adminMs G
Lifestyle Writer
Last week, on October 1, the Chinese celebrated their mid-autumn festival, the second most important festival in the Chinese culture, next only to the Chinese New Year.
The mid-autumn festival takes place on the full moon day of the 15th day of the 8th Chinese lunar month. In the Gregorian calendar, it is usually in September or October. This year there is a happy coincidence. It falls on the same day of the Chinese National Day.
This festival is about spending time with family members. People would travel thousands of kilometres to be with their families. There is usually a big family dinner. When the moon rises, people would sit together to admire its beauty and enjoy a traditional desert called moon cakes. With Covid-19 ruining the new year holiday for many, the 2020 mid-autumn festival has witnessed a stronger-than-ever urge to reunite and celebrate.
On the first day of the eight-day holiday, about 97 million Chinese made domestic trips.
There is a beautiful legend behind this festival. In remote antiquity, there was a fine archer named Hou Yi, who had a loving wife, Chang’e. One day, ten suns appeared in the sky, burning life on Earth. Wild beasts came out from the dried rivers and forests to harm people. Hou Yi took out his bow and arrows and shot down nine of them, saving everyone.
To commend his brave feat, the mother of all goddesses gave him a bottle of elixir that could make him immortal, but it was only for one person. Immortality was never what Hou Yi asked for; neither did he want to leave his wife. So the couple put away the magic potion.
But Pang Meng, a student of Hou Yi, wanted it.
One day, when Hou Yi was away hunting, Pang came to Hou Yi’s house, forcing Chang’e to give him the elixir. Chang’e knew she was no match for his brute force, but she did not want to give in to him either. So she drank it herself. The elixir made her fly all the way to the moon. It was the 15th day of the 8th lunar month.
Hou Yi was heartbroken when he learned what had happened. Looking into the bright full moon at night, he found he could discern the figure of his wife in it. So every year on the same day, he would set the table under the moon and have his dinner as if Chang’e were sitting beside him.
Over thousands of years, numerous poems have been written about this festival, by those who were enjoying the special day with their family and those who had to spend it alone. A most famous one, also one of my favourites, was written 1,300 years ago, “Bright moon born of the sea; at sky’s farthest edges we share it now.” On this day, no matter where you are or how far away you are from home, the moon that shines on all will bring you and your loved ones together.
I like this one because for someone like me who cannot be with their families on this special day, the moon offers some solace.
We may be on different continents, in different seasons and time zones. But the one and only moon we all admire brings a sense of togetherness.
I imagine there are many like me, Chinese and non-Chinese, who are longing for a family reunion delayed by this worldwide lockdown and disruption of flights. Just like the moon which wanes and waxes, we are also in a cycle of separations and reunions with our families, and all separations are harbingers of reunions.
Online Reporter