![]() Offering him a drink, Chang’e plucked a beautiful flower and gave it to him as a token of respect. When Chang’e saw the red bow and white arrows around his belt, she immediately recognized him as the savior, Hou Yi. A young man approached her and asked for a drink. One day, a charming, young woman, Chang’e, was on her way home from a stream, holding a bamboo container. Life was restored and humanity was saved. The weather immediately got cooler, heavy rains filled the rivers with fresh water, and the grass and trees turned green. When Hou arrived, he took out his red bow and white arrows and shot down the nine suns, one after another. ![]() The King of Heaven sent Hou Yi down to the earth to help. Ten suns burned fiercely in the sky like smoldering volcanoes that scorched the trees and grass, cracked and parched the land and dried up the river. ![]() LegendsĪ romantic legend about the festival is to commemorate Chang’e, who ate her husband’s elixir and flew to the moon.Ī long, long time ago, a terrible drought plagued the earth. By the time of the Northern Song Dynasty (960 – 1127 AD), Mid-Autumn Festival had already become a widely celebrated folk festival. So August 15th of the Chinese lunar calendar, the closest full moon day to the Autumnal Equinox, turned out to be a better choice and was set as a fixed festival. The people expressed their faith more liberally than the royal class and so they did not strictly hold their activities on the Autumnal Equinox. Later in the Sui (581 – 618 AD) and Tang (618 – 907 AD) dynasties, social prosperity inspired the custom of appreciating the moon on the moon sacrifice ceremony day among common people and the two merged. At that time, the custom had no festival background at all. This custom could be traced back to the Zhou Dynasty (1046 – 256 BC) and was more often practiced by the royal class on the Autumnal Equinox. Hence, to express their thanks to the moon and celebrate the harvest, they offered a sacrifice to the moon on autumn days. The ancient Chinese observed that the movement of the moon had a close relationship with changes of the seasons and agricultural production. Mid-Autumn Festival is an inherited custom of moon sacrificial ceremonies. The day is also known as the Moon Festival, as at that time of the year the moon is at its roundest and brightest. It takes its name from the fact that it is always celebrated in the middle of the autumn season. Due to the pleasant autumn weather this is a peak time for travel.įalling on the 15th day of the 8th month according to the Chinese lunar calendar, the Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the 3 most important festivals after the Spring Festival and the Dragon-boat Festival in Taiwan. The holiday lasts from September 26th to 27th. 2015 Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋節) falls on September 27th.
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