Friday, October 06, 2006
MiD aUtuMn festival
yo.. story time, boy & gals.
the Mid-Autumn Festival also known as moon, mooncake or august moon festival.
in HK, Taiwan & SEA, it may referred to Lantern Festival too which fall on the 15th day of the Lunar New Year dating back over 3000 yrs to China's Zhou Dynasty.
the craze time of mooncake snatching in singapore
1 month before the mid-autumn, u'll see everywhere like below:
The custom of "moon" worshipping can be traced as far back as the ancient Xia & Shang Dynasties (2000 BC - 1066 BC).
the practice became prevalent in TANG Dynasty (618-907) and at Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279), ppl start making round moon cakes as gifts to their relatives. Since Ming (1368-1644) & Qing Dynasties (1644-1911), the custom of mid-autumn festival celebration has become unprecedentedly popular.
legendaries related to Moon Day
Chang-E Flies to the Moon
There is a story dating back to around 2170 B.C. Ten suns took turns to illuminate to the earth. But one day all the suns appeared together. The scorching earth was saved by a strong and tyrannical archer Hou Yi. He succeeded in shooting down nine of the suns. Hou Yi gained the elixir of life from a goddess, which, however, was accidentally swallowed by his beautiful wife Chang E. Then she found herself floating and flew to the moon. Hou Yi loved his divinely beautiful wife so much that he didn't shoot down the moon. Depressed Hou Yi found the moon especially bright as if Chang E was up there, so he set alter in memory of his beloved wife with all kinds of her favorites..
Wu Kang Chops Cassia Tree
Wu Kang was a shiftless fellow fascinated with the magic of immortality. One day he went to live in the mountains where he importuned an immortal to teach him. He was taught about herbs and chess and finally given books to study, but every time, he finished impatient and unlearned. At last, angry master banished him 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 had to be up there chopping ever and ever.
If you look carefully at the dark shadows on the full moon, you may see Wu Kang chopping a cassia tree.
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."
sMurFy at ... [ 12:00 AM ]
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