Water cycle

The water cycle, also known as the hydrologic cycle or H2O cycle, describes the continuous movement of water on, above and below the surface of the Earth. Water can change states among liquid, vapor, and ice at various places in the water cycle. Although the balance of water on Earth remains fairly constant over time, individual water molecules can come and go, in and out of the atmosphere. The water moves from one reservoir to another, such as from river to ocean, or from the ocean to the atmosphere, by the physical processes of evaporation, condensation, precipitation, infiltration, runoff, and subsurface flow. In so doing, the water goes through different phases: liquid, solid, and gas.

The hydrologic cycle involves the exchange of heat energy, which leads to temperature changes. For instance, in the process of evaporation, water takes up energy from the surroundings and cools the environment. Conversely, in the process of condensation, water releases energy to its surroundings, warming the environment. The water cycle figures significantly in the maintenance of life and ecosystems on Earth. Even as water in each reservoir plays an important role, the water cycle brings added significance to the presence of water on our planet. By transferring water from one reservoir to another, the water cycle purifies water, replenishes the land with freshwater, and transports minerals to different parts of the globe. It is also involved in reshaping the geological features of the Earth, through such processes as erosion and sedimentation. In addition, as the water cycle also involves heat exchange, it exerts an influence on climate as well.



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If a mechanic says that a car repair is going to cost more than I expected, should I go to another garage for a second opinion?

It’s always a good idea to get a second opinion if you don’t feel certain that a repair estimate is fair or competitive. Of course, getting a second opinion will take additional time and money. If the original estimate was unreasonable, however, you could save hundreds of dollars.

Keep in mind that you don’t always have to actually take the car to another shop to get a second opinion. Depending on the recommended repair, you may be able to get an accurate estimate over the telephone. In order to do this you’ll need to have specific and accurate information, including the year, make, model, engine size, and possibly the vehicle identification number (VIN) of your vehicle. You’ll also need to be clear about the problem or symptom, the recommended repair, and exactly what is included in the original estimate. Without these critical pieces of information, it’ll be tough to compare apples to apples. Be sure to write down everything and ask lots of questions.


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The Heroic Monomyth

The heroic monomyth (also known as the Hero's Journey) describes the common stages of a hero's journey found in many stories. Joseph Campbell first described the monomyth in 1949 in his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Although the nature of the monomyth may not be appealing to everyone, it is very interesting to those who actually take the time to learn about it and how it applies to stories and movies in today's modern world. Take for example, popular movies, stories, and comics such as the Matrix, Star Wars, the Ender's Game, and the Lord of the Rings. The protagonists in these movies go through the same stages: Departure, Initiation, and Return.




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How to Swim in an Endless Pool

For swim instructors and coaches, the Endless Pool is the best kept secret in swimming instruction, for all ages and abilities. Learning how to swim in an Endless Pool is an ideal way to tackle fear of the water, as the Endless Pool's compact size offers a intimate, personal setting, ideal for direct communication between instructor and student.
How To Swim

Why is the Endless Pool perfect for how to swim lessons?

    installs virtually anywhere indoors or out
    how to swim lessons can be taught year-round
    no traveling to the local, over-chlorinated pool
    temperature controlled for a comfortable teaching environment
    a primary or secondary source of revenue for swim coaches

Industry leaders in swim instruction and swim technique such as Total Immersion's Terry Laughlin and GoSwim's Glenn Mills have spent countless hours with an Endless Pool for their own how to swim programs. Terry Laughlin laud's "(The Endless Pool) is the perfect sanctuary for practice of intelligent, purposeful, economical swimming. Even the Nationally known Infant Swim movement has caught on to our compact line of pools to teach self rescue and prevent pediatric drowning’s.

Learning how to swim more effectively and efficiently is directly correlated to your comfort in the water. Learning how to relax and stretch your stroke, while using the natural buoyancy of your body along with proper head position can be key to making swimming an enjoyable exercise. Total Immersion created a series of swimming videos on how to Find Comfort Swimming in an Endless Pool, found on the right side of this page.

