Lunar pareidolia
Lunar pareidolia refers to the pareidolic images seen by humans on the face of the Moon. The Moon's surface is a complex mixture of dark areas (the lunar "maria", or "seas") and lighter areas (the highlands). Being a natural element seen constantly by humans throughout the ages, many cultures have seen shapes in these dark and light areas that have reminded them of people, animals, or objects, often related to their folklore and cultural symbols; the best-known are the Man in the Moon in Western folklore and the Moon Rabbit of Asia and the Americas. Other  cultures perceive the silhouette of a woman, a frog, a moose, a buffalo, or a dragon (with its head and mouth to the right and body and wings to the left) in the full moon. To many cultures of Melanesia and Polynesia, the Moon is seen to be a cook over a three-stone fire. Alternatively, the vague shape of the overall dark and light regions of the Moon may resemble a Yin Yang symbol. The Man in the Moon. The Man in the Moon is an imaginary figure resembling a human face, head, or body, that observers from some  cultural backgrounds typically perceive in the bright disc of the full moon. Several versions are displayed above. Rabbit or hare. In Chinese culture, the rabbit in the Moon (a companion of Chang'e) is pounding medicine. Similarly, in Japan and Korea, popular culture sees a rabbit making mochi and tteok, respectively, in the Moon. In Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica the rabbit is often associated with the Moon, for example, Tecciztecatl, the Aztec moon god, was pictured as an anthropomorphic rabbit. Frequently, the Maya moon goddess is represented with a rabbit in her lap. There is also a myth involving Quetzalcoatl and the  Moon rabbit. Female figures. In Elizabethan England, the spots of the Moon were supposed to represent a witch carrying sticks of wood on her back, or an old man with a lantern (which was illustrated by Shakespeare in his comedy "A Midsummer Night's Dream"). A more recent Western image is the profile of a coiffed woman wearing a jeweled pendant, the jewel being the crater Tycho, which at full moon is very bright and has bright radiating lines (rays). In New Zealand, the Māori legend holds that the Moon shows a woman with a local tree, the "Ngaio". In  Chinese Mythology, Chang'e (various spellings) lives on the Moon. She was mentioned in the conversation between Houston Capcom and Apollo 11 crew just before the first Moon landing: The ancient Tagalogs see the lunar pareidolia as a face of a maiden ("doncella") which they called "sangmucti" ("sangmukti"). Their name for said maiden is "Colalaiyng" ("Kulalaying"). Archbishop of Manila Felipe Pardo (1686-1688) mentioned in his inquisition report that the Tagalogs from Laguna also referred to her as "“Dalágañg Binúbúkot” "(Cloistered Maiden) and "“Dalágañg nása Buwán” " (Maiden in the Moon). Toad. "The toad was seen by Chinese Taoists as... the moon , representing Chang'e, the transformed wife of Yi, the excellent archer... According to Robert M. DeGraaff, in some representations of the moon-toad, the "ling chih" fungus is shown growing out of the creature's forehead." Ali. Shia Muslims believe that the name of Ali Ibne-Abi Talib (Muhammad's son in law) is written on the Moon. This interpretation has roots in several hadith by Muhammad where he compares Ali to the Moon and himself to the Sun. There are also other esoteric interpretations of this analogy in Islamic philosophy. King Mohamed V of Morocco. During the exile of the  Moroccan royal family in Madagascar between 1953 and 1955, many Moroccans reported seeing the face of King Mohamed V on the Moon, in a sort of collective hallucination, possibly at the instigation of Moroccan nationalists who were distributing flyers with the King's image prior to that.