The Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival, Zhongqiu Festival, or in Chinese, Zhongqiujie (traditional Chinese: 中秋節), or in Vietnamese "Tết Trung Thu", is a popular harvest festival celebrated by Chinese and Vietnamese people, dating back over 3,000 years to moon worship in China's Shang Dynasty. It was first called Zhongqiu Jie (literally "Mid-Autumn Festival") in the Zhou Dynasty. In Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines, it is also sometimes referred to as the Lantern Festival or Mooncake Festival.
The Mid-Autumn Festival is held on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese calendar, which is usually around late September or early October in the Gregorian calendar. It is a date that parallels the autumnal equinox of the solar calendar, when the moon is supposedly at its fullest and roundest. This year's mooncake festival day falls on Sept. 22, 2010. The traditional food of this festival is the mooncake, of which there are many different varieties.
The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the few most important holidays in the Chinese calendar, the others being Chinese New Year and Winter Solstice, and is a legal holiday in several countries. Farmers celebrate the end of the summer harvesting season on this date. Traditionally on this day, Chinese family members and friends will gather to admire the bright mid-autumn harvest moon, and eat moon cakes and pomelos under the moon together. - c/o Wikipedia...
Now, after a brief history of the Mooncake Festival, let's get down to business. The Dice Game.... We are a Chinoy family living in the Philippines for the past 60 years or more since our grandfather migrated in the early 40's during the wars, started a family here and after 2 generations, here we are. Times have changed but traditions remain the same.
Every year during Mid-Autumn Festival, our family would get together for a family (angkan) dinner, afterwards eat some mooncake and next the most awaited part of the fiesta, "The Dice Game".
So what do you need for a dice game? Just three
1.) A Big Bowl - porcelain is the choice for the dice to bounce all over
2.) 6 pcs. dice - the 4-dot should be red in color
3.) Lots of Prizes - what sense would it make to play with the dices right, if we are not getting a prize.
Prizes may consists of grocery items, appliances, food, drinks, hopias, mooncakes and almost anything under the sun, that depends on the budget. Prizes are in increments of the 7 levels/rules.
Rules/Levels:
1. Super Luck - All six dices appear on the same dots, then you win all prizes including those previously won by other players. However, this has not been practiced for sometime now, since this is a game ender and well, will make others cranky haha.
2. Champion (1st prize)- There are 3 subclasses
a.) Red Five - Five (5) red four dots out of 6. The sixth dice determines the ranking. The higher the better.
b.) Same Five - Five (5) same dots out of 6. The sixth dice determines the ranking. The higher the better.
c.) Red Four - Four (4) of the 6 dices are red four dots. The next 2 dices determines the ranking. The higher the better.
- The winner takes the ZHUANG YUAN PRIZE / GRAND PRIZE
3. Straight dice or Double half (2 prizes) - The dices appear in sequential order (1-6) or each three dice are respectively on the same dots. Except for the three (3) red four dots which gets the RED THREE prize.
4. Same Four (4 prizes) - Four (4) of the six dices are of the same dots except for the red four dot which will fall on the Champion ranking system.
5. Red Three (8 prizes) - Three (3) of the six dices are red four dots.
6. Red Two (16 prizes) - Two (2) of the six dices are red four dots.
7. Red One (32 prizes) - One (1) of the six dices is a red four dots.
The superiority is classed as SUPER LUCK, RED FIVE, SAME FIVE, RED FOUR and so on.
The number of players is not restricted. Each one plays the dice by turn and the game will not be over until the last minor prize is taken. After wards all the players will challenge the highest ranking dice score for the GRAND PRIZE for one last round. If another higher dice score is obtained, then another round of challenge will take place. If not, the present high scorer will win the Grand Prize.
The prizes can be arranged to accommodate more chances of winning. Meaning to say you can increase or double the no. prizes on the lower dice score (Red one, Red two and Red three) depending on the budget set for the group players.
I do hope by making this blog post about the dice game and the Autumn Mooncake festival, would help our fellow countrymen understand more of the Chinoy culture and maybe make this a part of the tradition of the Filipino household, which is celebrated yearly and embraced it as much as they embrace the Chinese New Year celebrations. Happy Mooncake Festival to all.
**these combinations or dice patterns are based on my research and if there may be any mistakes on it, please don't hesitate to contact me on my email. Thank you!
