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Mid-Autumn Festival
The Mid-Autumn Moonfestival is also celebrated in
Chinese communities such as the
San Francisco Chinatown
Mooncakes are often eaten during the festival.
Mid-Autumn Festival at the Botanical Garden,
Montreal.
The Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival, or in Chinese, Zhongqiu Jie (traditional Chinese: 中秋節), is a popular harvest festival celebrated by Chinese people and Vietnamese people (even though they celebrate it differently), dating back over 3,000 years to moon worship in China's Shang Dynasty.[1][2] It was first called Zhongqiu Jie (literally "Mid-Autumn Festival") in the Zhou Dynasty.[3] In Malaysia and Singapore, it is also sometimes referred to as the Lantern Festival or Mooncake Festival.
The Mid-Autumn Festival is held on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese calendar, which is usually around mid or late September in the Gregorian calendar. It is a date that parallels the autumn and spring Equinoxes of the solar calendar, when the moon is supposedly at its fullest and roundest. The traditional food of this festival is the mooncake, of which there are many different varieties.
The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the two most important holidays in the Chinese calendar, the other being the Chinese New Year,
and is a legal holiday in several countries. Farmers celebrate the end
of the summer harvesting season on this date. Traditionally, on this
day, Chinese family members and friends will gather to admire the
bright mid-autumn harvest moon, and eat moon cakes and pomeloes together. Accompanying the celebration, there are additional cultural or regional customs, such as:
Shops selling mooncakes, before the festival, often display pictures of Chang'e floating to the moon.
Stories of the Mid-Autumn Festival
Houyi and Chang'e
While English speakers may talk about the “man on the moon”, the Chinese talk about the “woman on the moon”. The story of the fateful night when Chang'e was lifted up to the moon, familiar to most Chinese citizens, is a favorite subject of poets. Unlike many lunar deities in other cultures who personify the moon, Chang'e lives on the moon. Tradition places Houyi and Chang'e around 2170 BC, in the reign of the legendary Emperor Yao, shortly after that of Huang Di.
There are so many variations and adaptations of the Chang'e legend
that one can become overwhelmed and utterly confused. However, most
legends about Chang'e in Chinese mythology involve some variation of the following elements: Houyi, the Archer, Chang'e, the mythical Moon Goddess of Immortality; an emperor, either benevolent or malevolent; an elixir of life; and the Moon:
Houyi, the Archer
There are at least 6 variations to this story where Houyi was an archer.
Version 1: A long, long time ago, a terrible drought plagued
the earth. Ten suns burned fiercely in the sky like smoldering
volcanoes. The trees and grass were scorched. The land was cracked and
parched, and rivers were dried. Many people died of hunger and thirst.
The Emperor of Heaven sent Hou Yi down to the earth to help. When
Hou Yi arrived, he took out his red bow and white arrows and shot down
nine suns one after another. The weather immediately turned cooler.
Heavy rains filled the rivers with fresh water and the grass and trees
turned green. Life was restored and humanity was saved.
One day, a charming young woman Chang'er made her way home from a
stream, holding a bamboo container. A young man came forward, asking
for a drink. When she saw the red bow and white arrows hanging round
his belt, Chang'er realized that he was their savior, Hou Yi. Inviting
him to drink, Chang'er plucked a beautiful flower and gave it to him as
a token of respect. Hou Yi, in turn, selected a beautiful silver fox
fur as his gift for her. This meeting kindled the spark of their love.
And soon after that, they got married.
A mortal's life is limited, of course. So in order to enjoy his
happy life with Chang'er forever, Hou Yi decided to look for an elixir
of life. He went to the Kunlun Mountains where the Western Queen Mother
lived.
Out of respect for the good deeds he had done, the Western Queen
Mother rewarded Hou Yi with the elixir, a fine powder made from kernels
of fruit which grew on the tree of eternity. At the same time, she told
him that if he and his wife shared the elixir, they would both enjoy
eternal life; but if only one of them took it, that one would ascend to
Heaven and become immortal.
Hou Yi returned home and told his wife all that had happened and
they decided to drink the elixir together on the 15th day of the eighth
lunar month when the moon was full and bright.
A wicked and merciless man named Feng Meng overheard their plan. He
wished Hou Yi an early death so that he could drink the elixir himself
and become immortal. His opportunity finally arrived. One day, when the
full moon is rising, Hou Yi was on his way home from hunting. Feng Meng
killed him. The murderer then ran to Hou Yi's home and forced Chang'er
to give him the elixir. Without hesitating, Chang'er picked up the
elixir and drank it all.