Whether you know how to swim or looking to take the plunge, the Endless Pool could be your answer to new revenue streams and helping your students feel more comfortable and confident in the water.










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Grande entusiasmo in MASCOT

Il team di vendita di MASCOT ha visitato Danfoss un paio di volte di recente, e il Direttore Vendite, Henrik Bach, e l’Account Manager nello Jutland meridionale, René Bie sono davvero entusiasti della nuova collaborazione: “Siamo ovviamente molto soddisfatti dell'accordo con Danfoss, poiché la Danfoss è un’azienda rispettabile con un grande potenziale”. Il proprietario e Amministratore Delegato di MASCOT, Michael Grosb?l, esamina anche l'accordo di collaborazione da un'altra prospettiva: “Siamo felici che altre aziende considerino significativa la responsabilità sociale ed etica come noi. In MASCOT, siamo sicuri che in tutti gli aspetti vale la pena di agire e di trattare le persone in modo socialmente ed eticamente corretto, conformemente al resto della politica di qualità MASCOT. Ma è anche bello sperimentare che il lavoro documentale di responsabilità sociale può rivelarsi cruciale per ordini di grandi dimensioni come questo”, afferma Michael Grosb?l.

passage of time

Chinese Festivals and Holidays

The Chinese observe a wide variety of traditional and modern holidays, based both on the lunar and solar calendars. The traditional Chinese calendar was based on a lunar cycle-- that is, dates following the regular appearance of the full moon. Even so, the equinox and solstice were essential for determining seasons in China's agrarian society. With the international use of the Gregorian Calendar, some modern holidays, such as the birthdays of national leaders, are based on that.

Major holidays celebrated in China, Taiwan, and overseas Chinese communities are marked in bold, with this year's corresponding Gregorian dates in parenthesis.


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Toronto Maple Leafs Team history

The National Hockey League was formed in 1917 in Montreal by teams formerly belonging to the National Hockey Association (NHA) that had a dispute with Eddie Livingstone, owner of the Toronto Blueshirts. The owners of the other four clubs – the Montreal Canadiens, Montreal Wanderers, Quebec Bulldogs, and Ottawa Senators – wanted to get rid of Livingstone, but discovered that the NHA constitution did not allow them to simply vote him out of the league. Instead, they opted to create a new league, the NHL, and did not invite Livingstone to join them. They also remained voting members of the NHA, and thus had enough votes to suspend the other league's operations, effectively leaving Livingstone's squad in a one-team league.

However, the other clubs felt it would be unthinkable not to have a team from Toronto (Canada's second largest city at the time) in the new league. They also needed another team to balance the schedule after the Bulldogs suspended operations (and as it turned out, would not ice a team until 1920). Accordingly, the NHL granted a "temporary" Toronto franchise to the Arena Company, owners of the Arena Gardens. The Arena Company was allowed to lease the Blueshirts' players, but was given until the end of the season to resolve the dispute with Livingstone. This temporary franchise did not have an official name, but was informally called "the Blueshirts" or "the Torontos" by the fans and press. Under manager Charlie Querrie and coach Dick Carroll, the Toronto team won the Stanley Cup in the NHL's inaugural season. Although the roster was composed almost entirely of former Blueshirts, the Maple Leafs do not claim the Blueshirts' history as their own.

For the next season, rather than return the Blueshirts' players to Livingstone as originally promised, the Arena Company formed its own team, the Toronto Arena Hockey Club, which was readily granted full-fledged membership in the NHL. Also that year, the Arena Company board decided that only NHL teams would be allowed to play at the Arena Gardens—a move which effectively killed the NHA.[2] Livingstone sued to get his players back. Mounting legal bills from the dispute forced the Arenas to sell most of their stars, resulting in a horrendous five-win season in 1918–19. When it was obvious that the Arenas would not be able to finish out the season, the NHL agreed to let the Arenas halt operations on February 20, 1919 and proceed directly to the playoffs. The Arenas' .278 winning percentage that season is still the worst in franchise history. However, since the 1919 Stanley Cup Finals ended without a winner due to the worldwide flu epidemic, the Arenas proclaimed themselves champions by default.

