Moon Fest
2 min read
By Jasmine Wolfe
The Moon Fest was originally called the Mid-Autumn Festival. According thoughtco.com It’s a major holiday in many parts of Asia. The moon fest happens on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar with a full moon at night. Ancient Chinese emperors traditionally used the Mid-Autumn Festival to pray for the harvest, fine weather and peace for the country. The festival is meant to take place when the moon is at its fullest because many believed that the moon cycle was tied with the harvest.
According to chinahighlights.com one of the many ways to celebrate the Moon Fest is to tell ancient folklore. The story of Change E is the most widely accepted tale regarding the moon and the origin of the Moon Fest. It was said that in ancient times there were ten suns and made is very hard to live in great heat. A hero named Hou Yi, who owned great strength and shot down nine of the ten moons. Peng Meng was one of many that came far and near to learn about the hero. Hou Yi married a beautiful and kind-hearted woman named Chang E. Wangmu who is the queen of heaven gave Hou Yi elixir that if he drank would be ascend immediately to heaven and become God/goddess. He instead took home to his wife to hold on to but sadly Peng Meng rushed to the backyard and demanded Chang E to hand over the elixir. Instead of hanging the elixir over, as soon as Chang E drank it she flew out of the window and headed straight to the moon because Chang E’s love for her husband lead her to the moon because it was the closest to earth on the heaven. Hou Yi was so devastated when he found out what happened to his wife. Hou Yi screamed Chang E name towards the moon and was amazed when he was a figure that looked like his wife on the moon so he took food to the altar as a sacrifice for her. After many of people heard that she became a goddess, people also offered sacrifices to Chang E to pray for peace and good luck. Since then it became a custom of sacrificing to the moon has been spread among the folklore.
Many believe that the full moon has an effect on the night, that being said i’ve asked to people the same question “Do you believe that the full moon cause weird things to happen” student Alyson Bresnock responded back with “yes I do.” and student Shane Cox responded back with “i don’t think it does, it’s just people thinking it is, believing themselves.” as you can see that some people do and some don’t believe that the full moon cause weird things to happen. Maybe it’s all in peoples mind or maybe it’s not.