Overcome with grief, Chang'er rushed to her dead husband's side,
weeping bitterly. Soon the elixir began to have its effect and Chang'er
felt herself being lifted towards Heaven.
Chang'er decided to live on the moon because it was the nearest to
the earth. There she lived a simple and contented life. Even though she
was in Heaven, her heart remained in the world of mortals. Never did
she forget the deep love she had for Hou Yi and the love she felt for
the people who had shared their sadness and happiness.
Version 2: Houyi was an immortal, while Chang'e was a beautiful young girl, working in the Jade Emperor's (Emperor of Heaven) (玉帝 pinyin:yùdì) Palace as the attendant to the Queen Mother of the West (wife of the Jade Emperor), just before her marriage. One day, Houyi aroused the jealousy of the other immortals, who then slandered him before the Jade Emperor. Houyi and his wife, Chang'e, were subsequently banished from heaven, and forced to live by hunting on earth. He became a famous archer.
Now at this time, there were 10 suns, in the form of Three-legged birds, residing in a mulberry tree in the eastern sea; each day one of the sun birds would have to travel around the world on a carriage, driven by Xihe (deity) the 'mother' of the suns. One day, all 10 of the suns circled together, causing the earth to burn. Emperor Yao, the Emperor of China, commanded Houyi to shoot down all but one of the suns. Upon the completion of his task, the Emperor rewarded Houyi
with a pill that granted eternal life, and advised him: "Make no haste
to swallow this pill; first prepare yourself with prayer and fasting for a year".[4]
Houyi took the pill home and hid it under a rafter, while he began
healing his spirit. While Houyi was healing his spirit, Houyi was
summoned again by the emperor. Chang'e, noticing a white beam of light
beckoning from the rafters,
discovered the pill, which she swallowed. Immediately, she found that
she could fly. At that moment, Houyi returned home, and, realizing what
had happened, began to reprimand her. Chang'e flew out the window into
the sky.
With a bow in hand, Houyi sped after her, and the pursuit continued halfway across the heavens. Finally, Houyi had to return to the Earth because of the force of the wind. Chang'e reached the moon, and breathless, she coughed. Part of the pill fell out from her mouth. Now, the hare was already on the moon, and Chang'e commanded the animal to make another pill from it, so that she could return to earth to her husband.
As of today, the hare is still pounding herbs, trying to make the pill. As for Houyi, he built himself a palace in the sun as "Yang" (the male principle), with Chang'e as "Yin" (the female principle). Once a year, on the 15th day of the full moon, Houyi visits his wife. That is why, that night, the moon is full and beautiful.
This description appears in written form in two Western Han dynasty (206 BCE-24 CE) collections; Shan Hai Jing, the Classic of the Mountains and Seas and Huainanzi, a philosophical classic.
Version 3: The earth once had ten suns circling over it, each
taking turn to illuminate the earth. One day, however, all ten suns
appeared together, scorching the earth with their heat. Houyi,
a strong and tyrannical archer, saved the earth by shooting down nine
of the suns. He eventually became King, but grew to become a despot.
One day, Houyi stole the elixir of life from a goddess. However, his beautiful wife, Chang'e, drank it in order to save the people from her husband’s tyrannical
rule. After drinking it, she found herself floating, and flew to the
moon. Houyi loved his divinely beautiful wife so much, he did not shoot
down the moon.
Version 4: Another version, however, had it that Chang'e and Houyi
were immortals living in heaven. One day, the ten sons of the Jade
Emperor transformed into ten suns, causing the earth to scorch. Having
failed to order his sons to stop ruining the earth, the Jade Emperor
summoned Houyi for help. Houyi, using his legendary archery skills,
shot down nine of the sons, but spared one son to be the sun. The Jade
Emperor was obviously displeased with Houyi’s solution to save the
earth. As punishment, he banished Houyi and Chang'e to live as mere
mortals on earth.
Seeing that Chang'e felt extremely miserable over her loss of immortality, Houyi
decided to journey on a long, perilous quest to find the pill of
immortality so that the couple could be immortals again. At the end of
his quest, he met the Queen Mother of the West, who agreed to give him
the pill, but warned him that each person would only need half a pill
to regain immortality.
