Class Cancellation – Mon 24 Sep 2018, Mid- Autumn Festival

There will be no class on Monday 24 September 2018 which incidentally coincides with the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival ( 中秋节).

The Chinese Mid-Autumn festival is the second grandest celebration in China after Chinese New Year and a time where Moon cakes are offered to the moon or gifted to friends and family to wish them a long and happy life.  This is also a time to think about family that are far away while eating moon cakes, as well as the traditional time of celebrating the harvest and the change in seasons.

Moon cakes come in various flavours according to the different regions. Customary, moon cakes are round, symbolizing the reunion of a family, so it is easy to understand how the eating of moon cakes under the round moon can evoke longing for distant relatives and friends.

Here is a description of a romantic folklore described by Wes Radez on his site Chinese American Family with ideas for the Mid-Autumn celebrations.

The Mid-Autumn Festival traces back to romantic folklore about the lovers Hou Yi and Chang’e. So the story goes, the skilled archer Hou Yi earned an elixir of immortality from the Jade Emperor for saving the planet, which was then suffering under the heat of 10 suns. Back home, Chang’e discovers the hidden elixir and drinks it herself, which causes her to weightlessly float to the moon. Upon landing, Chang’e coughed up the magical elixir, which then turned into a Jade Rabbit. To this day, it’s believed that Chang’e still lives on the moon, longing for her husband and trying to replicate the elixir of immortality. She’s reunited with Hou Yi, who became the God of the Sun, once a month on the 15th day when the full moon burns brightly from the force of their love.