The First Man on the Moon is Not Neil. Armstrong?

As a culture rooted from millennium of agricultural tradition, the Chinese follow the lunar calendar till this day.  Lunar calendar is also called 阴yīn历lì (阴yīn refers to the moon) or 农nóng民míng历lì, the farmers' calendar.  Despite the global climate change, the lunar calendar still works like the old faithful.

There are 24 节jéi气chì in a year on the lunar calendar.  These 'nodes' announce the change of the weather, notifying the sowing, de-weeding, and harvesting, as well as reminding to take the proper type of herb to help supplement the body.  It's amazing how people in the old days paid such detailing attention and came up a calendar that perhaps no other could match.

So why is the Moon Festival (the official name should be "Mid Autumn Festival" 中zhöng秋qïu节jéi important? 

To the Chinese, there are three major holidays cohere to the 24 nodes of the lunar calendar.  Chinese New Year is without a question the most well celebrated holidays worldwide.  After CNY is the Dragon Boat Festival (official name is "Mid Summer Festival" 端düan午wŭ节jéi), which falls in the middle of the summer season when all things reach their primes - good and evil alike.  We've talked about this holiday in detail, please refer to that*.  And then, there is the Moon Festival.

Moon Festival, the Mid Autumn Festival, as its name suggests, falls in the middle of the autumn season.  This is the season for harvest, and so all family members are gathered together to work in the fields and to offer their thanks to the nature.  Since the lunar calendar is based on the moon, the object of the ritual offering is naturally the moon (ah, la Luna..).

The festival is first celebrated in the Tang Dynasty (唐táng朝cháo, 唐táng代dài) and the celebration ritual reached the climax in Song Dynasty (宋sòng朝cháo, 宋sòng代dài).  Although moon cake (月yùe饼bĭng) was part of the ritual food for the holiday, it became inevitable in Yuan Dynasty (元yúan朝cháo, 元yúan代dài) when a general 朱zhü元yúan璋zhäng used the moon cake to conceal the secret message which called for people to rise up and overturn the Yuan Dynasty.  朱zhü元yúan璋zhäng then became the emperor and started the Ming Dynasty (明míng朝cháo, 明míng代dài) - the last second dynasty of the Chinese history.

As a romantic people brewed by 5 millennia of rich culture and history, there are a number of stories that are associated with the Moon/Mid Autumn Festival.  First, we must introduce you to the rabbit on the moon.  The western culture puts a man on the moon, we Chinese have a rabbit on the moon.  And not just a rabbit, but a rabbit that is pestling something in the stone mortar.  I think that something should be rice, after all it was a Chinese that came up with this graphic description so rice would be a logical assumption - for those who must know what is being pestling in the stone mortar.  Similar as the "man on the moon", the fantasy description is created from the shadows on the surface of the moon.  And the name of this rabbit - yes, our rabbit has a name - is 玉yù兔tù, the jade rabbit, since the moon glows like the jade, smooth and tender.

Now the romantic love story.  There were 10 suns in the sky and the 10 suns scorched the land. (Oh, sorry, did I forget to begin with "Long long time ago, in a land far far away in China"?)  No crops could be produced and people were dying from hunger and thirst.  A strong brave man 后hòu羿yì took 10 arrows and climbed up to the tallest mountain (the world's ridge).  He shot down 9 suns and spared the last one.  In honor of his bravery, the gods in heaven gave him a jar of pills that would make him live forever.  后hòu羿yì has a beautiful wife 嫦cháng娥é and he gave the jar of pills to her.  Unfortunately, one of后hòu羿yì 's follower learned about the pills and forced嫦cháng娥é to give him the jar.  In panic, 嫦cháng娥é swallowed the whole jar and she flew up towards the heaven and rested on the moon.  Since后hòu羿yì was unable to fly up to the moon and嫦cháng娥é was unable to come down, the two lovers could only live separately and miss each other in distance.  When the moon was in full shape and that the surface could be seen clearly, 后hòu羿yì would set up a table filled with all the sweets that嫦cháng娥r liked.  That was believed to be the reason why people eat moon cakes and other sweets especially on the day of the moon festival.

For the people nowadays, sweets are not enough.  While people gather together to appreciate the beautiful full moon, barbeque for all has become a trend.  After all, a holiday is supposed to be of food, folks and fun.  So throw another nice steak on the grill while the moon is over the earth tonight.  Party on, folks!!