|
Chinese Moon Festival
The Chinese Moon Festival, sometimes called the Mid-Autumn Festival, takes place on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month.
This year that date falls on September 18th (2005). The festival dates back to the Tang dynasty 618 A.D. and celebrates the
biggest and brightest full moon of the year, the harvest moon. As with many Chinese celebrations, there are ancient legends
to explain the holiday. The Chinese were, and still are, an agricultural society. In ancient times, they planted and harvested
by the lunar calendar, using the moon as an important time reference and guide.
One of the legends about the Moon Festival is about a builder or architect named Hou Yih. Hou Yih built a beautiful jade
palace for the Goddess of the Western Heaven or sometimes called the Royal Mother. The Goddess was so happy that she gave
Hou Yih a special pill that contained the magic elixir of immortality. But with it came the condition and warning that he
may not use the pill until he had accomplished certain things.
Hou Yih had a beautiful wife named Chang-O. Chang-O was as curious as she was beautiful. One day she found the pill and
without telling her husband, she swallowed it.
The Goddess of the Western Heaven was very angry and as a punishment, Chang-O was banished to the moon where, according
to the legend, Chang-O can be seen at her most beautiful on the night of the bright harvest moon.
The Moon Festival is a big holiday with family reunions, moon gazing activities, and feasting on "moon cakes" which are
round pastries filled with red bean paste, fruit or jam. Dragon and lion dances, whose origins also date back to ancient China,
are wonderful dances done during festivals, especially exciting are the dragon and lion dances.
Legend says the dragon dance was invented to stop the spread of epidemics, sickness and disease. Over the years it evolved
into a folk activity. The lion dance was originally used for worship and to pray for rain, but now the dance is used for entertainment.
The lion chases a scampering clown, who dodges from left to right, jumping to and fro to make fun of the lion.
Chinese Mooncakes- Home Style
Ingredients: 1/2 cup salted butter ; 1/4 cup sugar ; 2 egg yolks ; 1 cup all-purpose flour ; 1 can red bean paste or 1
cup jam
In large mixing bowl, combine butter, sugar & 1 egg yolk. Stir until creamy & combine completely.
Add flour & mix thoroughly. Form into large ball & wrap in foil. Put in refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Unwrap chilled dough & form small balls in palms of your hand. These are the moon cakes.
Make a hole with your thumb in the center of each mooncake & fill with half a teaspoon of your favorite jam or red
bean paste.
Brush each cake with the other beaten egg yolk.
Preheat oven to 375. Bake for 20 minutes or just until outside edges are slightly brown. Makes 24 moon cakes
Haagen Daz mooncakes
Haagen-Daz has introduced a line of ice cream mooncakes
in Asian markets. The Haagen Daz in NYC Chinatown at the corner of Mott & Bayard (212-571-1970) has ice cream
mooncakes. An orange sherbet center covered in vanilla ice cream and covered in belgian chocolate fudge. Serves
2-4 people $12.95 each.
Click here to mailorder Mooncakes from China Sprout: Mooncakes in a beautiful tin are available via mailorder from ChinaSprout.
The price is $19.95 (plus shipping) for 4 assorted mooncakes in a decorative tin
Click here for some mooncake bakeries from http://www.familyculture.com/holidays/mooncake_order.htm : Eastern Bakery, 720
Grant & Commercial, San Francisco Chinatown, 415-392-4497, Eastern Bakery is the oldest Chinese mooncake bakery in America.
