Today is/was the Chinese holiday of the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival.
In Western cultures, we usually see the “man in the moon”, but the Chinese see the Jade Rabbit, pounding a mortar and pestle to make the pill of immortality. (If you still see the man, look at the right eye (your right side as you’re looking at the moon) as the rabbit’s head, with two long ears pointing up and to the right. The “smile” becomes his long feet and fluffy tail, while the nose makes the body. The other eye becomes part of the mortar and pestle.)
Chinese Child Book has some good coloring pages to tell the story of the archer, the Moon Goddess, the ten suns, and the pill of immortality (and also one of the Jade Rabbit in the approximate position that you’ll see in the moon’s dark spots). My short synopsis:
In ancient times, there were ten suns. Each one would shine on the earth for one day. However, one day, all ten suns rose at the same time. The earth began to scorch, rivers disappeared, the people were panicked, and the emperor was alarmed. The emperor summouned his archer, Hou Yi, to shoot down the extra suns with his enchanted bow and arrows.
Hou Yi did such a good job that the Queen Mother of the West rewarded him with a pill of immortality. Warned to prepare himself properly before taking the pill, Hou Yi travelled home to tell his wife the good news.
Hou Yi’s wife, Chang E, the daughter of the river god, was less than thrilled. In fact, she was jealous of her husband. The next time that Hou Yi was called away on an errand for the emperor, Chang E searched the house for the pill. She finally found the glowing pill, hidden in the straw thatch of the roof, and promptly swallowed it.
Unforunately, Hou Yi came home right then. Startled at the sight of his now-floating wife, he immediately understood what had happened and chased her. She fled, finally landing, exhausted, on the moon. Out of breath, she coughed out the covering of the pill, which turned into the Jade Rabbit, who is still on the moon to this day, working at making the pill of immortality. Chang E, some stories say, was changed into a three-legged toad. Although she became the moon goddess, she deeply regretted her actions and missed her husband.
Hou Yi, having failed to catch his wife, built a mansion on the sun and eventually came to forgive his wife. On the fifteenth day of each lunar month, he visits her, and she resumes her form as a beautiful woman, and the moon shines a little brighter.
As with all good holidays, food is involved! Specifically, moon cakes, a very dense pastry that is usually filled with lotus paste or red bean paste. (”Cake” is used for lack of a better word; these things are not in any way, shape, or form fluffy!) Often, a salted quail egg yolk is imbedded in the filling, symbolizing the full moon of the festival and family togetherness. (One book I read by a Chinese author commented that the egg yolks were “an acquired taste” and that only her grandparents ever ate the things. They pop out easily, leaving the sweet, dense filling.)
Moon cakes are sold in lovely tins at Chinese groceries; we’ve always received a fancy presentation bag with them. $10 or more for four cakes may seem pricey, but you aren’t giving one cake to each person; they’re really too sweet and dense for that! In fact, there are usually a set of small, two-pronged forks and a knife for cutting up and passing out pieces of the cakes.
So, we went out to a local Chinese buffet, admired the rising full moon, and read the story tonight. Tomorrow, we may even try our hands at a new batch of moon cakes (I have a lovely mold for them, but the last batch I tried a few years ago wasn’t that great). I’d promise photos, but I just remembered the camera is still broken. *sigh*
And no, sorry, I am too tired to discuss politics tonight!
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