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Story of chinese mid autumn festival12/7/2023 They are packaged and eaten like desserts. Non-traditional mooncakes include the “snow skin” mooncakes and new flavours or forms, which may include ice-cream, chocolate and other sweet fillings. Its circular shape signifies domestic harmony and the fullness of the moon. The mooncake-a hallmark of the festival-is a round pastry traditionally filled with lotus-seed or bean paste and salted egg yolk. According to folklore, the rebellion used mooncakes to hide messages that called for an uprising on the night of mid-autumn.Ĭelebrations for this festival involves social gatherings and an opportunity to indulge in mooncakes. The festival is also linked to the war between the Han Chinese resistance army and the Yuan Dynasty in the mid-14th century. Other myths associated with the festival include the pounding of medicine by the Jade Rabbit (玉兔捣药) and Wu Gang, the woodcutter (吴刚伐桂). Chang E has been traditionally worshipped by the Chinese community as the Moon Goddess. When Chang E drank the elixir, she found herself transported to the heavens. Several versions of this myth exists, and in a commonly cited version, she drinks the elixir of immortality to save her people from the eternal tyranny of an immortal Hou Yi, who had become an arrogant and domineering ruler. There are many myths surrounding the origins of the Mid-Autumn Festival, and the most common one is the story of Chang E (嫦娥), the wife of Hou Yi (后羿). Since then, the custom of sacrificing to the moon has been spread among the folklore.The Mid-Autumn Festival is likely to have origins in ancient worship practices of the moon, and served as a harvest festival to express gratitude to the gods. After hearing that Chang E became a goddess, folk people also offered sacrifices to Chang E to pray for peace and good luck. He took the food liked by Chang E to an altar and offered it as a sacrifice for her. He was amazed to see a figure which looked just like his wife appeared in the Moon. On realizing what happened to his wife, Hou Yi was so grieved that he shouted Chang E’s name to the sky. Chang E’s great love for her husband drew her towards the Moon, which is the nearest place to the earth on the heaven. The moment she drank it, she flew out of the window and up into the sky. Knowing that she could not win, she took out the elixir and swallowed it immediately. Unfortunately, Peng Meng secretly saw Hou Yi give the potion to his wife and three days later, while Hou Yi was out hunting, Peng Meng rushed into the backyard and demanded that Chang E hand over the elixir. Instead of drinking the potion himself, Hou Yi took it home and presented it to Chang E to keep. Wangmu presented him an elixir which, if took, would cause him to ascend immediately to heaven and become a god/goddess. One day, Hou Yi came upon Wangmu (the queen of heaven) on the way to meet his old friend. Later, Hou Yi married a beautiful and kind-hearted woman named Chang E and lived a happy life. On hearing of this amazing feat and the hero who performed it, people came from far and wide to learn from him. It was the hero Hou Yi, who, owing to his great strength, shot down nine of the ten suns. It is said that in ancient times, ten suns existed and the extreme heat made people’s lives very difficult. The story of Chang E is the most widely accepted tale regarding the moon and the origin of the Mid-Autumn Festival. Then the custom was accepted by the masses and became more and more popular over time. In ancient China, most emperors worshiped the moon annually. The early form of the Mid-Autumn Festival was derived from the custom of moon worship during the Zhou Dynasty over 3,000 years ago.
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