Last Sunday (September 14) was Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival, aka Moon Festival, which falls on August 15th of the lunar calendar. The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the two most important holidays in the Chinese culture (the other being the Chinese New Year), and is a legal holiday in several countries. Farmers celebrate the end of the summer harvesting season on this date. Traditionally, on this day, Chinese family members and friends will gather to admire the bright mid-autumn harvest moon, and eat moon cakes and pomeloes together.

If you're curious about the many legends surrounding this holiday day, my friend Jay did a great job introducing them on his blog. The only "dispute" I have is the story of Chang-er (the beautiful lady who lives on the moon) and her husband Hou Yi (the archer). There are probably several versions of this legend. The version he likes best depicts Chang-er almost like Eve, who failed to resist temptation and got both Adam and her into trouble. Isn't it so interesting how women get blamed in different cultures? The story that I grew up with (in Taiwan) is quite the opposite. I was told that after shooting down the 9 suns, Hou Yi became the emperor. People were relieved from the scorching 10 suns but got a dictator who wanted to become immortal (sound familiar?). Chang-er swallowed the magic pill to prevent Hou Yi from taking it, and to her surprise, flew all the way to the moon.

My husband and I took the kids to the park on Sunday, thinking we'd do some type of family fitness training together. It's a beautiful sunny day. What we didn't expect was the heat wave and record high temperature on that day (felt like over 90 degrees with humidity). The park has a beautiful lake, and we even saw beautiful swans and other wildlife. I brought my Nikon SLR with my new zoom lens, and got some great pictures. When I'm having fun taking pictures, I'm in my own world. Time disappears, and the weather doesn't affect me a bit. I've been out rain or shine, in knee-high snow too. I'm just too happy to care. My kids, however, couldn't take the heat. They practiced throwing football with daddy for a while, but they were drenched quickly and wanted to leave. So, we decided to skip the picnic part, and fled to the Chinese grocery store to buy moon cakes.

A couple years ago, I forgot to check the lunar calendar and completely missed the Moon Festival. I was most upset that I didn't get a chance to taste the moon cakes. By the time I went to the grocery store, a few days after the Moon Festival, they had taken all the moon cakes off the shelf (or maybe they were all sold out). I couldn't believe it! That's why I made it a point this time to buy the moon cakes before it's too late.

That night, we made Oolong tea, and enjoyed our moon cakes. I called my parents to wish them happy Moon Festival. It's a day of family gathering and remembering loved ones who are apart. One of the most famous Chinese poems about the Moon Festival expresses such sentiment so beautifully: "Wishing you a long life, so even though we're a thousand miles apart, at least we share the same moon".

I wish you and your loved ones will have a happy long life together. And if you're apart for whatever reason, take comfort that you share the same beautiful moon.

Labels: holidays, love, relationship