The Mid-Autumn festival is celebrated every year on the 15th day
of the eighth lunar month in the Chinese Lunar calendar. It is
the second most important holiday in the Chinese calendar after
the Chinese Lunar New Year. This year it will be celebrated on
the 25th September.
Its celebration dated back as far as the Zhou dynasty (1134 BC
to 256 BC) when it was mentioned in the records of ceremonies.
It was then known as the Moon Festival. On this particular day,
people worshipped Chang E, the goddess of the moon, also known
as the goddess of longevity.
Throughout this period of Chinese history, the celebration of
the Moon Festival was less elaborated than the Dragon Boat Festival.
After the establishment of the Ming dynasty (1368 AD to 1644 AD),
the Moon Festival became much more popular and elaborated than
the Dragon Boat Festival as this day marked the beginning of the
uprising of the Han people against the Yuan (Mongol) Dynasty.
Chang E, the Goddess of the Moon and of Longevity
The ancient Chinese believed that the universe was divided into
three worlds: heaven, earth and hell. Heaven was a place of paradise
and presided over by the Jade Emperor. Immortals, good people
and fairies lived in heaven. Then there was earth on which ordinary
people lived. At the bottom of the scale was hell - to which people
of evil, criminals and sinners were condemned.
Working as a lady-in-waiting in the palace of the Jade Emperor,
was a beautiful young girl. One day, she accidentally broke a
very valuable porcelain jar which she was cleaning. She was summoned
to appear before the Jade Emperor for explanation. All she could
say was that she broke it by accident. Unhappy with her answer,
the Jade Emperor banished her to earth.
She was assigned to be re-born in the family of a poor farmer
by the surname of Chang. She was named E, which meant graceful
or elegant. Chang E grew up as an ordinary peasant girl like all
the other girls in her village. At the age of eighteen, she struck
up a friendship with a young hunter named Hou Yi. He was an excellent
marksman with the bow and arrow.
One day a very strange phenomenon happened. Ten suns rose in the
east instead of one. The blazing suns beat down intensely upon
earth. Everything on earth became very hot and was drying up.
Masses of people died of dehydration and people were resigned
to a certain death.
Fortunately, Hou Yi had an idea on how to save the world. He went
up to a very high mountain and with his bow and arrows shot down
nine suns. The weather on earth gradually returned to normal.
The people hailed Hou Yi as their hero. In gratitude for saving
their lives, they elected him as their king. King Hou Yi married
Chang E and their life together was blissful.
Later, King Hou Yi realised that man was not immortal and he could
not live forever. He became obsessed with the desire to seek immortality
and relied more and more on superstitions. He employed in his
palace many sorcerers. The most prominent one told him that he
could make an elixir of longevity by way of alchemy. For this
process, he needed many children to be used as fuel. The process
could only produce one elixir tablet and no more. King Hou Yi
agreed and was willing to supply him with as many children as
he needed. Chang E was totally against the idea which she thought
to be cruel.
A month later and after many children had been sacrificed, the
elixir tablet was ready. One night Chang E stole into the production
chamber which was located at the top of the palace and saw the
tablet. However, King Hou Yi and his sorcerer suddenly came into
the chamber and Chang E tried to hide the tablet but could not
find a place for it. So she put it into her mouth. King Hou Yi
and his sorcerer ordered her to return the tablet and proceeded
menacingly towards her. Frightened, she accidentally swallowed
it. King Hou Yi was furious and demanded the return of the tablet.
They chased her until they reach a dead end at the top of the
palace and with no escape in sight. Chang E jumped out of an open
window.
Strangely, she did not fall to the ground but instead went floating
up into the sky. The elixir tablet had immortalised her and she
had become a fairy. She kept floating skyward until she arrived
on the moon. The Jade Emperor requested her to return to his palace.
However, Chang E refused and decided to live alone on the moon
where she is still living.
Celebrating the uprising of the Han people against the Mongols
In 1280 AD the Mongols came from northern China and destroyed
the Song Dynasty (960 AD to 1280 AD). They established the Yuan
Dynasty (1280 AD to 1368 AD).
Han Chinese were oppressed, suppressed, maltreated, persecuted,
generally ill-treated and regarded as nothing more than slaves.
The Han Chinese had had enough of hardship under the Mongols.
During the years between 1348 AD to 1353 AD many groups of people
were organised throughout the country for the aim of fostering
rebellion against the Mongols. One of them was Liu Fu Tong in
Anhui province, a priest of the White Lotus Sect.
In the beginning, Liu could not find a secret place to convene
a meeting with his followers as all Han Chinese were kept under
very strict surveillance and public gathering was forbidden. Liu
tried to set a date for an uprising against the District Officer
in Ying Zhou (present day Fu Yang city in Anhui province), but
there was no way he could meet his followers. It was around mid-Autumn
in 1351 AD and the moon would, in a few days, be very round, big
and bright; the moon festival was nearing.
Liu finally devised an ingenious plan. He sought the permission
of the Mongol District Officer to allow him to offer cakes to
friends as a symbolic gesture to bless the longevity of the Mongol
Emperor, Shun Di who reigned from 1333 AD to 1388 AD. The District
Officer gladly agreed as it would after all be an occasion to
celebrate the long reign of the Yuan Dynasty.
Liu made a great quantity of sweet round cakes shaped like the
full moon which he called "Moon Cakes". Inside each
of them, he inserted a piece of paper with the words "Kill
the Tartars on the night of 15th of the 8th moon". He gave
every household a cake with the instruction that it should be
eaten only on the night of 15th of the 8th moon.
When the appointed night arrived the Han Chinese started to cut
and eat their cakes. They were surprised to discover the clandestine
messages inside the cakes calling them to arms. During that night
all the Mongols, including the District Officer, in Ying Zhou
were killed. Thus Liu Fu Tong laid the foundation stone for rebellion
against the Mongols.
The man who eventually exterminated the Yuan Dynasty was Zhu Yuan
Zhang. He established the Ming Dynasty (1368 AD to 1644 AD). To
commemorate and celebrate the event of the night of 15th of the
8th moon in 1351 AD the tradition of making and eating Moon Cakes
was born.
Finally as the Moon Festival comes right in the middle of autumn,
it is nowadays being called the "Mid-Autumn Festival".
Nowadays, a traditional moon cake is filled with lotus seed paste
with a salty egg yolk in the center, which represents the moon.
Chang E is also depicted on the cake surface, in a picture of
a beautiful maiden against the background of a full moon. These
cakes are very high in calories and therefore are usually cut
into quarters to be shared with families and friends. The Mid
Autumn Festival therefore symbolises family reunion as did the
moon cakes.
Dr. Edouard LEUNG SHING
