I was wondering what people know about the Chinese harvest moon festival? I'm trying to do some research and I can't seem to find enough information on it.
2006-07-14 12:45:19 · 5 answers · asked by cwenui 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Holidays ➔ Other - Holidays
The Chinese Moon Festival, or sometimes called the Mid-Autumn Festival, takes place on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month. The festival dates back to the Tang dynasty 618 A.D. and celebrates the biggest and brightest full moon of the year, the harvest moon.
As with many Chinese celebrations, there are ancient legends to explain the holiday. The Chinese were, and still are, an agricultural society. In ancient times, they planted and harvested by the lunar calendar, using the moon as an important time reference and guide.
One of the legends about the Moon Festival is about a builder or architect named Hou Yih. Hou Yih built a beautiful jade palace for the Goddess of the Western Heaven or sometimes called the Royal Mother. The Goddess was so happy that she gave Hou Yih a special pill that contained the magic elixir of immortality. But with it came the condition and warning that he may not use the pill until he had accomplished certain things.
Hou Yih had a beautiful wife named Chang-O. Chang-O was as curious as she was beautiful. One day she found the pill and without telling her husband, she swallowed it.
The Goddess of the Western Heaven was very angry and as a punishment, Chang-O was banished to the moon where, according to the legend, Chang-O can be seen at her most beautiful on the night of the bright harvest moon.
The Moon Festival is a big holiday with family reunions, moon gazing activities, and feasting on "moon cakes" which are round pastries filled with red bean paste, fruit or jam. Dragon and lion dances, whose origins also date back to ancient China, are wonderful dances done during festivals, especially exciting are the dragon and lion dances.
Legend says the dragon dance was invented to stop the spread of epidemics, sickness and disease. Over the years it evolved into a folk activity. The lion dance was originally used for worship and to pray for rain, but now the dance is used for entertainment. The lion chases a scampering clown, who dodges from left to right, jumping to and fro to make fun of the lion.
2006-07-14 12:49:27 · answer #1 · answered by Track Walker 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Chinese people celebrate the Harvest Moon on the 15th day of the eighth month of their lunar calendar. The exact date in the Western calendar changes yearly. The two times I've been in China at the time, there was a brilliant full moon.
Chinese communities all over the world make and eat mooncakes during the traditional Harvest Moon Festival to commemorate a significant event in their history.
See the source for info.
2006-07-14 19:53:45 · answer #2 · answered by Pandak 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Harvest Moon festival, you mean the Chinese have invented a way to harvest the moon?! Cool! Does it taste like cheese? Nah, probably tastes like chicken.
2006-07-15 21:28:55 · answer #3 · answered by makeup lady 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Let me see.....It happens in China, and in the autumn, around harvest time when there is a full moon, because most of China still doesn't have electric lights.
2006-07-14 19:48:40 · answer #4 · answered by rayhanks2260 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They eat moon cake and look at the moon. Simple as that. But there is a story.. behind this holiday.
2006-07-14 20:41:38 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