Mooncake festival given Indonesian flavor

A. Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Chinese all around the world, including here, are currently celebrating the traditional Mid-Autumn Festival, known as the Mooncake festival.

Chinese usually give mooncakes to their relatives as gifts during the mid-autumn celebration, which falls on the 15th day every eighth month in the Chinese lunar calendar (Peh Gwee Cap Go). This year, it falls on Sept. 28.

In Indonesia, mooncakes can easily be bought in "Chinatown" areas, including along Jl. Pancoran, Glodok, West Jakarta, or star-rated hotels, such as Shangri-La and Mulia Senayan, both in Central Jakarta.

Shangri-La and Mulia Senayan are both celebrating the mooncake festival from Aug. 15 to Sept. 28 by providing many different varieties of mooncake.

"All the ingredients in our mooncakes are imported from Hong Kong," Shangri-La communications coordinator Gloria Vera Kristie said.

Wijaya, the owner of Sie Sin, a shop selling mooncakes in Glodok, said buyers usually started to purchase mooncakes four days before the festival.

"There will be many buyers on those days. People buy mooncakes and give them to their relatives to show their love and create harmony," Wijaya told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

He said Indonesian mooncakes were more varied than those found elsewhere due to local influences.

In most countries only five kinds of mooncakes can be found, with lotus seeds being the main ingredients.

Wijaya said that besides the usual ingredients, like lotus seeds and egg yolks, Indonesian mooncakes could be made with durian (strong-tasting local fruit) or pineapple.

"We sell 36 varieties of mooncake. The lotus mooncakes are only consumed by totok (older, more traiditional) Chinese. The younger Chinese have more varied tastes," Wijaya said.

Mooncakes are sold at Rp 15,000 (US$1.6) to Rp 40,000 apiece, depending on the ingredients.