It’s September and everywhere you turn, in every bakery, Chinese restaurants, hotel and some billboards, whether obscure or obvious, there is a poster of the famous ‘ Chang Er’, the Lady in the Moon, and at bottom of the poster would be mooncakes.
The Mooncake or Mid-Autumn Festival falls on the 15th day of the eighth month in the lunar calendar. The Mooncake Festival evolves around 2 legends- one signifying the end of the Mongol Rule in China and other, if you remember last years i want to promise yet another story about a tale of the beautiful Moon Maiden ‘ Chang Er’.
The other is apparently a myth spun by storytellers of the Tang Dynasty. It tells of a time when the earth was illuminated by 10 suns. One day they decided to rise all at once, making it unbearably hot! To save the earth from being scorched, an expert archer named Hou Yi stepped out and saved the land by shooting down 9 of the suns. He received the Elixir of Life as a reward from the Emperor and was duly promoted. With this turn of event and good fortune, he turned into tyrant. Fearing for the worst, his beautiful wife Chang Er, stole the potion and fled to the moon to escape his wrath. Some say that when you look closely at moon today you might still be able to catch a glimpse of the shadow of the beautiful moon maiden.
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