The legal dispute forced the Arena Company into bankruptcy, and it was forced to put the Arenas up for sale. Querrie put together a group that mainly consisted of the people who had run the senior amateur St. Patricks team in the Ontario Hockey Association. The new owners renamed the team the Toronto St. Patricks (or St. Pats for short) and would operate it until 1927. This period saw the team's jersey colours change from blue to green, as well as a second Stanley Cup championship in 1922.

During this time, the St. Patricks also allowed other teams to play in the Arena whenever their home rinks lacked proper ice in the warmer months. At the time, the Arena was the only facility east of Manitoba with artificial ice.


passage of time

Tropical Storm Ophelia strengthens in Atlantic

Miami (CNN) -- Tropical Storm Ophelia changed little as it moved west over the central Atlantic, but posed no immediate threat to land, forecasters said.

Ophelia's maximum sustained winds were shy of hurricane strength, at 60 mph, as of late Wednesday. Its strength was not expected to change much over the next 48 hours, said the Miami-based National Hurricane Center.

The storm was about 1,065 miles east of the Leeward Islands. It was moving west at about 15 mph, forecasters said. No coastal watches or warnings were in effect.

Tropical storm-force winds of at least 39 mph extended outward up to about 230 miles from Ophelia's center, the Hurricane Center said.

WikiProject Guild of Copy Editors/Backlog elimination drives/September 2011

This Copy Editing Backlog Elimination Drive is a one-month-long effort of the Guild of Copy Editors to reduce the backlog of articles that require copyediting, signified with the {{copyedit}} tag. Please make sure that you know how to copyedit and that you are familiar with the Wikipedia Manual of Style before you begin copy editing. The drives are under the purview of the Guild's coordinators. The lead coordinator is Dianna, and she is assisted by Chaosdruid, The Utahraptor, Slon02 and SMasters. If you have any questions, leave a message on the drive's talk page. The drive began on September 1, 2011, 00:00 UTC, and will end on September 30, 2011, 23:59 UTC.
Wikipedia articles needing copy edit
(refresh)
[show]Subtotals
All articles     3,873

The goal of this backlog elimination drive is to reduce the overall backlog by 10% (nearly 400 articles). There will not be a bonus for copy editing articles from the Requests page for this drive, but those articles count towards your total whether they have a copy edit tag on them or not, so please feel free to select from there when you are in the mood for a better-quality article to edit. Awards will be given out to those individuals who help reduce the size of the backlog.

The backlog elimination drive is open to all, and you do not need to be a member of the Guild of Copy Editors to participate. However, you may want to consider joining, as membership has its benefits. For example, you can place a special "page in use" tag when you are copy editing, and another tag on the talk page when you finish. See the Templates page. Please visit the Guild or the main drive page for more information.

Causes

In the month of July pakistan received below normal monsoon rains, however in August and September the country received above normal monsoon rains. A strong weather pattern entered the areas of Sindh from Rajasthan and Indian Gujarat in August and gained strength with the passage of time and caused heavy downpours. The four weeks period continuous rains have created unprecedented flood situation in Sindh.

The District Badin in Sindh province received record breaking rainfall of 615.3 millimeters (24.22 in) during the monsoon spell breaking earlier recorded 121 millimeters (4.8 in) in Badin in 1936. The area of Mithi also received record rainfall of 1,290 millimeters (51 in) during the spell, where maximum rainfall was recorded 114 millimeters (4.5 in) in Mithi in 2004. The heavy cloudburst during last 48–72 hours displaced many people besides destroying crops in the area. The Met Office had informed all district coordination officers, Provincial Disaster Management Authority, chief secretaries and chief ministers about the heavy monsoon rain-spell two days ago to take precautionary measures.

