Happy Mid-Autumn Festival

In my classroom, I have taught several lessons on American holidays, so I figure it is about time that I share some information about Chinese holidays (or festivals, as they call them) with you. This Sunday, September 14th is Mid-Autumn Festival, a traditional Chinese Festival. It is celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month in the Chinese lunar calendar. This is when the moon is at its fullest and brightest. The festival is to honor the moon, the harvest and family. To celebrate, people will get together with family, gaze up at the moon, and eat mooncakes. While we in the West see “The Man in the Moon”, Chinese people say that there is a woman and a rabbit in the moon. I have copied a version of the traditional stories about Mid-Autumn Festival below. It is from www.chinatravel.com and it is a far more complete explanation than I had gotten from my students this week.

I have always loved the moon, especially when I am away from home. It is always so comforting to me to know that when I gaze at the moon, it is the same moon that family and friends can see back home. A bit cheesy, I know, but the glowing orb offers a familiarity that few other things do.

Mooncakes are Chinese pastries that are filled with different flavored pastes made from lotus seed, sweet bean, jujube, a combination of mixed nuts, or yam. In today’s modern age they come in a broad range of flavors from egg to meat to fruit to chocolate. Some are delicious, others are…less delicious. The best way that I can think to describe the taste and texture of a mooncake is to say that it is like a fig Newton and pasty cookie dough had a baby.

Last year, the seven of us spent Mid-Autumn Festival sitting out in our courtyard, sneaking a peek at the moon through the branches and boughs of the trees. We played “guess that flavor” with the box of mooncakes that we received from Eudora, a fellow teacher who had been a part of the Augie-in-China exchange on the other end. She had taught at Augustana for a year, and she was a fabulous asset to us throughout the year. It was great to be able to spend the time with what was becoming my family-away-from-family. I am not quite sure how I will be spending my Mid-Autumn Festival this year. This year, for the first time, there will be a day off in honor of the festival, so I have a 3 day weekend. There has been talk of going to our favorite spot on the lake to celebrate. Monday is the Mexican Independence Day, so all of us laowai (foreigners) may just make it an international blow out J

So, on Sunday night, take a few minutes to go out, look and the moon and think of me. I will certainly be thinking of all of you as I gaze longingly up at the Man, or the Woman, or the rabbit.

Mid-Autumn Day Legends

I. Chang'e Flying to the Moon

It is said that long ago there used to be 10 suns in the sky. Each day, one of the suns would travel around the sky on a carriage driven by Xihe, the mother of the suns. One day, unexpectedly, all 10 suns simultaneously appeared in the sky, which instantly dried the crops and caused disaster to the people on earth.

Hou Yi, a local archer, had great sympathy for people's sufferings from the blistering weather and decided to help them out. Houyi climbed up to the summit of Kunlun Mountains and shot down the suns leaving only one to benefit people. After he shot down the sun, Hou Yi became a hero who was revered by local people.

Later, Hou Yi married a beautiful girl—Chang'e. The young couple lived a happy and sweet life.

Hou Yi was so famous for his perfect archery skills that he had a lot of apprentices, including the unrighteous Peng Meng. One day when Hou Yi was on the way to visit his friend, the Queen Mother of the West gave him an elixir of immortality as a reward for his heroic undertaking. Meanwhile, he warned Hou Yi "Do not swallow this pill before preparing yourself with prayer and fasting for a year". Hou Yi gave the elixir to Chang'e for safekeeping and she took it as a treasure and hid it in her jewelry box. Unfortunately, Peng Meng found this secret and made a plan to steal it. Several days later, when Hou Yi and other apprentices went out for hunting, Peng pretended to fall ill and stayed at home. After they left, Peng forced Chang'e to give him the elixir. Chang'e, knowing that she could not defeat Peng, swallowed the elixir herself, and mmediately she felt herself floating up and flied to the sky. With deep love to her husband, Chang'e chose to be an immortal on the moon, closest to the earth; then she could see her husband every day.

In late afternoon, Hou Yi came back and was told what had happened. Heart-stricken, Hou Yi went to the back garden and called his wife's name ceaselessly. Surprisingly, he found that the moon was extremely
clean and bright that night; and that there was a moving figure like Chang'e in the moon. Hou Yi desperately tried to catch up with the moon, but he could not do it. Hou Yi then asked servants to set a table in his back garden and with his wife's favorite snacks and fruits on it. In a short time, more and more people heard about the news that Chang'e had become an immortal, and they also put tables under the moon to pray to Chang'e for good fortune and safety. From then on, the custom of worshipping the moon on the Mid-Autumn Festival began to spread in China.

II. Jade Rabbit Making Heavenly Medicine

This legend is considered to be an extension of Chang'e Flying to the Moon. It tells about three sages who transformed themselves into pitiful old men. One day they met a fox, a monkey and a rabbit, and they begged for food. The fox and the monkey shared their food with the old men; but the rabbit, with nothing to share, jumped into a blazing fire to offer his own flesh instead. The sages were so touched by the rabbit's kindness that they sent it to live in the Moon Palace, where it became the Jade Rabbit. Chang'e, who lived alone after arriving in the moon, liked the Jade Rabbit at the first sight, and therefore kept it company. As the time went by, Chang'e and Jade Rabbit became inseparable friends. Hearing about the story of Chang'e and Hou Yi, the Jade Rabbit felt sympathetic to them and decided to make a special heavenly medicine, which could help Chang'e return to Earth. Unfortunately, the Jade Rabbit has still not been able to make it even though he has worked hard for thousands of years. Observing the moon on the Mid-Autumn Day carefully, we can still see the Jade Rabbit making his heavenly medicine.

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