Legends of Mid-autumn Festival
Thursday, September 4th, 2008The 15th of the eighth month according to the Chinese lunar calendar, is the date for the traditional Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival. The reason for celebrating the festival during that time is that it is the time when the moon is at its fullest and brightest.
The Mid-autumn festival is one of the two most important occasions in Chinese calendar (the other being the Spring Festival or the Chinese New Year) and it is an official holiday. It is a time for families to be together, so people far from home will gaze longingly at the moon and think about their families.
The traditional food for mid-autumn festival is the moon cake which is round and symbolizes reunion.
A much-told story about the beginning of the Mid-autumn Festival celebration comes from Niuzhu (a place in ancient Nanjing). As early as 1,600 years ago, Nanjing which was called Jianye served as capital of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. On a Mid-autumn night when Xie Shangyue, the governor of Niuzhu, was boating on a river he met Yuan Hong, a poor, frustrated but gifted scholar who had to earn his living by renting boats. Admiring his ability, Xie made friend with him and Yuan had a rise to fame with the help of Xie. Later on, having heard of the story, many refined scholars from all over the country followed suit to boat in the river, climb up the towers, and watch the moon. Famous poets like Li Bai and Ou Yangzhan were all touched by the story, and then wrote numbers of poems about it. Because of this, the tradition of watching the moon on Mid-Autumn Festival gradually came into being.