Dr. Qamar uz Zaman Chaudhry, Director General Pakistan Meteorological Department said: the rains in Sindh are the highest ever recorded monsoon rains during the four weeks period of August and September, 2011. Before the start of these rains in the second week of August, Sindh was under severe drought conditions and it had not received any rainfall for the last 12 months. The last severe rainfall flooding in Sindh occurred in July 2003, he said and added, but this time the devastating rains of Mithi, Mirpurkhas, Diplo, Parker, Nawabshah, Badin, Chhor, Padidan, and Hyderabad etc during the four weeks period have created unprecedented flood situation in Sindh. According to Dr. Qamar, the total volume of water fallen over Sindh during the four weeks is estimated to be above 37 million acre feet, “which is unimaginable.[4] The August monsoon rainfall, over province of Sindh (271 % above normal) is the heaviest recorded during the period 1961–2011.

Where do we Stand in the Field of Education? (India)

The words from one of our eminent women leader late Mrs. Indira Gandhi addressing in her speech 'What educated women can do' at the Golden Jubilee Celebrations Of The Indra prastha College For Women New Delhi, India November 23, 1974, "An ancient Sanskrit saying says, woman is the home and the home is the basis of society. It is as we build our homes that we can build our country. If the home is inadequate, either inadequate in material goods and necessities or inadequate in the sort of friendly, loving atmosphere that every child needs to grow and develop; then that country cannot have harmony and no country which does not have harmony can grow in any direction at all" .Its 65 years now since India has got its independence, if we look back into women achievements there are women who are now coming up in flying colors in businesses, academics, politics, media etc, women have created there space in society now, having an identity not only at home but also outside the home. But the general question is how far the marginalized group has able to reach the main stream of the society? By marginalized I mean the tribal women group here. The women in tribal society are less literate to reach to the chord of the main stream today, whereas it is less hassle for urban women. This is because she is avail with well equipped resources and massive awareness where gates are open for her to fly and get her an identity. The tribal women are less oriented and lack of resources to reach to the level where she should have been today. I was illusioned by this thought when I saw the 'Kanya Ashram' at Gonasika G.P of Keonjhar district. Gonasika G.P is tribal dominated vicinity where ITDA (Integrated Tribal Development Agency) does most of the developmental activities. One of the contemporary initiatives by the ITDA is the preface of Kanya ashram (a residential school for girl child) in Juang Primitive tribal areas.

I was fortunate to visit the Kanya ashram on one of my field visit. The moment we reached their, the entire place was appearing muted. It must be the rain drizzle which was obstructing the children to enjoy the huge play ground in front of the school premises says my conscious mind. As we walked through the school premises large crowd ran towards me. I was stunned by seeing the small girls running towards me to touch the feet. The more I wanted to stop them all they were all seems to be in competition to touch my feet. Was it a way to welcome us? I asked the Juang special development officer, yes madam says the head master of the school. The officer was sitting in a room (a very Bureaucracy manner!!) having two people standing next him, carrying the attendance file and other project related files. He appears to be patronizing in character talking in a very admonishment and horrified manner to the people there. The scene went on for nearly 5-6min till he realized that some visitors are waiting to talk to him. 'Yes sir how can I help' says the Juang special development officer to us. As the conversation went further on issues related to forest right and the development in juang pidha, he gave a very sarcastic remark about the Juang tribes 'no matter how much we make them educate and create development, they will remain addicted to alcohol' says the officer raising his eyebrow. I was not much convinced to such kind of statement about the Juangs, because to me the development and education programs are not implemented in correct procedure by the JDA for the empowerment of the Juangs. As we walked through the class rooms, I saw a dark room containing 15-20 children sitting three each on the bunk-bed, children half bend and the teacher teaching them. This was something unusual to me I felt so uncomfortable seeing the children studying in such atmosphere. All most all the room was appearing dark having no current and some girls were seen taking rest. When we walk towards the toilet area there were 4-5 toilets having no water facilities. 'The children here are too stubborn, they don't listine to us and try to run away from the school when they get angry' says the care taker. I was not surprise to the care taker reply because I could see the sign of distress on children faces staying away from their community. Our visit to the ashram was coming to the end, when we were to leave; the children came to wish us back. I felt there is a vacuum in the residential school, with lack of lively and friendly upbringing. While coming back the cheerless faces of the small girls were trying to tell me 'Ohh stranger take us along with you, so that we could able to enjoy the fresh air, the wet mud, and the rain outside, Ohh Stanger listen to our suffocation inside the dark room and the cemented walls, make us free to breath, take us to our village, yes the village where we have the hut, manda ghar, grama debi, pet animals, we miss our family and the shouting neighbors.'

