Mid-Autumn Festival 中秋节

Today, tonight the Chinese will be celebrating another one of their many festivals. Tomorrow the moon will be in full bloom and many young and old, well mostly the old will be gazing up at the beautiful moon beaming down at us.

At the same time little toddlers will be running around with their beautiful lanterns. I believe not only toddlers will be having fun with the lanterns even teenagers will be having tones of fun playing with lanterns.

Mooncakes will be served, and while chewing on the mooncakes some people will gaze up at the beautiful moon.

In case you guys do not know what actually is Mid-Autumn Festival about. Let me explain to you guys.

The Mid-Autumn Festival revolves around the moon and there are many traditional stories concerning the moon. It is believed that the Mid-Autumn Festival originated more than 2,000 years ago and in the old days the festival was devoted to praying to the gods. Because China is largely an agricultural society, the 15^th day of the 8^th lunar month happens to occur after the autumn harvest. That day the sky is generally clear and the weather fine and the people celebrate with post-harvest feasts, signifying the principle that “the divine and the human are one”. During the Song Dynasty, due to the influence of learned people, praying to the moon became widespread. The eating of mooncakes started towards the end if Yuan Dynasty because of a folk story of that time and later the observation of the Mid-Autumn Festival became important.

So far there are three folklores about the Mid-Autumn Festival. Since tomorrow is the Mid-Autumn Festival, I’ll celebrate it by telling the 3 folklores in this post.

Once, a beautiful lady known as Sister Yao married into the Yang family. Sadly her mother-in-law mistreated her. She was nasty towards Sister Yao and demands her to do the household chores during the day and by night she has to work on the hand loom.

Her mother-in-law treats her as if she was a workhorse and showed no mercy towards her.

As the harsh days passed by and soon it was the 15^th day of the 8^th month and the moon was round, bright. It was a lovely sight.

The wretched mother-in-law came into Sister Yao’s room bringing with her an extra load of cotton for the poor girl to weave. She then commented “People say that you, Sixth Sister Yao is a capable person. Turn this seven jin of cotton into cloth.” And she went out of the room.

Sister Yao was in a dilemma, she thought even if she did not go to sleep. She can’t possibly weave the seven jin of cotton into clothes in just one night. As she tried her best weaving the cottons the oil lamp’s light went out. She had no choice but to bring the workload outside as the moon was shining brightly that night.

It was already the fourth watch and Sister Yao was still weaving. If she can’t finish the work when day breaks she will get beaten by that wretched mother-in-law of hers.

Suddenly, a dragon boat appeared from the moon and started sailing towards Sister Yao’s direction. It was a boat full of immortals. One of the immortals called out to Sister Yao, “Sixth Sister Yao go to sleep now, don’t weave anymore.” She replied the immortals that if she doesn’t finish the weaving, she will get beaten tomorrow. Without any reply the boat full of immortals disappeared into thin air followed by strong wind blowing which forced Sister Yao to stop weaving and go back into the house. The Strong winds continued the whole night and poor Sister Yao could do nothing but to wait and get beaten tomorrow morning.

True enough, when morning arrived, Sister Yao was beaten. Then the mother-in-law when into the room to check how many jins of cotton had Sister Yao weaved. There a loud shriek from the room for the wooden loom has turned into a golden loom. It was really gold.

The mother-in-law inquired about what had Sister Yao done the night before. Sister Yao then told what happened from the oil lamp to the dragon boat incident.

The mother-in-law then remembered about the traditional lore that during the mid-autumn night, immortals would leave the moon palace on a dragon boat. For those who are lucky enough to see them, whatever they touch would turn into gold!

From that day onwards the wretched mother-in-law changed her attitude towards her daughter in law. She started to treat her nicely and they work together in the chores and they lived harmoniously ever after.

The story was passed down and the custom of gazing at the moon until the fourth watch became prevalent. It is said that the custom is based on the hope of seeing the dragon boat.

So for those of you, who wish to get rich, don’t forget to do some moon gazing until the fourth watch on the 15^th day of the 8^th month. Who knows you might see a dragon boat full of immortals. LOL…

It is said that during the time of the legendary Emperor Yao, there were ten suns which took turns to illuminate the earth. But one day, out of playfulness the ten suns appeared together in the human realm.

