Horological Meandering

samwan
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Full Moon Junction

Today (Sep 22) is the Mid-Autumn Festival in the Chinese Lunar Calendar (Aug 15). This means, of the entire year, the moon will be at its fullest tonight. Contrary to popular belief that there are 29.5 days in each lunar month, the exact count is 29 days, 12 hrs. 44 minutes 2.8 seconds – which explains some of the discrepancies in the moon phase function in watches we own (1 day out of 122 years/1,000 years, depending on the model).

Being obsessed with the romantic moon, I can hardly resist the urge to post a couple of real-time, ‘full moon’ pictures of some of my favorite timepieces - 7 in all:

Firstly, Patek Perpeptual Calendar 5059P

Which one do you like?

Now, who knows why we eat moon cakes?

There are indeed a couple of fairy tales related to the moon and there is history associated with the moon cakes too. Allow me to share the story:

From 1,280 AD to 1,368 AD, China was ruled by the Mongolians during what we called the Yuan Dynasty. People in the preceding (Sung) Dynasty were so unhappy under the Mongolian rule that they decided to plan a rebellion. As the Mid-Autumn Festival drew near, leaders of the rebellion circulated details of the attack plan in small pieces of paper hidden inside the moon cakes – these cakes were specialties of the Han clan (largest clan in China) that the Mongolians did not care much for. The uprising was successful, the government overthrown and the Ming Dynasty was established in 1,368 AD...and this lasted until 1,644 AD. Thereafter, moon cakes were consumed to commemorate the occasion. Of course, instead of pieces of paper, we now have sweet paste made of lotus seeds and salty eggs (very high cholesterol!). Other specialties include steamed taro, pomelo and other seasonal fruits.

Here are some pictures of our tradition:

The moon cakes

Ah...one must not forget the lanterns - we hang them out in the evening while we marvel at the full moon.

No wonder we need a public holiday on the day following the Festival (i.e. tomorrow), and not on the day of the Festival

Hope you enjoyed the pictures and the story.

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!

Sam