It makes more than a million mooncakes a year. Yi Mei Bakery, 61 Division Street, New York Chinatown 212-925-1921 Marias Bakery
148 LayFayette St, New York Chinatown 212-966-7618 Vegetarian Paradise 33 Mott Street, New York Chinatown 212-406-6988/2896
Click here to order Mooncake molds from the Wok Shop: http://www.wokshop.com/products/hard_to_find_mooncake.html : Since moon
cakes are usually only available for one month of the year, they are often very expensive and hard-to-find. With these beautiful
hand-carved hardwood molds,you can make your own moon cakes at home for friends and family. Furthermore, the detail on these
molds is so exquisite that they also make excellent butter molds, and when not in use, beautiful decorations for the walls
of your kitchen. Moon cake recipes included with purchase. Handmade in China. Round Lotus Design: 13/4" x 1" $7.95 Round Floral
w/Chinese characters: 23/4" x 11/4" $19.95 Square Floral w/Chinese characters: 23/4" x 11/4" $19.95
Click here to make your Own Mooncake http://thestar.com.my/kuali/recipes/lunar.html :By Amy Beh Mooncakes these days don't
come cheap anymore and I reckon housewives are keen to bake their own for their families as well as to give as gifts to relatives
and close friends. Here are some recipes to get you started.
Recipe for some mooncake fillings http://www.kitchenlink.com/msgbrd/board_3/2000/JUL/4383.html
Easy Chinese Moon Cakes Here's a recipe for easy mooncakes, really sort of like German jam thumbprint cookies. http://www.dltk-holidays.com/china/easy_chinese_mooncakes.htm
Simple moonckaes filled with jam recipe http://www.newton.mec.edu/Angier/DimSum/china__dim_sum__moon_festi.html
Below I have added the Moonfestival story put together bt Terry Garlock. Some of the info is regional.
In 2005 the Moon Festival, on the 15th night of the 8th Lunar month, falls on September 18,
about a month from now. If you want to tell the legendary story of the Moon Festival to your children or a school class, you
need the info early, like now.
The Moon Festival is second only to the New Year celebration in importance to Chinese people. One of the legends
of the Moon Festival is about the Moon Goddess, the Moon Princess, the Moon Fairy, the Moon Lady, all the same legendary person
named Chang Er.
The legend of Chang Er comes from so long ago there is no written record from that time, which itself
is legendary. So if you have some extra time, you might be interested to look back to the period that gave birth to the legend
of Chang Er.
In the long history of China there have been many wars and battles and struggles for control of the country.
Sometimes the bloodshed lasted for hundreds of years before a period of peace. Some rulers were benevolent and sought to improve
the lives of the people, but too often the people suffered and lived a harsh life.
Long before Confucius developed
a system of social order and ethical behavior, the concept of Mandate of Heaven emerged. Kings were said to derive their moral
authority by a Mandate of Heaven to rule the people. When a king indulged himself and his friends and family instead of ruling
for the benefit of the people, he dissolved his Mandate and his overthrow would be justified.
Perhaps because the people
suffered too many kings undeserving of the Mandate of Heaven, the legends of the earliest rulers who put the people first
were nurtured and passed from one generation to the next. Where legend leaves off and truth begins is hard to tell. . .
THREE
AUGUST ONES
The first rulers in Chinese history are three mythical kings called the Three August Ones or the Three
Sovereigns. They presided over a very long period of peace and prosperity:
The Heavenly King
The Earthly King
The
Human King
These were sage-kings who each is said to have ruled for thousands of years, acquiring longevity from the
virtue of their rule using their magical powers for the benefit of Chinese people. The Three August Ones are mingled with
the mythology of the beginning of the world and believed to be the gods named Fuxi, Nuwa and Shennong.
FIVE EMPERORS
Following
the Three August Ones are five legendary rulers, said to be morally perfect sage-kings. The first is the man who arose as
the strong conqueror from the earliest Chinese people who lived in the fertile plains of the Yellow River, Huang Di, The Yellow
Emperor.
Huang Di is credited with the invention of the chariot, the compass, tea and an impossibly long list of accomplishments
that no human could possibly achieve. Huang Di is considered to be the father of Chinese culture, and is worshiped as the
common first ancestor of all Chinese people. Every year at the Huang Di Mausoleum at Mt Qiaoshan in Shaanxi province, there
is a celebration honoring Huang Di. On the fifth day of the fourth lunar month, on Tomb Sweeping Day, known as the Qing Ming
Festival or Festival of Pure Brightness, Chinese people pay special tribute to their ancestors, and about 500,000 people gather
at Huang Di's Mausoleum to celebrate him.
