Chinese who live abroad tend to have deeper attachment to the traditions than those who still live and breathe on the Chinese soil. If you ask someone like me, who belongs to the latter group, about Mid-Autumn Festival, I can only share a very limited knowledge beyond a fairytale which all Chinese children will remember.
Fairytale origins
Before all the dynasties, there were 10 suns in the sky scorching the earth and killing all inhabitants (consider it an ancient version of extreme global warming.) All heroes come from suffering. Here, our protagonist is a skilled archer named Houyi who decided to save people from the perpetual misery. He climbed all the way up to a mountain called Kunlun Peak and shot down 9 suns and left only one. From then on, the only sun rises and sets, and this created days and nights. Houyi was therefore respected by earthly people and blessed by heavenly God. The Goddess of the Kunlun Peak, Queen Mother, rewarded Houyi with one elixir pill which would give one an immediate one-way ticket to immortality and heaven. Houyi gave the pill to his loving wife Chang’e since he didn’t want to end up in heaven alone. Whenever there is a hero, there is the wicked. Our wickedness here is named Pangmeng, who was actually one of Houyi’s followers. He was envious of everything that his master had. He knew about elixir and when Houyi left home for hunting, he hid behind and tried to coerce Chang’e to give up the elixir to him. This beautiful but fragile woman had no other means to fight back but to swallow the pill and therefore flew up to the sky with her pet bunny.
When Houyi got back and found out what happened, he was devastated. He cried every day and night with his eyes in the sky looking for his beloved wife. And then miraculously, when he looked at the full bright moon, he saw Change’s and the pet bunny’s silhouettes, he knew immediately that was his wife. In the end, like all love tragedies, like Romeo and Juliet, Houyi and Chang’e loved each other but they were forever separated on earth and moon. People were deeply touched by the story of Houyi and Chang’e, and since then people have placed their own sentiments of longing for love and reunion on the moon where Chang’e lived. When it comes to the 15th day of 8th month of the Chinese lunisolar calendar with a full moon at night, people gather with their loved ones, look up in the moon, eat mooncakes, and pray that all loved ones, lovers and families, will be reunited.
Historical origins
The Mid-Autumn Festival is derived from the traditional Autumnal Equinox Moon Festival. Its origins stem from celestial worship, which evolved from celebrating and praying to the moon on the autumn eve in the ancient times. During the Han Dynasty, the Mid-Autumn Festival became popular in Southern areas in China. “Mid-Autumn Festival” was first termed in Han Dynasty literature – a classic book named Rites of Zhou, according to which people back in Qin Dynasty started welcoming winter and honoring the moon in the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival. By the time of Han Dynasty, people gradually changed their ritual from simply celestial worship to earthly celebrations like honoring the elderly and making mooncakes, the round shape of which symbolized togetherness and reunion.
From Han Dynasty to Tang Dynasty, with the extension of the nation land, then Southern festival slowly spread across the new land – the Northern area. Spreading of culture, especial a common festival, usually symbolizes the true conquer of a new land. Once people have this unified belief, it binds a new country. Therefore, during Tang Dynasty, Mid-Autumn Festival was officially recognized as a national festival. The Book of Tang – The History of Emperor Taizong records “Mid-Autumn Festival on the 15th day of the 8th month”. The festival was especially well received among intellectuals. It was the time when the moon was romanticized and poets wrote hundreds of poems about moon. The famous poet Li Bai composed dozens of the most sensational poems expressing his loneliness, sense of great ambition but nowhere to fulfill, and the deepest longing for companions. Besides poets, fairytales including the one of Houyi and Chang’e flourished during Tang Dynasty. Stories like Chang’e flying to the moon, Jade Rabbit pounding medicines, and Wu Gang chopping off trees have all become bedtime stories for generations of Chinese children till now.
The Song Dynasty also honored Mid-Autumn Festival as one of the most important day of the year. Mooncake first appeared on Chinese people’s dinner table on that particular day. Mooncake was made round due not only to its shape resembles the moon but also to the Chinese philosophy of reunion, peace, and family bliss. In Tokyo Dreams and Flowers, Meng Yuanlao, who lived during Song Dynasty, writes “On the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, noble families decorated their pavilions and pavilions, and folk competed for the moon in the restaurants”; and “the strings were heavy and boisterous, and the residents in the near future heard the sound of sheng and taro late at night, just like outside the clouds. Between the children, even night wedding play; night market parallel, to the dawn.”
This is ultimate happiness that Chinese culture places great value in – family. No matter where you are and how your life is, come back home to your family. See how the full moon shines and everything will be alright. One of my favorite poems was written by Su Shi who lived in the Song Dynasty:
“Human beings have sorrows and joy, and they part and rejoin, just as the moon waxes and wanes, and shines and dims;
Things never were and ever will be perfect; the only thing that we can do is live in the present and enjoy the moonlight.”
During Ming & Qing Dynasties, Mid-Autumn Festival became more secularized. It transformed from an intellectuals’ aesthetic taste to something that common men, regardless of his social status or intellectual level, would enjoy and celebrate. The moon-viewing activities became increasingly popular. On the Mid-Autumn Festival, families would set up a “moonlight place” and “worship to the moon” in the direction of the moonrise. According to Beijing Years, “At the mid-autumn night, each home set up the moon Palace symbol image, the symbol on the charm as a person standing; placing melon fruit in the court, cake surface painted moon Palace toad free; men and women worship the moon by burning incense, the day and night.” Fast forward to the 21st century, Mid-Autumn Festival remains one of the most important festival among Chinese. We still appreciate the full moon and eat mooncake. When I was little, I remember carrying my little bunny light to walk with my family at night on the Mid-Autumn Festival. But traditions in modern cities like Shanghai are actually waning. People don’t usually care to rush back home just to stay and watch the moon. Even mooncakes are not that popular because it is way too sweet and its high cholesterol level usually defers elderly population. We certainly don’t compose poems about moon like back in Tang and Song Dynasties. However, some core of the tradition does live on in every Chinese’s heart; it’s that when we look up at the full bright moon, wherever we are, home or not home, China or abroad, we think of our family; it is the sentiment that’s deep rooted in generations of Chinese and it has almost become part of our DNA. We’re united by the moon because we all share the same bright full moon regardless of our physical location.
