Dragon Boat Festival (June)

This festival is celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar. It marks the death of a Chinese patriot scholar named Qu Yuan who drowned in a river in 296 BC.

o   Bak Chang

Fishermen threw rice wrapped in bamboo leaves into the river so that the fish would eat the rice instead of Qu Yuan’s body. Today, bak chang (dumplings stuffed with meat, chestnuts and mushrooms), among other dishes, are eaten in Qu Yuan’s memory during the month leading up to the festival. Bak Changs can also be found throughout the year in shops.

Mid-Autumn Festival (September)

The Mid-Autumn Festival, which falls on the 15th day of the eighth month of the Chinese lunar calendar; is celebrated with family gatherings, prayers, and a lantern parade by children. Offerings of mooncakes, fried chicken, roasted pork, pomelos, watermelon seeds and Chinese tea are made to deities and ancestors, while prayers are offered with joss-sticks, red candles are lit and joss paper burnt.        

         Mooncakes

One of the legends behind the eating of mooncakes is about Chang Er, a beautiful woman who transformed into a fairy and floated to the moon after taking an immortality pill. The grief-stricken prayers of her husband, Hou Yi, a heroic archer; touched the hearts of the heavenly gods, who allowed the couple to reunite on Mid-Autumn Night. The Chinese thus eat mooncakes in memory of the lovers.Today it is still believed that if you look hard enough at the moon on Mid-Autumn, you’ll be able to see Chang Er and the rabbit which is keeping her company. Another legend has its roots in 14th century China’s Yuan Dynasty. The people then were living under the tyrannical rule of a Mongolian ruler who, in order to safeguard his empire, had forbidden the people to possess any tools, including kitchen knives. A Chinese leader, Zhu Yuan Zhang, wanted to bring the people together to overthrow the tyrant’s rule. He had to find a way of putting out the word without arousing the Mongolians’ suspicion: a comrade came up with the idea of stuffing paper messages saying ‘Strike on Mid-Autumn Night’ into freshly made round cakes, which were then distributed as gifts to the people. On Mid-Autumn Night - when the moon is at its brightest - the people united as a rebel army and overthrew their oppressors to establish the Ming Dynasty (AD 1368 — 1644). To commemorate the successful rebellion, the Chinese began the custom of eating mooncakes on Mid-Autumn. Mooncakes are sweet, round cakes traditionally filled with lotus seed paste, or fatty meat, nuts and melon seeds. These days - in the true spirit of Singapore culinary experi­mentation - you can sample mooncakes with very eclectic fillings, such as durian, cherry, chocolate praline, bird’s nest and green teal