Huang Di was the first of the Five Emperors. He selected his successor based
on skill and ability and personal qualities. He chose Zhuanxu, who took the throne when Huand Di died. Zhuanxu chose Ku to
succeed him, Ku chose Yao,and Yao chose Shun. Each took the throne when their predecessor king died. These Five Emperors are
remembered for their rule for the benefit of the people instead of themselves.
During the reign of Shun, the last of
the Five Emperors, floods plagued the land again and again. Shun sought a wise man to solve the flooding problem. After several
failed attempts, a man named Yu designed and managed a huge project that diverted excess water to the sea. In recognition
of Yu's magnificent accomplishment, Shun did something nobody had ever heard of - he abdicated the throne, he stepped down
and appointed Yu as king.
The people loved Yu, who not only had solved a terrible flooding problem, but ruled the land
for the benefit of the people. Years after Yu had ruled and age made him consider his successor, Yu chose Boyi, a man who
worked with him on the flood control project, a man he trusted. Yu did not consider his own son, Qi, to have the strength
of character to be king. But when Yu died, Qi, killed Boyi and took the throne by claiming rights of heredity. Thereafter
the hereditary system of monarchy, which established a privileged nobility based on bloodlines, led to a succession of seventeen
kings over fourteen generations. This first "dynasty" was called Xia. The self-indulgent rule of this dynasty's kings lasted
over 400 years.
Yu was the last of the early kings remembered for his superior morality and ethics. It is fitting
that during the kingdom of Yu, around 4,000 years ago, the Moon festival legend of Chang Er was born.
On the 15th night of the 8th month in the Chinese Lunar calendar, the moon is said to be at
it's biggest and brightest. Chinese people say the moon shines brightest with love that night, for that is the one night of
the year when the Moon Goddess Chang Er is reunited with her husband, Hou Yi, on the moon. Every year on that date, usually
in September on the Gregorian calendar, Chinese people celebrate the Moon Festival, also known as the Mid-Autumn Festival.
The
legend of the Moon Goddess is a story of the sun and the moon, the opposites that form the yin and the yang of Chinese culture,
the opposing forces in the universe that change into their opposites in an eternal cycle of reversal.
So let me tell
you the legend of the Moon Goddess.
Long ago in China floods had devastated crops and there was widespread starvation.
Homes and entire towns and cities were torn apart.
And yet the rains continued to fall. What could the people do?
The
Chinese people believed the Jade Emperor was the ruler of the heavens and all other immortals. According to legend, the Jade
Emperor heard the pleading of the people on earth and he saw the mortals had suffered in the floods, and he wished to help
the farmers raise animals and cultivate their fields.
To assure an abundance of sunshine, the Jade Emperor gave orders
to his ten sons to become ten SUNSand travel across the earth's sky one at a time, each taking one day, and thereby ensuring
an abundance of sunshine to make the crops grow. The young suns became bored with their solitary duty and disobeyed; all ten
suns came out at once and the heat from ten suns shining all at once made the earth intolerably hot.
People and animals
died of heat, rivers dried up, the oceans boiled and land became barren and forests scorched and burned.
The farmers
asked the Jade Emperor for help again, giving sacrifices and burning incense to show their respect. The Jade Emperor saw with
dismay the destruction caused by his sons.
The Jade Emperor ordered his sons to come down, but they refused, and he
therefore sent Hou Yi, his bravest immortal, down to earth to solve the problem of the ten suns. Hou Yi was not only brave
and a great archer with a magic bow, but he was a persuasive speaker and the Jade Emperor thought surely he could solve the
problem by speaking eloquently to his 10 sons.
Hou Yi had a beautiful wife named Chang Er. They were deeply in love
with each other,known as the Divine Couple. Chang Er didn't like the thought of leaving the heavens to live on earth, but
she was unwilling to be separated from her husband, so together they left the heavens and descended to earth.
