Updated: March 30, 2022 – Mid-Autumn or Mooncake Festival
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
Rich History
The Mooncake Festival, also called the Mid-Autumn Festival or Mid-Autumn Day, is second in importance only for the Spring Festival (Chinese New Year). It falls on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month. People believe the Moon is the fullest and roundest. Members of the family gather for a reunion dinner and to appreciate the Moon while eating moon-cakes of various flavors. It is also a festival for farmers to celebrate their harvest. With over 3,000 years of history, there are different takes on the origin of this festival. Even the most popular one, the story of Hou Yi and Chang E, have different versions.
The Moon Festival legend about Hou Yi and Chang E is always told to children. Once upon a time, there were ten suns in the sky, scorching many crops and people to death. The Emperor of Heaven summoned Hou Yi to shoot down nine of the suns. Hou Yi succeeded, the weather soon recovered, and he saved life. The Emperor of Heaven rewarded Hou Yi with the potion of immortality. While Hou Yi was still on the Earth, he met Chang E. They fell in love and they got married.
The Potion of Internal
Hou Yi wanted to spend his life with Chang E forever. So he went to the Western Queen Mother to ask for the potion of life. For the good deeds that Hou Yi had performed for the Earth, the Western Queen Mother agreed to give him the potion. Sufficient for two people, half each. Hou Yi returned home and told his wife. They drank it together on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month when the Moon was round and bright. But a wicked man named Feng Meng overheard them and wanted the potion for himself.
On the 15th day, before Hou Yi returned home from hunting, Feng Meng went to Hou Yi’s home and forced Chang E to give him the potion. She knew she could not defeat Feng Meng. So, with no other choice, she drank the potion all by herself. When Hou Yi came back, he found it had lifted his wife to Heaven. She became immortal. Chang E lived on the Moon because it’s closest to the Earth. Hou Yi looked up at the Moon and put the foods Chang E used to love in the garden as a sacrifice. Thus, people started admiring the Moon on this day. Later, Chang E and Hou Yi came to represent the yin and yang, respectively (the Moon and the Sun).
Most children in China believe that Chang E is still living on the Moon. On the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, when the Moon is bright, children try their best to find the shape of Chang E on the Moon.
The Celebration Today
We eat Mooncakes during the Mid-Autumn or Mooncake Festival. The festival is incomplete without mooncakes. This round pastry can contain various ingredients in a thin crust. Most of the flavors are sweet, with lotus seed paste or sweet bean paste in the center.
Once, according to a Chinese legend, moon cakes helped the start of a revolution. During the Yuan dynasty (AD 1280-1368), Mongolians from the north founded mooncakes. Liu Bo Wen, a Han Chinese rebel leader, planned to arouse the Han Chinese to rise against the ruling Mongolians and end the Yuan dynasty. He gained permission to give gifts to his friends differently. These gifts were round moon cakes. Liu asked his subordinates to hide pieces of paper in the cakes with the date of the Han Chinese rebellion. The 15th night of the 8th lunar month. Thus, Liu got word to his people who found the revolutionary message when they cut open the moon cakes. They then set out together to overthrow the Mongolians, thus ending the Yuan dynasty.
Worldwide Celebration
Nowadays, Chinese communities worldwide eat moon cakes during the Mid-Autumn or Mooncake Festival, such as the Chinatowns in the USA, Canada, UK, Europe, Australia, and throughout the world. My home country, Malaysia, also celebrates this traditional festival.
Here are the typical activities during the Mid-Autumn Festival:
- Reunion Dinner
- Eating Mooncakes
- Appreciating the Moon
- Worshipping the Moon
- Making Colorful Lanterns
- Giving Gifts
- Sending Celebration Messages
Even during this unprecedented time, this didn’t stop people worldwide from celebrating it on a smaller scale and being more confined to homes as the government restricted people’s movement.
Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!
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