Where Westerners see a man in the moon, Chinese and others in the East see a woman — Chang Er — who lives on the moon and who is a central figure in the stories that flow during the Moon Festival, to be celebrated Oct. 3 in Chinese and Vietnamese communities around the world.

The food of the Moon Festival, also known as the Mid-Autumn Festival, is the moon cake. Sing Cheong Yuan Bakery, 1027 Mauna Kea St., one of few Chinese bakeries remaining in the city, began a couple of weeks ago turning out thousands of moon cakes — pastry rounds stuffed with fruit, nuts, eggs and sugar, and stamped with elaborate designs.

"The moon shape is representing family togetherness, prosperity and health," said Wesley Fang, who operates the bakery with his wife, Mei. "Everyone buy boxes of moon cakes to take to their family and loved ones."

"Very special day in China," he said.

The bakery is producing fresh moon cakes daily in a wide variety: lotus seed, black sugar (black beans boiled in sugar syrup), yellow bean, winter melon, ham and five nuts, bing pi, duck egg and more. People generally cut the dense and rich cakes into wedges and serve them with tea.

Cooking expert Elsie Ching, who did Chinese cooking demonstrations around the community for the Hawaiian Electric Co., said that here the Moon Festival never quite achieved the status it has in its native land. "It was no big deal, you got together with the family and you told the moon festival story."

She admits that no one in her family really liked moon cakes (they are something of an acquired taste), but they did look forward to one special treat around this time, and that was snails from the taro patches. Another dish often served for Island moon festival celebrations, according to Toy Len Chang's "Chinese Festivals The Hawaiian Way" was a raw fish salad — thinly sliced fish, lots of fresh vegetables, nuts, seeds, won ton strips in a citrus-sugar-vinegar-plum sauce.

The moon festival is celebrated on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month, celebrating the end of the summer harvesting season. In China, it is a time for gathering with the family for moon-watching parties, telling stories and reciting the many poems written about the legend of Chang Er. When couples are together, they spend a romantic evening nibbling moon cakes and searching for Chang Er dancing in the moon. When they are parted, they can watch the moon in their separate locations and feel as though they are united by the activity.

The festival also might involve lantern processions, planting trees and fire dragon dances.

There are many versions of Chang Er's story, all of them involving a beautiful young woman, her husband, Houyi the archer, and a potion that grants eternal life. In some versions, the two are in love but Chang Er is forced by circumstances to fly to the moon. In other versions, Houyi is a tyrant and Chang Er sacrifices herself to save her people.

Moon cakes are made with a sort of puff pastry technique using a water-lard-flour dough which is rolled out and folded to form layers in much the same way that puff pastry is. This forms a flaky crust, which is brushed with an egg wash so that it that browns beautifully and glistens like a small sculpture. The layered dough is rolled out into a round and the filling pressed into the center before the edges are pulled up and sealed. The packet of dough and filling is then pressed into a carved wooden mold, released and baked. Some moon cakes are round, some square.