Hou
Yi brought his magic bow from the heavens with him. Hou Yi climbed to the top of Tienshan mountain in modern-day Xinjiang
province and began negotiating with the suns to have pity on the unfortunate people. He pleaded to the suns to take turns
and make their journeys across the sky singly, one for each day, and explained the white blaze of ten suns is too much for
the people and the land to bear.
But the ten misbehaving suns considered it dull and boring to go across the sky one
at a time and that much more fun was to be had by coming out together, so they refused to listen. They increased their heat
and caused even more suffering. This angered Hou Yi. He took out his magic bow and arrows and shot down nine of the suns.
The last sun begged for his life and promised obedience at performing his task of separating night from day, and
it is a good thing Hou Yi did not shoot the last sun or daytime would have been gone forever.
Finally the earth was
at peace, the rains came, the rivers began to flow, farmers planted crops, the rice fields grew, and people once again enjoyed
their work and their lives.
But things did not go quite so well for Hou Yi and Chang Er. The Jade Emperor was furious
that Hou Yi had killed nine of his sons; he had hoped Hou Yi would be able to persuade them to behave. So the Jade Emperor
stripped Hou Yi and his wife Chang Er of their immortality and banished them to remain on earth as mortals and not return
to the heavens.
Hou Yi and Chang Er were unhappy about being banished from the heavens, and they argued with each other
too much. Hou Yi spent too much time teaching the people how to defend their land and themselves, neglecting his lovely
and lonely wife. Chang Er was especially unhappy to be an earthly mortal with all of mortality's suffering, aging and death
in particular. She went over in her mind again and again how Hou Yi shot down the Jade Emperor's nine sons, and how they could
never return to heaven.
The couple became estranged. Chang Er argued constantly, and to escape her sharp tongue
Hou Yi spent more time away from home and had a love affair with another woman. In Chinese legends, these transgressions
rarely go
unpunished.
In an attempt to make his wife happy, Hou Yi climbed Kunlun Mountain and begged the Royal
Goddess for a potion of immortality. The Goddess, gave him the potion, and told him if only one person took the potion they
would
become immortal and ascend to the heavens, but if they shared it with another, those two would become immortal but
would remain on earth forever.
The Royal Goddess said the potion had to be taken on the 15th night of the 8th lunar
month when the moon was most full and bright.. Hou Yi hurried home to tell Chang Er the good news - together they could once
again become immortal and live forever. The days went by, and on the 15th day of the eighth month, the moon rose over the
horizon full and fat, shining bright.
Hou Yi had gone hunting and had not yet returned. Chang Er grew impatient, she
began to suspect he was with another woman, and she became furious at her unfaithful husband. As the moon rose Chang Er went
into the garden, she looked up to the heavens and remembered the contentment in the life of immortality and the happiness
of the heavens, and then she thought of the sorrows of the earth. She was confused and filled with emotion. Thinking that
Hou Yi had abandoned her, she decided not to wait for him any longer, she swallowed the whole magic potion herself.
Suddenly
Chang Er felt her body becoming lighter, rising upwards towards the sky. At this moment Hou Yi returned home and saw Chang
Er ascending up into the moonlit sky faster and faster.
The immortals watching from the heavens did not approve of
Chang Er taking the potion for herself and abandoning her husband. Chang Er sensed their disapproval and changed her direction
to head toward the cold palace in the moon, to avoid the immortals in the heavens who were mad at her, and to be
closer to her husband.
Hou Yi watched Chang Er ascend in the sky and he took out his magic bow to shoot down the moon.
He aimed but he feared he might kill his wife, and so he did not shoot. Frustrated and saddened, he destroyed his magical
weapon.
When Chang Er arrived at the cold palace in the moon and saw what she had done, she was sad and lonely. Her
beloved husband was gone, she was cut off from the happy life in the heavens and banished to be eternally alone on the moon.
She became the Moon Goddess.
