中秋節快樂!!!

It's the Mid-Autumn Festival tonight! According to Chinese tradition, the moon is the brightest, biggest and the most beautiful tonight, the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month.

So, a little about the festival. To my Western friends, I compare the Mid-Autumn festival to a harvest festival of sorts, but there's a complex series of stories behind the festival:

In western tradition, "the man on the moon" is often invoked. In Chinese culture, "the woman on the moon" is invoked instead.

Listen my children (lol) as I tell you the story of 嫦娥 (Shourn Ngo), the Maiden of the Moon:

Many, many years ago, the earth was surrounded ten suns that burned the Earth and caused the people much hardship. One day, the gods, moved by the suffering of the people, called upon the greatest archer in the land, Hou Ngei (后羿), to shoot down nine of the ten suns with magical arrows the gods themselves forged.

Hou Ngei proceeded to climb the tallest tree in the land, and with his bow and the magical arrows, shot down nine of the ten suns, thus eliviating the suffering of humanity. The people of the land, grateful to Hou Ngei, crowned him emperor of the land, and he proceeded to marry the most beautiful woman of the land, Shourn Ngo.

However, power corrupted Hou Ngei, and he became a great and cruel tyrant. Obsessed with maintaining his power and control over humankind, he proceeded to search for the Elixir of Life. On one devious quest, he managed to steal the Elixir of Life from the Mother Goddess of the West (西王母), the goddess of immortality. When Hou Ngei told his wife of the success of the devious plan, Shourn Ngo, partially out of her own greed to achieve immortatlity, and partially to save humanity from the cruel and oppresive rule of her husband, took and drank the Elixir of Life from her husband while he was sleeping.

However, a perculiar thing happened when she finished drinking the Elixir; she started to float. Higher and higher she went, and her cries for help wakened Hou Ngei in a rage. Shourn Ngo floated so high that she landed on the moon, and while Hou Ngei was ready to shoot down the moon with his last magical arrow, his love for his beautiful wife prevented him doing so.

And while Hou Ngei eventually died a natural death, legend has it that Shourn Ngo still lives on the moon to this day, thanks to the Elixir that she drank, both out of greed and compassion.



I have another story too! (Lol, one more, I promise!). I think most of you have heard that the Italians see the face of a beautiful woman when they look at the moon, but the Chinese see a rabbit stomping on a block of herbs!

The story behind this rabbit stomping herbs (named "The Jade Rabbit" 玉兔) is one that also stems deep into Chinese folklore and culture.

Many, many years ago, three gods disguised themselves as beggars to test the compassion of Earth's beings. On the road, they built set up camp and encountered three animals: a monkey, a fox and a rabbit, and asked all three for some food. The monkey, being able to climb the tallest of fruit trees, gathered fruit and nuts from the surrounding forest and offered them to the three "beggars". The fox, being devious and sneaky, ran to a hut and stole some milk and dried fish. The rabbit, only able to fetch grass, also knew that some hardy meat would fill the stomachs of the "beggars". Thus, out of compassion for the "beggars", the rabbit decided to offer himself as food and jumped into the camp fire that "beggars" had lit.

However, when the rabbit jumped into the fire, he was not burned nor hurt; for the "beggars" threw off their disguises and revealed themselves to be gods. The gods, touched by the virtue and compassion of the rabbit, praised rabbits for being the most timid, thoughtful and compassionate of all animals and proceeded to reward the rabbit who tried to sacrifice himself by granting him immortality on the moon, so that everyone may see him and be reminded of the rabbit's selflessness and compassion whenever they see the moon.

When the rabbit was granted immortality on the moon, he stumbled upon Shourn Ngo, and the two keep each other company to this day...

And so, these are the two stories of the Mid-Autumn Festival. The Chinese eat mooncakes on this night because the bright yellow yolk inside symbolizes the beauty of the moon on this night and reminds people of these two stories. (There's a story of mooncakes being used to send messages around to overthrow the Mongols, but I've never heard of this story and neither have my parents).

By the way, the versions of the two stories that I told are but two of many, many versions, so if you know of, or hear of, different versions, that's why.

Anywho, I'm off for some mooncake and tea! Hope you'll have some too, tonight! If not, just look outside and observe how beautiful the moon is tonight!