Mid-Autumn Festival
Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!
For the last 3,000 years, Chinese people have celebrated the Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival, on the 15th day of the 8th month on the Lunar calendar. Its importance is second only to the Lunar New Year or Spring Festival and is celebrated by Chinese and other Asian people all over the world.
Since ancient times, the Mid-Autumn Festival has been celebrated in gratitude for a good harvest and a peaceful society. It is believed that the moon is at its brightest and fullest on this day, representing fertility and wholeness. Being together under it with friends and family honors the strength of these relationships, and just like for the Spring Festival, family members, even in far-flung places, are expected to come home. Celebratory traditions involve getting together under the moonlight to eat rich, bountiful food, including moon cakes and osmanthus wine, tell stories, recite poetry, and solve riddles. Making and using paper lanterns (often the surface where the poetry and riddles are written) is an activity for both children and adults. Worshipping or at least admiring the moon is the most fundamental aspect, and in these modern times, it can be accomplished by a pleasant evening stroll with a friend.
There are many theories about the origin of the Mid-Autumn Festival, the most basic one being a harvest celebration. Autumn is when crops mature, and in fact, the modern Chinese word for autumn, Qiū 秋 is a composite of hé 禾 or grain, and huǒ 火 or fire. It is the time of ripening grain and the burning of harvested fields to await reseeding. As the eighth month of the lunar calendar is the middle month of autumn, and the fifteenth day is the middle day of the month, to celebrate the harvest and express their joy, farmers made the "Mid-Autumn" day a festival day.
An origin story based on historical records is this: According to the Zhōu Lǐ 週禮, or ‘Rites of Zhou Dynasty’ from the 2nd century BC, the Mid-Autumn Festival originated from the sacrificial activities of ancient emperors, whereby "The emperor worships the sun in spring and the moon in autumn” with elaborate offerings. Later, this imperial practice was followed by nobles, officials, and the literati, becoming an officially recognized national festival during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 CE). Many Tang dynasty poets' famous works include poems about the moon and combined the festival with mythological stories such as Chang E flying to the moon, Wu Gang cutting cassia trees, Jade Rabbit compounding medicine, Yang Guifei turning into the moon god, and Tang Emperor Ming Huang visiting the Moon Palace. These literary efforts added much romanticism to the festival, which in turn made moon-gazing even more popular.
By the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127 CE), the Mid-Autumn Festival was embraced by ordinary people, and the 15th day of the eighth lunar month was officially designated as the day. By the subsequent Ming and Qing Dynasties, the Mid-Autumn Festival was firmly established as one of the main festivals of the Chinese people, where the importance of moon worship, prayers and wishes during the holiday permeated every level of society. Moon cakes became popular during this time, which had to be round to represent wholeness. Every family set up an outdoor altar facing the moonrise and worshipped the moon with moon cakes and other offerings. Ming Dynasty scholar Lu Qi Hong's 陸啟泓 ‘Beijing Records of the Times' Běijīng Suì Huá Jì 北京歲華記 recorded that "On the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, each family installed a symbol of the Moon Palace with a rabbit standing like a person on it; melons and fruits were placed in the courtyard, and the moon cakes depicted the Moon Palace toad and rabbit; men and women prayed and burned incense; [all the offerings] were burned the [following] morning."
Besides moon cakes, the most popular symbols of the Mid-Autumn Festival are probably Chang E嫦娥 Cháng é, also known as the Lady on the Moon, and her friend the Jade Rabbit. They were believed to live on the moon year-round, and children were encouraged to tell Chang E their secret wish on the night of the festival. She is regarded as a benevolent goddess, and different versions of how she got to the moon in the first place abound.
Here's my favorite:
Thousands of years ago there were ten suns in the sky, and the people and the Earth suffered from smoldering heat. To save humankind, ‘Lord Archer' Hou Yi 後羿 Hòu Yì shot down nine of the 10 suns, leaving just one, which allowed the people and land to thrive.
Hou Yi was respected as the Earth's hero and was awarded the elixir of immortality by the Queen Mother of the Western Heaven.
However, the elixir was only enough for one person, and Hou Yi didn't want to gain immortality without his beloved wife, Chang E. So, he put the elixir in Chang E’s care.
