The Mid-Autumn Festival
2 min readMid-Autumn Day is a traditional festival in China.The festival is held on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese calendar.It is a time for family members to congregate and enjoy the full moon-an auspicious symbol of abundance, harmony and luck.
According to Chinese mythology,a hero named Hou Yi succeeded in shooting down 9 of the suns and saved the people. Except going out for hunting,Hou Yi always stayed at home with his wife Chang’e.When Hou Yi visited his friends at Mount Kunlun,he had obtained a bag of the elixir of life.It was said that anyone drink this elixir,he would go to the heaven and become a god.One day, Hou Yi gave the elixir of life to his wife before go hunting.Three days later,Pang Meng broke into their houses and threatened Chang’e to hand out the elixir of life.Chang’e drank it under this emergency and ascended to heaven.Chang’e missed his husband,so she stayed on the moon where was close to the earth.Hou Yi came back home and knew what happened.He was extremely grieved and looked up the night sky calling for his wife’s name.He found the moon was so big and bright that it seemed he could see the shadow of Change E.Then he set out a table with incenses and Chang E’s favorite fruits and prayed.People heard about it and followed Hou Yi to pray for Auspiciousness and peace.Hence,the custom of worshiping the moon was widely spread.
Mid-Autumn Day is a harvest festival celebrated by Chinese, Chinese people have celebrated the harvest during the autumn full moon since the Shang Dynasty.People originally worshiped Mountain Gods after the harvest was completed.The celebration as a festival only started to gain popularity during the early Tang Dynasty.
On Mid-Autumn Day,accompanying the celebration,there are additional cultural or regional customs,such as eating moon-cakes ,carrying brightly lit lanterns,floating sky lanterns,Fire Dragon Dance.
