Mooncakes are eaten on August 15, the Mid-Autumn Festival, because they symbolize reunion. On the night of the festival, people also love to eat mooncakes and other fruits of reunion to pray for a happy, sweet and peaceful life for their families.

There are two versions of eating mooncakes on the Mid-Autumn Festival:

Version 1: The mooncake originally originated in the Tang Dynasty as food for the army to wish for success.

During the reign of Tang Emperor Gaozu, General Li Jing won a victory against Xiong Nu and returned triumphantly on August 15th. At that time, some people in Turpan who were merchants offered cakes to the Tang emperor to wish him well. Li Yuan, the first emperor of the Tang Dynasty, took the gorgeous cake box, took out the cake, pointed to the bright moon in the sky and said: "I should invite the toad with the Hu cake". After saying this, he distributed the cakes among his ministers and ate them together.

Version 2: Mooncakes at the Mid-Autumn Festival are said to have begun in the Yuan Dynasty.

At that time, the people of the Central Plains could not bear the cruel rule of the Yuan Dynasty ruling class, and rose up against the Yuan Dynasty. Zhu Yuanzhang united various resistance forces to prepare for the uprising. However, the imperial court officials and soldiers searched very closely, it is very difficult to pass the news. Liu Bowen, the military advisor, came up with a plan to order his subordinates to hide the note with the message "Rise on the 15th of August" inside a cake, and then sent people to deliver it to the rebel armies around the world, informing them to rise on the night of the 15th of August to respond to the revolt. On the day of the uprising, all the rebel armies responded together, and the rebel army was like a prairie fire. Soon, Xu Da captured the Yuan capital and the uprising was successful.

When the news came, Zhu Yuanzhang was so happy that he hurriedly sent down an oracle to let all the generals and soldiers have fun with the people in the coming Mid-Autumn Festival, and rewarded the ministers with "moon cakes" as the festive pastries that had been used to secretly deliver messages during the uprising. Since then, the "moon cake" production more and more fine, more varieties, as large as a disk, become a gift of goodies. After the Mid-Autumn Festival, the custom of eating mooncakes spread in the folklore. In the subsequent long historical period, even at the end of the last century, many moon cakes are still attached to a small piece of paper! Unfortunately, the mooncakes produced in recent years are no longer found in the small pieces of paper, the mooncakes contained in the "cultural code" passed down from generation to generation has disappeared.

"West Lake Tourism" said: "Folk to the moon cake feed, take the meaning of reunion." Dong Po to "small cakes such as chewing the moon, there are crispy and syrup" to praise the moon cake. Legend has it that in ancient times, the emperor had the ritual of sacrificing the sun in spring and the moon in fall. In folklore, there is also a custom of worshipping or sacrificing to the moon around the mid-autumn festival in August. "The moon is full on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, and the mooncake is fragrant and sweet on the mid-autumn festival," says the famous proverb, which describes the custom of eating mooncakes on the night of the mid-autumn festival in the city and the countryside. Mooncakes were initially used to offer sacrifices to the moon god, and then people gradually put the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival to enjoy the moon and taste the mooncake, as a symbol of family reunion, and slowly mooncakes have become a gift for the festival.