One day, while Hou Yi was out hunting, one of his followers burst into their home and tried to steal the elixir. Not knowing what to do but wanting to protect the elixir from this evil person, Chang E quickly drank it. Suddenly, she felt herself lifting into the sky, eventually landing on the moon.
Hou Yi was heartbroken when he discovered what had happened to his beloved. He shouted at the night sky and was surprised to discover that the moon was extremely bright that night. He could see a slender figure swaying on its surface that looked exactly like Chang E and realized that she had become the goddess of the moon. To show how much he missed her, Hou Yi set up a table with Chang E’s favorite fruits and cakes under the moonlight, hoping his wife could see his devotion.
Moved by their love, the Queen Mother of the Western Heaven allowed Chang E to fly down from the moon to reunite with Hou Yi every year on the night of the full moon of the eighth lunar month, which she gratefully did until his death. With Hou Yi’s passing, Chang E had no more reason to come down to the Earth and has lived on the moon ever since.
Since then, it has become the custom whereby on the 15th day of the eighth month when the moon is at its biggest and brightest, we mere mortals can enjoy our own family reunions and appreciate our loved ones.
And this is how Chang E got the Jade Rabbit as her companion:
One day, thousands of years ago, three heavenly immortals came down to Earth and, after changing themselves into poor old people, begged for food from a fox, a monkey, and a rabbit. Both the fox and the monkey gave them some food, but the rabbit had none to give. The rabbit then said to the disguised immortals, “Honorable ones, you can eat me,” and jumped into the fire. The immortals were so moved by the rabbit’s selfless sacrifice that they changed it into an immortal jade rabbit and sent him to the moon to keep the lonely Chang E company. On the moon, the Jade Rabbit compounds immortality elixirs for the gods, and if you look carefully at the moon on the night of the festival, you might see him too.
Tonight, the full moon expresses many things: people's longing for their hometown and families, wishes for a peaceful and better life, gratitude for love, or a yearning for something yet unfulfilled. Whatever tonight means to you, we hope that you can enjoy the beauty of the moon with people (and maybe pets!) you care about. Light a candle or, more traditionally, a lantern as a beacon to guide your way to thoughts of gratitude and contentment. Take a moment to treasure your loved ones and rejoice in your life.
Want to make your OWN mooncakes? We've included a recipe below! We wish everyone good health, tranquility, and better days to come.
Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!
Make Your Own Mooncakes
Ingredients
Filling
- 8 - Salted duck egg yolks (available in Asian grocery)
- 3 Tbsp - Rice wine
- 340 g - Sweetened White lotus or red bean paste (available in Asian grocery)
- ½ C - Corn starch (approx.)
Crust
- 1 Cup low-gluten flour
- 70 g inverted syrup
- 25 g vegetable oil
- ½ tsp lye water (use with caution)
- 1 egg
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 390°F
- Rinse salted egg yolk in rice wine, steam for 7 minutes on medium-high heat, let cool
- Mix oil, inverted syrup and lye water. Then add in flour and mix well to form dough. Wrap in plastic and let sit for 1 hour.
- Weigh 40 g of lotus seed/bean paste, flatten into disc and place salted egg yolk in center, wrap egg yolk making a ball
- Divide dough into 8 pieces, flatten and wrap filling ball in the center leaving no gaps
- Dip mold in corn starch, lightly coat ball in cornstarch. Place ball in mold and press gently
- Place on baking tray, mist lightly with water
- Bake for 10 minutes at 390°F, remove from oven, lower oven temperature to 325°F
- Mist lightly with water to cool
- Brush with egg wash, bake for 10 minutes at 325°F
- Remove from oven, let cool and place in air tight container in refrigerator for 2-3 days for oil to surface giving it it’s characteristic shine
Enjoy!
Resources
- 中秋节 - 维基百科，自由的百科全书 (wikipedia.org)
- http://www.wenming.cn/wmdjr_299/zqj/qy/202309/t20230927_6677662.shtml
- Mid-Autumn Festival - Wikipedia
- The Story of Chang’e and Houyi: 2 Versions You Don't Know (chinahighlights.com)
- 6 Most Well-Known Mid-Autumn Festival Legends: Chang'E, Jade Rabbit (travelchinaguide.com)