Chinese Valentine's Day Comes

Chinese Valentine's Day (or "Qi Qiao Jie ") falls on the seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar (August according to the Gregorian calendar). As is the custom elsewhere in the world, this is a day devoted to romance.

In China, this day is also known as "The Begging Festival" or "The Daughter's Festival." It is an important day for girls. In the evening, girls prepare melons and fruit before worship and prayers for a good marriage.

There are many stories as to the origins of Chinese Valentine's Day, and one of them involves the Emperor of Heaven and his seven daughters.

Chinese Valentine's Day Comes The love story

Chinese Valentine's Day Comes The seventh daughter of the Emperor of Heaven and an orphaned cowherd were separated by the Emperor; the girl was forced to move to the starVega and the cowherd, to the starAltair, They were only allowed to meet once a year on the day of seventh day of seventh lunar month - Chinese Valentine's Day.

The story begins with the handsome but poor orphan who lived with his elder brother and sister-in-law. After his parents passed away, the boy's brother inherited the house and land. But all he had was an old ox. As a cowherd, the boy had to work the farm fields with his ox everyday. His daily life routine resembled the story ofCinderella.

The seventh daughter of the Emperor, also known as the Weaving Maid, was good at handcrafting, especially weaving clothes. The Emperor particularly appreciated her skills of weaving clouds with rainbows to make the world more beautiful.

The cowherd's ox, which was actually an immortal from heaven, made mistakes in heaven and was reincarnated as an ox to toil on earth. One day, the ox suddenly said to the cowherd: "You are a nice person. If you want to get married, go to the brook and your wish will come true."

Bierborse (Beer Festival)

The Bierborse is an open-air event devoted to the art of brewing throughout the world. It is composed of two thirds beer-serving businesses and one third accompanying snack specialities. The range is supplemented by participants offering products typical of beer. That may be not only the local beer club but also the beer-mat seller or a tankard stand.

The German Munchener Oktoberfest goes back to an event in October 1810 and then developed into an annual event organised by the breweries and entertainment businesses in Munich. The German Munchener Oktoberfest very quickly acquired the reputation of being the largest public festival on Earth and, as a result of imitators all over the globe, became a festival form welcome everywhere. In 1810, nobody could have anticipated this meteoric development.

The Opladener Bierborse goes back to 1987, i.e. 177 years later, when Herbert Sondermann, a native of Opladen, had the idea of introducing a beer event and put this into effect in the form of a small event with seven beer stands in the pedestrian precinct in Opladen. At that time as well, nobody anticipated what a wonderful event was to develop from these beginnings. Today, Herbert Sondermann wears the Bundesverdienstkreuz (Order of Merit) of the Federal Republic of Germany for his services to Opladen; because the small beer event in the pedestrian precinct in Opladen has now become the largest open-air event in the history of the city of Leverkusen and the largest event of this kind anywhere in the world.
Bierborse
Only the large number of beer types from all over the world allow the visitors to sample even unusual varieties.

In more than ten years of development work, the Bierborse has been developed, according to stringent rules and numerous selection criteria, into one of the most successful German public festivals without any blending with other types of event such as funfairs or even junk markets. This also illustrates how it differs from the Munchener Oktoberfest.

Only the large number of beer types from all over the world allow the visitors to sample even unusual varieties. These include, for example, San Miguel from Spain, Efes from Turkey or Corona from Mexico which revive memories of past holiday trips.

