Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival

I know that this post has nothing to do with fashion, but I guess I am feeling home sick. So, let me share with you my second favorite celebration – The Mid-Autumn Festival.

The Mid Autumn festival also called the Mooncake festival is celebrated every year on the fifteenth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar. When the moon is at its maximum brightness for the entire year, the Chinese part of me celebrates ‘zhong qiu jie’ (I’m sorry I can’t spell it in Chinese characters. I can only write my Chinese name).

When I was a little fashionista, my mother will tell me the story of the moon fairy who comes out to dance on the moon's shadowed surface. The legend surrounding the ‘lady living in the moon’ dates back to ancient times, to a day when ten suns appeared at once in the sky. The Emperor ordered a famous archer to shoot down the nine extra suns. Once the task was accomplished, Goddess of Western Heaven rewarded the archer with a pill that would make him immortal. However, his wife found the pill, took it, and was banished to the moon as a result.

According to my grandma, there is another legend. One day, the ‘Man in the Moon’ was spotted at an inn, carrying a writing tablet. When questioned, he said he was recording the names of all the happy couples who were fated to marry and live happily forever after. Accordingly, just as June is the traditional month for exchanging nuptials in the west, many Chinese weddings are held during the eighth lunar month, with the fifteenth day being the most popular. This is my favorite story.

So, what do the Chinese do during this festival? Well, they ::

Eat mooncakes outside under the moon