Peculiarities of the Seaon

Last night, I went to a small celebration of the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival (or Full Moon Festival or Hunter's Moon Festival), for me a new reason to mark my favorite time of year. Every year on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month, the Chinese celebrate the fat, bright moon when it is at the lowest angle to the earth.

Chinaculture.org describes many of the traditional festivities, one of which was served at the party: mooncakes. Beautifully decorated, embossed with sayings, these circular sweets were filled with dense goodies -- green tea, an egg yolk, date or red bean paste, lotus seeds.

They, however, were not the only exotic treat served at the party. Imagine a giant vegetable colored like a peach moon, glimpsed through leaves and branches, blushed pale pink, acqua, cream, blue, gray, emerald. Then call it pumpkin
and celebrate the "moons" that offer up their rich sweetness to be savored when air crisps and night inks.