From: yilin@mits.mdata.fi (Yi-Lin Lee)
Subject: The AutuMid-Autumn Festival
Organization: Microdata Oy, Helsinki, Finland
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 21:09:46 GMT

Hi, netters,

Ever since the dawn of recorded history, man has been fascinated with the
moon.  The Chinese not only base all important events on the Lunar calendar,
but also set aside one special day of the year, the fifteenth day of the
eighth lunar month, to celebrate the Mid-Autumn or Moon Festival, one of
the three major cultural events celebrated every year in Chinese society.
According to the Chinese, this is the day that the moon shines at its
largest and brightest.  This year, this date corresponds to September 11,
Friday.  Wah, it is tomorrow!

According to the ancient legend, Hou Yih, an expert archer, was an officer
in the court of the emperor around 2000 B.C.  One day ten suns suddenly
appeared in the heavens, and the anxious emperor ordered Hou Yih to shoot
the nine additional suns from the sky, which the skillful archer did.
Learning of his prowess, the Goddess of the Western Heaven commissioned
Hou Yih to build a multicolored palace of jade for her.  An expert architect,
he built such a beautiful palace that the Goddess rewarded him with a pill
containing the elixir of immortality, warning him not to take it until he
had undergone a full year of prayer and fasting.  Hou Yih hid the pill at 
home until he could satisfy these conditions.

At the time, Hou Yih was married to a woman named Chang-O whose exquisite
beauty was surpassed only by her curiosity.  She soon discovered the hidden
pill and promptly swallowed it, immediately becoming airborne and soaring
to the moon.  Hou Yih tried to catch her but, for all his skills, was
unable to do so.  According to tradition, Chang-O's beauty is at its most
radiant on the day of the Moon Festival, when the moon is fullest and
brightest.

A slightly different version has Chang-O coughing up the pill which instantly
changed into a rabbit and caused Chang-O to become a three-legged toad.
Most people, however, prefer the former story.

It is not wordiness to tell you these stories again and again, yearly and
yearly.  Those stories have remained deeply in all Chinese life.  During
the Moon Festival, Chinese families traditionally get together to enjoy
an evening of dining moon gazing, and munching on moon cakes, a popular
Chinese dessert.  Surly, the moon cake would not be forgotten as the
most important role at this day.  The cakes are round pastries stuffed 
with sweet fillings, commonly red bean paste with an egg yolk in the center,
or fruits and preserves.  At this time of year many shops are full of the
golden brown pastries.

Moon cakes are frequently given to friends and relatives, and this widespread
custom once helped launch a revolution in ancient China.  The Mongols, alien
conquerors, established the Yuan dynasty (1279-1368 A.D.) to rule over a 
weak and divided China.  A warrior named Chu Yuan-chang decided to free his
country of the Mongols.  He placed a slip of paper containing the message of
rebellion inside each moon cake, and in this way, Chu led a popular uprising
that overthrew the invaders.

Let's praying for the good weather tomorrow night and spending the night
under the moon with family or friends.  To repeat the thousand-year-stories.
To watch the shining bright "only" moon.  It could be a delightful and
refreshing experience.

yilin

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