It's not just a street, it's an avenue of escape: Mid-Autumn Festival

Above: Courtesy of exif

The Mid-Autumn Festival (Zhongqiu Jie, in Chinese), also known as the Lantern Festival, Moon Festival or Moon Cake Festival, is a popular harvest festival celebrated by the Chinese on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Lunar Calendar. On this day, family members and friends will get together to admire the bright full moon, displaying colourful lit lanterns and eat moon cakes. Children will be seen carrying lit lanterns in various shapes and designs, and walking around their neighbourhood in a group.

How the festival comes about has so many variations and sources. However, the story which is more familiar to me is about an archer named Houyi and his beautiful wife, Chang'e. You can find other versions of the story in Wikipedia.(<-- click here)

Above: Chang'e and the Jade Rabbit are often shown on the moon cake packaging (from Wiki)

Houyi was an immortal, who married beautiful young girl, Chang'e, who was working in the Jade Emperor's Palace as the attendant to the Queen. They were consequently banished from heaven due to conspiracy by other jealous immortals, and forced to live by hunting on earth.

During this time, there were ten suns, in the form of Three-Legged Birds. Each day, one of the sun would have to travel around the world. One day, however, all ten suns circled together, causing the earth to burn.

The Emperor of China commanded Houyi, who became a famous archer, to shoot down all the suns but leave one to the benefit of the humans. As a reward, the Emperor gave him a pill which granted eternal life. He advised him not to take the pills until one year later. Houyi brought the pill home and hit it.

While Houyi was away one day, Chang'e discovered the pill and swallowed it. All of a sudden, she began to fly. Houyi, who had returned home at that moment, saw Chang'e flying and was upset at her. She then flew out into the sky. Houyi sped after her but failed because of the strong wind.

Above: Chang'e (courtesy of globalgal)

Now, there were three fairies who appeared as poor old men. They begged for food from a fox, a monkey and a hare. The fox and the monkey both had food to give. The hare, empty-handed, jumped into a blazing fire and offered his own flesh. Touched by the sacrifice and act of kindness, the fairies sent the hare to the Moon Palace, where he became the Jade Rabbit.

So Chang'e reached the moon. She was too tired and started to cough. Part of the pill fell out from her mouth. She requested the hare, who was accompanying her on the moon, to make another pill so she could return to her husband.

Until today, the hare is still trying to make the pill. That is why when you look at the moon carefully, you may see a figure of a rabbit. Others say that it is a shape assumed by Chang'e.

Above: The full moon shines extra brightly (from tangdynastytimes)

As for Houyi, he built himself a palace in the sun. Once a year, during the full moon of the eighth month in the Lunar Calendar, Houyi visits his wife. That is why, on Moon Festival, the full moon shines extra brightly and looks so beautiful in the night sky.

Above: Original simple moon cake with egg yolk

In another folk tale, during the Yuan Dynasty, the Chinese rebel leader distributed thousands of moon cakes to the Chinese residents. Inside each cake, tehre was a piece of paper with a message to kill the Mongol rulers on the moon festival. The rebels successfully overthrew the government, and Ming Dynasty was established. From that day onwards, the Mid-Autumn Festival was celebrated with moon cakes nationally.

After a long story on the moon cake festival, it's time to drool over this! So get your towel and bucket ready...

Please click on the link below to view. It's a MUST see. =)

1. 12 Moon Cakes You Don't Want to Miss in 2009
2. 12 More Moon Cakes You Don't Want to Miss in 2009

I saw these two articles while searching for moon cakes pictures. They look so delicious but too many photos to post.

You may notice that most of them are from Singapore hotels...ahhh...I'm so envious of anybody who is Singapore right now. =P Anyone care to send one across to me??

Anyway, some more photos to share...enjoy~

PS: I know I steal many photos from the Internet, but once I buy myself a reliable camera, I will start posting my own photos *winks*

Photos: Courtesy of asiaone