One sun brings prosperity to humanity, but ten suns spell DOOM. The human realm suffered from the ten suns.

An order was given to Hou Yi a excellent archer to check on the suns. Her wife decided to follow him. They saw the pitiful state of the human realm as the result of the appearance of the ten suns.

Hou Yi decided to subdue the ten suns. As he prepared to shoot, his wife asked him to stop as he was violating the God of Heaven’s instructions by killing the suns. But Hou Yi did not care, he continued on with his plan. As the nine suns was subdued, one was being left alive.

As his violation on the instructions given to him Hou Yi was banished to earth as a normal human being. His wife followed him to dwell among the humans. They were astounded by the beauty of the human realm.

Suddenly, out of no where a man kneeled before Hou Yi and asked Hou Yi the divine archer to accept him as his disciple and teach him archery. The man introduced himself as Feng Meng and he wish to learn archery to subdue demons and improve the welfare of people. Hou Yi accepted Feng Meng as his disciple and taught him well.

One day, a strange beast attacked the villagers, Hou Yi came to the rescue by using one arrow he killed the beast. Hou Yi became the hero of the human realm. He was practically being worshiped by the people. Since then, Hou Yi changed into someone else whom Chang-e doesn’t recognize anymore. On the other side, Feng Meng felt jealous the attention Hou Yi is getting from the people.

One day, Hou Yi was looking for Chang-e, he took with him the elixir of life which he has obtained from the Queen Mother of the West. He describe the use of the elixir that if a person drinks it he or she can fly at will but when two people drink it they can be young forever and never age. Hou Yi suggested that they both drink the elixir and dominate the human realm forever. Chang-e felt sad towards the changed in Hou Yi’s attitude and character and wondered how long could she remained together with him.

Suddenly Feng Meng called out to Hou Yi, saying that he has a gift to offer to his master. Hou Yi decided to go and take a look. As he looked for Feng Meng, Chang-e decided to drink the elixir alone and leave Hou Yi. At that moment Hou Yi was killed by Feng Meng. Chang-e decided to go to somewhere cold and desolate. Thus, she drifted to the moon.

The legend of Chang-e was passed down. During the Mid-Autumn Festival, the Chinese would gaze at the faraway moon and think of Chang-e.

Chang Ting this is not a story about you ar eventhough both of you have "Chang" in your name. LOL…joking...joking

The story of Chang-e is a very popular story for the Mid-Autumn Festival.

The last but not least is about mooncakes presented on Mid-Autumn Festival.

It was the end of the Song Dynasty and the Mongols ruled China. The Mongols were harsh towards the people as they were afraid of the people bringing an up rise. To control them anyone who dares to disobey them was punished severely and people hated them.

They even tried to slaughter all the people which they can’t. Someone came up with the idea that a Soldier was to be stationed in each and every household which will be able to stop the people to communicate with one another and plan on how to attack the Mongols.

One day a group of people gathered together secretly without the knowing of the Tatars. They were planning on how to subdue the Tatars, which they found it hard for there were Tatars in each and every household.

A wise old man then thought of a brilliant idea. Since the next day was the Mid-Autumn Festival, each household will be given a circular cake. The people are being instructed to cut-open the cake and it was a must to cut the cakes open.

Everyone thought the plan was brilliant and the plan was being implemented. In order not to let any suspicion from the Tatars. Each household was being told that it was a tradition to cut open the cakes and eat the fillings. When the people cut open the cakes, they found a note inside the cake. The notes instructed the people to kill the Tatars at the third watch that night. As the third watch approaches, each people went into action. Some added rat poison to the cakes and let the Tatars eat it.

Later, to commemorate the joyous occasion of getting their liberty and peace, the people would eat the cakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival. The cakes then underwent changes before they evolved into the mooncakes that we see today with many different fillings.

How very true, today mooncakes come in many different shapes and sizes and also flavours. Some are good… some awful.

Enjoy your mooncakes and moon gazing. I am off to play my lantern now. Cheers!

edz-lfe.blogspot would like to wish everyone a Happy Moon Cake Festival or Happy Mid-Autumn Festival. 祝大家中秋节快乐。。。



Some photos are taken from:

1. my.opera
2. chinatown collection