5 The Mid-Autumn Festival

There is a very interesting story behind the Mid-Autumn Festival. It was said that Hou Yi (Remember him? The one who almost shot down all the suns.) got some pills from the Queen Mother of the West (the grandmother of the Weaving Maid in the previous story) that would give him eternal life. One day, as he was out, his wife Chang'e took the pills. All of a sudden, she started losing weight, and finally she was so light that she was floating in the air. She was flying higher and higher, and the next thing she knew, she was at the palace on the moon! It was because she took the pills without letting Hou know about it, so the punishment for her was to be alone on the moon forever. Since then, people always worshipped the moon on Mid-Autumn Festival, hoping to see Chang'e and also make her feel less lonely up there on the moon.

Flying to the moon

In fact, there is another source, which stretched back further in time, pointing out that the Mid-Autumn Festival actually originated from a habit in the past called Qiu Si, in which the people worshipped the moon. In the ancient times, nearly everyone worked on farms. As the harvest of crops depended heavily on climate and seasonal changes, people would usually prepare good food on the day of Qiu Si to offer thanks to the Heaven for giving them rich harvests for the year. As the harvests usually came in the autumn, the act of gratitude was usually performed in autumn too, hence the Mid-Autumn Festival. There were also series of celebrations held in that period as well. The Mid-Autumn Festival can actually be read literally: It is on the 15th day in the 8th month of the lunar year, which is in the middle of autumn. In the past, people observed that the moon was always the roundest on that night, therefore actions like worshipping the moon was held on that day. Gradually, it evolved into the present habit of enjoying and admiring the full moon.

Food is always crucial to the Chinese people, and there is no exception here. Pomelo is a popular fruit during the Mid-Autumn Festival, but mooncake is even more popular. The word “mooncake”first appeared in the history books in the Song Dynasty (960 -1279). It was said that during the Yuan Dynasty (1271 - 1368), there was someone called Liu Bowen who wanted a revolution, and was looking for those who shared his thoughts. He came up with a brilliant trick, where he started a rumour saying that a plague was about to come. He also added that people must eat Shaobing (a kind of sesame seed cake) to avoid catching the plague. As a result, everyone rushed to buy them. When they got home, cut open the Shaobing, and were about to eat it, they saw a piece of paper hidden inside. There was a line on the paper saying “The revolution starts on the 15th of August.” Eventually, the revolution to overturn the Yuan Dynasty started that night and was a great success because everyone got the message and acted together.

Nowadays, the production of mooncakes is a very complicated process. Every step from baking, packaging and naming are all closely monitored and carefully prepared. There are many different kinds of mooncakes, like the traditional ones made from lotus seed mash, modern ones made from green bean, even snowy ones (the outer skin is iced) and the more outrageous ice-cream ones. In people's minds, the full moon represents the completeness of the whole family, and mooncakes are also round in shape, therefore they resemble the full moon. To the Chinese, who traditionally emphasized family togetherness and the close relationship between family members, mooncakes and the full moon are all the more meaningful.

On the day of Mid-Autumn Festival, families could enjoy the moon while eating mooncakes and pomelos and spend some precious time together. That is why people place more significance on this special day. For those who live abroad, they will also look at the moon on that night while thinking about their family, as they believe that, by looking at the same moon, even if the family members are not physically together, they may somehow be able to connect with each other mentally through the moon.