Houyi brought the pill home and stored it in a case. He warned Chang'e not to open the case, and then left home for a while. Like Pandora in Greek mythology, Chang'e became curious. She opened up the case and found the pill, just as Houyi was returning home. Nervous that Houyi
would catch her, discovering the contents of the case, she accidentally
swallowed the entire pill, and started to float into the sky because of
the overdose. Although Houyi wanted to shoot her in order to prevent
her from floating further, he could not bear to aim the arrow at her. Chang'e kept on floating until she landed on the moon.
While she became lonely on the moon without her husband, she did have company. A jade rabbit, who manufactured elixirs, also lived on the moon.
Version 5: In a popular school version, Houyi
was a lazy boy who did nothing but to practice his archery. He
practiced day and night until he became the greatest archer in the
world. One day, the ten suns all assembled around the earth. Their
presence destroyed all vegetation, and hundreds of thousands were
perishing. The King, who was desperate, offered his crown to anyone who
could shoot down the suns. Houyi
answered his call. He shot down nine of the suns, and as he pulled his
bow to shoot the last one, the King stopped him. Saying the earth must
have one sun. Houyi then became the next King. He was pampered to the
extent that he wanted to be King forever. He called his advisors to
look for a way to make him immortal. His advisors found a way. They
found a recipe for the Pill of Immortality. It required 100 adolescent
boys to be ground into a biscuit like a pill. Every night he was
supposed to grind one boy. On the hundredth night, his wife Chang'e
could not bear to watch her husband become the tyrannical dictator for
eternity. She prayed to Xi Wang Mu
for help. She stole the pill, with Houyi shooting arrows at her, and
flew to the moon grabbing a rabbit to keep her company.So the Chinese
say that if you look up at the moon to this day you can sometimes see a
rabbit making moon cakes.
The Hare - Jade Rabbit
According to tradition, the Jade Rabbit
pounds medicine, together with the lady, Chang'er, for the gods. Others
say that the Jade Rabbit is a shape, assumed by Chang'e herself. You
may find that the dark areas to the top of the full moon may be
construed as the figure of a rabbit. The animal's ears point to the
upper right, while at the left are two large circular areas,
representing its head and body.
In this legend, three fairy sages transformed themselves into pitiful old men, and begged for food from a fox, a monkey,
and a hare. The fox and the monkey both had food to give to the old
men, but the hare, empty-handed, jumped into a blazing fire to offer
his own flesh instead. The sages were so touched by the hare's
sacrifice and act of kindness that they let him live in the Moon
Palace, where he became the "Jade Rabbit".
Overthrow of Mongol rule
According to a widespread folk tale (not necessarily supported by
historical records), the Mid-Autumn Festival commemorates an uprising
in China against the Mongol rulers of the Yuan Dynasty (1280–1368) in the 14th century As group gatherings were banned, it was impossible to make plans for a rebellion. Noting that the Mongols did not eat mooncakes, Liu Bowen (劉伯溫) of Zhejiang Province, advisor to the Chinese rebel leader Zhu Yuanzhang,
came up with the idea of timing the rebellion to coincide with the
Mid-Autumn Festival. He sought permission to distribute thousands of
moon cakes to the Chinese residents in the city to bless the longevity
of the Mongol emperor. Inside each cake, however, was inserted a piece
of paper with the message: "Kill the Mongols on the 15th day of the 8th month" (八月十五殺韃子).
On the night of the Moon Festival, the rebels successfully attacked and
overthrew the government. What followed was the establishment of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), under Zhu. Henceforth, the Mid-Autumn Festival was celebrated with moon cakes on a national level.
Vietnamese version
Vietnamese children celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival with traditional 5-pointed star shaped lantern
The Mid-Autumn festival is named "Tết Trung Thu" in Vietnamese.
The Vietnamese version of the holiday recounts the legend of Cuội, whose wife accidentally urinated on a sacred banyan
tree, taking him with it to the Moon. Every year, on the mid-autumn
festival, children light lanterns and participate in a procession to
show Cuội the way to Earth.
In Vietnam, Mooncakes are typically square rather than round, though
round ones do exist. Besides the indigenous tale of the banyan tree,
other legends are widely told including the story of the Moon Lady, and
the story of the carp who wanted to become a dragon.
One important event before and during Vietnamese Mid-Autumn Festival are lion dances.
The dances are performed by both non-professional children group and
trained professional groups. Lion dance groups perform on the streets
go to houses asking for performing. If accepted by the host, "the lion"
will come in and start dancing as a wish of luck and fortune and the
host gives back lucky money to show thankfulness.
Dates
The moon festival will occur on these days in coming years: