Today's update is a small one, due to some time constraints and a few things I needed to work through over here. Today's topic is on one of the major holidays: the Mid-Autumn Festival.
This festival was on the 25th of September this year, but you can still see the primary food used to celebrate this holiday (mooncakes, called yuebing (uehbeeng, 月饼 in Chinese) ) sold here for low prices. The mooncakes all have a Chinese character written on them, signifying a hope for the coming months.
The most famous legend concerning the Mid-Autumn Festival is of Hou Yi (houh yee), a legendary archer, and his wife, Chang E (Chahng Uh). In the variant of the story I read, there were originally ten suns; only one was ever in the sky at any one time, however. One day, the suns got impatient, and all ten crossed the sky at the same time! This made the world unbearably hot, and so the Emperor asked Hou Yi to scare off the suns. Hou Yi aimed and fired, shooting down nine of the suns. The Emperor, although he was impressed, was also furious, and forced Hou Yi and his wife out of his land. However, the Empress gave a pill of immortality to Hou Yi, so he could live forever.
However, Hou Yi did not want to part from his wife, so he never used the pill. One day, when Hou Yi was away and Chang E was at home, a bandit named Peng Meng (Puhng Muhng) came in and demanded the pill! Knowing she would be killed if she tried to fight him, Chang E did the only thing she could to defy him; she turned and grabbed the pill, then swallowed it. Immediately, she floated up to the moon as punishment for taking the medicine, though it wasn't hers. Peng Meng escaped.
Hou Yi returned to find the pill and Chang E missing. In utter dismay, he rushed outside and looked around; then, he saw a shadow on the moon that looked like Chang E! He gave pursuit, but could never reach it; still, he kept trying to get back to Chang E, as she looked down upon him, unable to do anything. In honor of their love for each other, the Chinese celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival!
Zaijian!
-Tom
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