The Jade Emperor sent Hou Yi to live on the sun. Hou Yi and Chang Er became the opposites
they had been as husband and wife, sun and moon, yin and yang. Every year since then, on the 15th night of the 8th lunar month
the Jade Emperor permits Hou Yi to visit his wife, and it is said that is why the moon is at its fullest and brightest on
that night, shining with the love of the Moon Goddess and the husband she misses so much.
The Moon Festival is often
called the Women's Festival, a time for lovers, to celebrate romance. The moon symbolizes beauty and elegance. While Westerners
worship the sun (yang or male) for its power, people in China
admire the moon (yin or female) as a trusted friend.
Now
you know the legend of the Moon Goddess.
A long, long time ago, about 500 BC, the ruler of China commanded that a great wall be
built to keep out foreign invaders. The wall was so large and covered so many miles that construction continued off and on
for nearly 2,000 years.
But the fierce Mongol invader Genghis Kahn said the Wall was only as strong as those on guard,
and could be overcome. In the year 1280 AD, Kublai Kahn, grandson of Genghis Kahn, conquered China and destroyed the Song
Dynasty (AD 960 to 1280). Kublai Kahn probably did not know how to speak Chinese, but he took the Chinese name Yuan for his
dynasty.
The Yuan was the only foreign dynasty to rule all of China. At its height, the Mongol empire stretched from
Korea to Hungary and as far south as Vietnam. It was the largest empire the world has ever known. For nearly 90 years the
Mongols ruled China in the Yuan Dynasty (AD1280 to 1368) with a cruel and iron fist.
The Mongols treated the Northern
Han-Chinese as third class citizens and the Southern Han-Chinese as fourth class citizens. Oppressed, suppressed, mistreated
and persecuted, the ill-treated Han Chinese were condemned to slavery. Between AD 1348 and 1353, many secretly organized groups
started to rebel against the Mongol rule.
Liu Fu Tong of Anhui province was looking for a secret place to convene his
meetings with his followers to rebel against the Mongolians. Gatherings of a group of people were forbidden according to Mongolian
law. Therefore around Mid-Autumn in AD 1351 when the moon was beginning to grow very big, round and bright, Liu devised a
plan.
Liu Fu Tong sought permission from the Mongolian District Officer to allow him to give gifts to friends as a
symbolic gesture to "bless the longevity of the Mongolian Emperor." The District Officer gladly agreed. Liu then made
a lot of sweet round cakes shaped like the full moon and called them "Moon Cakes." Inside each cake, he put a piece of paper
with the words, "Kill the Mongols on the night of the 15th of the 8th moon." He gave every household a cake and he also told
them that they must eat the cakes only on the night of the 15th of the 8th moon.
When the day finally arrived, the
Han-Chinese cut their cakes to eat it. To their surprise, they discovered the messages inside the cakes. They knew this was
their chance for freedom, because if they acted together they could surprise and defeat the Mongols. On that night, all the
Mongolians including the District Officer living in Ying Zhou were killed. Therefore, Liu Fu Tong established this base as
a stepping stone for his rebellion.
Another Chinese man named Zhu Yuan Zhang led an uprising which exterminated the
Yuan Dynasty, returning the rule of China to the Chinese, and the Ming Dynasty (AD 1368 to 1644) was established.
Hence,
to commemorate and celebrate the victory over the cruel and oppressive Yuan Dynasty, people started to make and eat the sweet
cakes or moon cakes on that same night every year.
Today, Chinese communities all over the world make and eat moon
cakes during the Moon Festival to honor this tradition.
Moon Palace - The Legend of the Jade Rabbit
In this legend, three fairy sages transformed
themselves into pitiful old men and begged for something to eat from a fox, a monkey and a rabbit. The fox and the monkey
both had food to give to the old men, but the rabbit,
empty-handed, offered his own flesh instead, jumping into a blazing
fire to cook himself. The sages were so touched by the rabbit's sacrifice that they let him live in the Moon Palace where
he became the "Jade Rabbit."
