw or fried egg reminding of the shape of the moon, like tsukimi soba or tsukimi udon. Fast food or coffee shop chains seize the opportunity to add new products to their menu, like the Full Moon Cheese Tsukimi Burger or moon cakes (like in the Chinese custom).
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