The small house breweries whose beers are not often offered on draught outside their brewing locations are also regular guests at the BIERBORSE events. The range on offer is rounded off by the well-known German brands which form the foundation of the Bierborse. This is presented in a cosy beer-garden atmosphere.

The Feast of the Assumption

The Feast of the Assumption is an important day in the Catholic religion. It is the principal feast of the Blessed Virgin, the mother of Jesus Christ. This feast commemorates two events: the departure of Mary from the soul life and the assumption of her body into heaven.

In 1950, Pope Pius XⅡdefined that Mary "after the completion of her earthly life...was assumed body and soul into the glory of Heaven." Her body wasn't allowed to corrupt nor was it allowed to remain in a tomb.

The Feast of the Assumption In the early Christian centuries relics  of saints and those who gave their lives for the faith were jealously guarded and highly prized. Many cities claim the mortal remains of saints, both famous and little-known. But there are no records of Mary's bodily remains being venerated  anywhere.

In the Celtic lands, mid August was harvest time. The festival of Lughnasa was the harvest celebration in honor of  the God of the harvest Lugh who was responsible for the bounties of the harvest. There was singing and drinking and dancing and story telling in gratitude for the harvest and the promise of food to eat during the winter months. In Christian times it became the festival of Mary at Harvest Time because Mary reflected the life giving, life nurturing love of God.

As the Feast of the Immaculate Conception  proclaims the grace of Christ in Mary before he was born, so the Feast of the Assumption points to the fulfillment of that grace, when Mary was taken, body and soul, into heaven to share in the glory of her Son's Resurrection .

Like the mystery of her Immaculate Conception, the Assumption of Mary is significant for all humanity, since she anticipates our resurrection with Christ in glory.

Background of International Youth Day

Celebrate YOUth! On August 12th, 2006, youth around the world will celebrate their achievements, accomplishments, and aspirations by planning and participating in International Youth Day (IYD) activities. This is a day to stand out and be counted as passionate and energetic youth that are creating a better world for all. Use IYD as an opportunity to remind key decision-makers and influential persons of the key role young global citizens play in affecting global change.

This year's theme is "Tackling Poverty Together", tackling commemorating the contribution youth make in our societies, and highlighting the importance of including youth in decision-making. The World Youth Report 2005 states that over 200 million young people, or 18 percent of all youth, live on less than one dollar a day, and that over 88 million youth are unemployed. Although we have some statistics of young people living in poverty, they are frequently overlooked in national poverty reduction strategies.

Moundville Telephone Selects ADTRAN adds Moundville Telephone to customer list

ADTRAN Inc., (NASDAQ:ADTN) says that Moundville Telephone Co., an independent service provider serving West-Central Alabama, will use a range of ADTRAN broadband equipment, including its Total Access 5000 Multi-Service Access and Aggregation Platform (MSAP), to enhance its triple-play and high-speed Internet access service delivery. Moundville will use the Total Access 5000 to expand both its fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) and DSL infrastructure. The service provider also will leverage the platform for mobile backhaul applications.

ADTRAN says that Moundville selected the Total Access 5000 for its flexibility and its ability to support an evolution from legacy to next-generation services. The platform’s pseudowire aggregation feature also will aid in the support of mobile backhaul applications, the systems supplier adds.

“The Total Access 5000 offers outstanding efficiency and scalability,” said Larry Taylor, general manager, Moundville Telephone. “As one of the most flexible platforms on the market, we will be able to quickly and continuously redefine our access architecture to meet the demands of our customers for a wide variety of applications such as FTTH, broadband, and mobile backhaul.”

Welcome to Father's Day on the Net A Celebration In Honor of All Fathers

Father's Day is a day of commemoration and celebration of Dad. It is a day to not only honor your father, but all men who have acted as a father figure in your life - whether as Stepfathers, Uncles, Grandfathers, or "Big Brothers."

