On the 15th of August, the Chinese culture has a very special festival, the Mid-Autumn Festival. We celebrate in memory of Chang E, the wife of a great hero.
It is said that long ago in ancient China 10 suns existed and the extreme heat made lives difficult to live. The hero Hou Yi saved everyone from the heat using his strength and archery skills to take down 9 of the suns, and kept but one sun standing as the sun. People from far and wide travelled to learn from him, including Peng Meng. Later he married a beautiful woman called Chang E. One day while on his way to visit an old friend, Hou Yi bumped into Wangmu ( the Queen of Heavens.). She gave Hou Yi a bottle of elixir, which when drunken turns you immortal and be a god/goddess. Instead of drinking the elixir himself, Hou Yi gave the elixir to Chang E for safe keeping. Little did the couple know, someone was listening to their pep talk. A couple of days after Chang E received the elixir, Peng Meng burst into their home, while Chang E was house-keeping and Hou Yi was out hunting. Peng Meng demanded that Chang E hand over the elixir. Chang E knowing that she lost told him to say goodbye to immortality and gulped down every last drop. As soon as she drank the last drop, she felt lighter and lighter as she floated to the sky. Wangmu feeling Chang E’s love for her husband sent her to be the goddess of the moon with only a rabbit and a woodchopper to keep her company. As for Hou Yi, when he found out his beloved wife was gone, he set her favourite food out, moon cakes on an altar and prayed. People now-a-days pray to Chang E for peace and gaze at the moon while eating moon cakes.
As for the rabbit and the woodchopper? That’s a different story. You can check it out at
https://www.travelchinaguide.com/essential/holidays/mid-autumn-legends.htm
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