Moon Cakes, Moon Cakes...

… everybody get your moon cakes!

The Mid-Autumn Festival is almost here. It’s one of the most important holidays in China. The festival is held on the 15th day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar… the night of the full moon… between early September and October. This year it falls on October 4^th.  The Festival is a day for friends and family to gather together, offer thanks to the fall harvest, and pray for longevity and good fortune. It’s sort of like our Thanksgiving… but with moon cakes instead of pumpkin pie!

There are many mythical tales of it’s origins… which dates more 3000 years ago. But the most common told, and my personal favorite, is this one:

It is said that in ancient times, ten suns existed and the extreme heat made people's lives very difficult. It was the hero Hou Yi, who, owing to his great strength, shot down nine of the ten suns. On hearing of this amazing feat and the hero who performed it, people came from far and wide to learn from him. Peng Meng was among these people. Later, Hou Yi married a beautiful and kind-hearted woman named Chang E and lived a happy life.

One day, Hou Yi came upon Wangmu (the queen of heaven) on the way to meet his old friend. Wangmu presented him an elixir which, if took, would cause him to ascend immediately to heaven and become a god/goddess. Instead of drinking the potion himself, Hou Yi took it home and presented it to Chang E to keep. Unfortunately, Peng Meng secretly saw Hou Yi give the potion to his wife and three days later, while Hou Yi was out hunting, Peng Meng rushed into the backyard and demanded that Chang E hand over the elixir. Knowing that she could not win, she took out the elixir and swallowed it immediately. The moment she drank it, she flew out of the window and up into the sky. Chang E's great love for her husband drew her towards the Moon, which is the nearest place to the earth on the heaven.

On realizing what happened to his wife, Hou Yi was so grieved that he shouted Chang E’s name to the sky. He was amazed to see a figure which looked just like his wife appeared in the Moon. He took the food liked by Chang E to an altar and offered it as a sacrifice for her. After hearing that Chang E became a goddess, folk people also offered sacrifices to Chang E to pray for peace and good luck. Since then, the custom of sacrificing to the moon has been spread among the folklore.

Coinciding with the Festival is China’s Golden Week. Unlike most of us, in other parts of the world, the Chinese people do not generally get to choose their vacation days. Instead… China has two separate week-long holidays called Golden Week. Factories and most business close down for the entire week. This is when most Chinese people migrate back to their hometowns to spend time with their family.

The first Golden Week is in late January, or early February, and is commonly known as Chinese New Year. The second is called National Day and falls in late September or early October… the Autumn-Festival usually falls around, if not within, this same week.

So there’s pretty big stuff happenin in The Jing this week. Big, beautiful red lanterns are going up everywhere and Mike seems to come home with a new box of Moon Cakes every night. They look so pretty and I want to like them so badly but… I’ve yet to take a bite of one and not have to spit it into a napkin! So in the spirit of re-gifting… I will be passing these beauties on to our Ayi. She will be thrilled with them… and me… and have a lovely gift to bring home to her family next week!

As for me and Mikey… we’re heading to Thailand for Golden Week where we too will gaze at the full moon with our friends Tina and Matt. We will give thanks for a bountiful harvest and pray for longevity and good fortune.

But instead of eating moon cakes… we’ll be swilling booze.