Legend says the Jade Rabbit living on the moon is a friend to Chang Er, the Moon Goddess.
In a desperate attempt to bring her husband Hou Yo to join her on the moon, she asked the Jade Rabbit to try to mix the same
magic potion of immortality that brought her to the moon so she could give the potion to Hou Yi. Therefore the Jade Rabbit
is most often shown grinding medicine as he attempts again and again to find the right mix of the magic potion.
Moon
Palace - The Legend of Wu Kang
Wu Kang was a shiftless fellow who changed apprenticeships all the time. One day he
decided that he wanted to be immortal. Wu Kang went to live in the mountains where he begged immortals to teach him. First
the immortals taught him about the herbs used to cure sickness, but after three days he asked them to teach him something
else. So they taught him chess, but after a short while Wu Kang's enthusiasm again waned. Then Wu Kang was given the books
of immortality to study. Wu Kang became bored within a few days, and asked if they could travel to some new and exciting place.
Angered with Wu Kang's impatience, the master banished Wu Kang to the Moon Palace telling him that he must cut down
a huge Cassia tree before he could return to earth. Though Wu Kang chopped day and night, the magical tree restored itself
with each blow, and thus he is up there chopping away to this very day.
So now we know the legends of the Moon Goddess, the Jade Rabbit and Wu Kang, all still
on the moon. And we know the origin of moon cakes. But how do Chinese people celebrate the holiday?
The Moon Festival
in China is a little bit like Thanksgiving in the US. On this special day, Chinese people worship in temples and hold
happy family reunions at home.
After nightfall they stroll under the stars to view the brightest and fullest moon
of the year. Children run around with bright, colorful lanterns in many different designs and shapes.
The adults usually
indulge in eating many varieties of moon cakes with hot tea. Other traditional treats include pomelo, persimmon, steamed taro
dipped in sugar and roasted chestnuts. Practices vary by region.
Mooncakes come in elaborate and ornate boxes, some
sweet and some salty in flavor. They are stored in beautiful lacquer boxes constructed in various animal shapes. During the
celebration, moon cakes are piled high 13 in a
pyramid to represent the 13 lunar months in the Chinese lunar year.
Confectioners
start baking the cakes, which are made with gray, moon-colored flour, as much as a month before the festival, In fact, some
bakers make all their profits for the year from moon cake sales alone.
Moon Festival altars are adorned with five dishes
of round fruits, such as apples, peaches, pomegranates, grapes and small melons. The round shape symbolizes the moon, as well
as family unity.
Families, relations and friends gather to enjoy the full moon, a symbol of promise for abundance,
of harmony and luck. Some will beseech the beautiful Moon Goddess of Immortality for protection as well as family unity.
Each
year during the Moon Festival, you will see many couples dressed up as Hou Yi and his wife Cheng Er.
There are
large crowds in the street . . .
. . . and Dragon Dances . . .
. . . and Lion Dances . . .
. . . and
nighttime elaborate lanterns . . .
. . . and actors portraying Hou Yi shooting down the nine suns . . .
.
. . and everywhere you look . . . there is another Moon Goddess.
There are many legends and different ways to celebrate
the Moon Festival. Central to all of those celebrations is gathering of family to enjoy the company of one another.
When
the celebrating is done, Chinese people return to their daily lives knowing that next year, they will remember the Moon Goddess,
the Jade Rabbit, Wu Kang, the victory over oppression symbolized by mooncakes, beautiful nighttime lanterns, the beauty of
the most full moon, and the blessings of being near to their beloved family once again.
The Chinese people's annual
celebration of the Moon Festival keeps ancient traditions and legends alive, brings families together, and gives them a welcome
break from the daily grind of life.
If you are separated from your birth family in China, the night of the Moon Festival
is a time when you can gaze at the moon and know there is a good chance your birth family will gaze at that very same moon
the same night. Maybe, just maybe, while you are thinking and wondering about them, they might be thinking and wondering about
you.
|
