Harvest Festivals Everywhere-Part 2

Mooncake Festival Article

By Pat Tanumihardja
For the Northwest Asian Weekly

An archer, a beautiful maiden, an emperor and a rabbit — these are the perfect elements for a fairy tale … or the legend of the Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Mooncake Festival.

Although there are many versions to the legend behind the festival, this is the one I grew up with, and the most romantic of all.

A long, long time ago, 10 suns burned fiercely in the sky. Severe drought and heat plagued the earth. People were dying of hunger and thirst.

A divine archer called Hou Yi came down to earth and saved the people by shooting down nine of the 10 suns. While on earth, he fell in love with a beautiful maiden by the name of Chang Er. Their happiness, however, didn’t last long. It turned out that the suns were the Jade Emperor’s (the Emperor of the Heavens’) sons. The angry emperor banished the couple from earth.

The goddess Xi Wang Mu took pity on them and gave Hou Yi the pill of immortality. Chang Er stole the pill for herself and swallowed it. Then she rose to the moon and became the immortal moon goddess, unable to return to mankind.

Hou Yi loved Chang Er so much he overcame his anger and built her a magnificent Moon Palace out of fragrant cassia wood to shelter her from the cold. Touched, Chang Er asked the Xi Wang Mu to make her husband immortal as well. The goddess agreed, but with one caveat: She kept them separated. Chang Er now rules over the lunar kingdom, while Hou Yi rules over the solar kingdom, and they can meet only once a year, on the 15th day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar. This year, it falls on Oct. 6.

On this night, when the moon is at its brightest and loveliest, families will gather in appreciation of the moon. They will eat mooncakes and pomelos and pray for a safe and prosperous year.

The mooncake, a dense pastry traditionally filled with lotus or red bean paste, sugar and salted egg yolk, has become a symbol of this festival. To commemorate the legend, an image of the goddess Chang Er floating to the moon is often imprinted on mooncake boxes.

It is also believed that Hou Yi summoned a rabbit to be his wife’s companion for those lonely days at the cold moon palace. So the next time you see a full moon, look carefully. You just might see the shape of the rabbit’s ears.