Here for your entertainment are fun Holiday things for you, your dad and your family. We've got some stories to read, holiday craft gift ideas, pictures for the kids to color, and recipes to make!

Father's Day is celebrated in the US on Sunday, June 19, 2011. Other Countries celebrate throughout the year.

The 15th day of the 8th lunar month

The joyous Mid-Autumn Festival was celebrated on the fifteenth day of the eighth moon, around the time of the autumn equinox（秋分）. Many referred to it simply as the "Fifteenth of the Eighth Moon".
This day was also considered as a harvest festival since fruits, vegetables and grain had been harvested by this time and food was abundant. Food offerings were placed on an altar set up in the courtyard. Apples, pears, peaches, grapes, pomegranates（石榴）, melons, oranges and pomelos（柚子） might be seen. Special foods for the festival included moon cakes, cooked taro（芋头）and water caltrope（菱角）, a type of water chestnut resembling black buffalo horns. Some people insisted that cooked taro be included because at the time of creation, taro was the first food discovered at night in the moonlight. Of all these foods, it could not be omitted from the Mid-Autumn Festival.
The round moon cakes, measuring about three inches in diameter and one and a half inches in thickness, resembled Western fruitcakes in taste and consistency. These cakes were made with melon seeds（西瓜子）, lotus seeds（莲籽）, almonds（杏仁）, minced meats, bean paste, orange peels and lard（猪油）. A golden yolk（蛋黄） from a salted duck egg was placed at the center of each cake, and the golden brown crust was decorated with symbols of the festival. Traditionally, thirteen moon cakes were piled in a pyramid to symbolize the thirteen moons of a "complete year," that is, twelve moons plus one intercalary（闰月的） moon.
The Mid-Autumn Festival is a traditional festivity for both the Han and minority nationalities. The custom of worshipping the moon can be traced back as far as the ancient Xia and Shang Dynasties (2000 B.C.-1066 B.C.). In the Zhou Dynasty(1066 B.C.-221 B.C.), people hold ceremonies to greet winter and worship the moon whenever the Mid-Autumn Festival sets in. It becomes very prevalent in the Tang Dynasty(618-907 A.D.) that people enjoy and worship the full moon. In the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279 A.D.), however, people send round moon cakes to their relatives as gifts in expression of their best wishes of family reunion. When it becomes dark, they look up at the full silver moon or go sightseeing on lakes to celebrate the festival. Since the Ming (1368-1644 A.D. ) and Qing Dynasties (1644-1911A.D.), the custom of Mid-Autumn Festival celebration becomes unprecedented popular. Together with the celebration there appear some special customs in different parts of the country, such as burning incense（熏香）, planting Mid-Autumn trees, lighting lanterns on towers and fire dragon dances. However, the custom of playing under the moon is not so popular as it used to be nowadays, but it is not less popular to enjoy the bright silver moon. Whenever the festival sets in, people will look up at the full silver moon, drinking wine to celebrate their happy life or thinking of their relatives and friends far from home, and extending all of their best wishes to them.
Moon Cakes

There is this story about the moon-cake. during the Yuan dynasty (A.D. 1280-1368) China was ruled by the Mongolian people. Leaders from the preceding Sung dynasty (A.D. 960-1280) were unhappy at submitting to the foreign rule, and set how to coordinate the rebellion without being discovered. The leaders of the rebellion, knowing that the Moon Festival was drawing near, ordered the making of special cakes. Backed into each moon cake was a message with the outline of the attack. On the night of the Moon Festival, the rebels successfully attached and overthrew the government. Today, moon cakes are eaten to commemorate this legend and was called the Moon Cake.
For generations, moon cakes have been made with sweet fillings of nuts, mashed red beans, lotus-seed paste or Chinese dates（枣子）, wrapped in a pastry. Sometimes a cooked egg yolk can be found in the middle of the rich tasting dessert. People compare moon cakes to the plum pudding and fruit cakes which are served in the English holiday seasons.
Nowadays, there are hundreds varieties of moon cakes on sale a month before the arrival of Moon Festival.