When babies are 1 month old, Chinese will usually send a token to their friends and relatives announcing the “full moon” of the baby. This usually also marks the completion of the confinement period of the mother who is “confined” to the house from the time the baby is born until its full moon.
A friend just had a baby not too long ago and I received this as the full moon gift:
Its an industry now! This set came from Uniq which touts itself as a Full Moon Specialty shop.
Common items in a full moon package are the red eggs, which are hard boiled eggs stained red with red dye. This package came with a butter cake, a small packet of pickled ginger, and 2 ang koo kueh - loosely translated as “red tortoise cake”.
The ang koo have a red glutinous rice flour case and the stuffing is usually mung bean either sweet or salty.
Usually, gift boxes will also contain a bit of roast chicken or roast pork but this one did not come with it. The cake was a tad dry although the ang koo were quite tasty. I suppose new parents would just book their packages through this company to save time and hassle.
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
ahh.. I love those with nasi kunyit
PB says: I’m not so liking those with the kunyit rice because I won’t eat it
yes, me too !
that’s why i was sellected the stylish & keepsake full moon gift as show at http://www.babybundleofjoy.com
The full moon cake with the two eggs look like Mickey Mouse! Bwahahaha…
PB says: Don’t they? hehe…
I had never heard of this tradition before. It’s terribly sweet, isn’t it? And the box is adorable. now if only I knew someone with a one month-old baby.
Cheers!
PB says: Aww… if you have some Chinese friends who have newborns they might give you a gift box too!