Chinese Moon Cake Festival

¤¤¬î¨Î¸`¡i¹A¾ä¤K¤ë¤Q¤­¤é¡j October 5 ' 1998    

Moon Cake Festival : A Mid-Autumn Festival (Chung Chiu), the third major festival of the Chinese calendar, is celebrated on the 15th day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar, traditional Chinese families and their friends gather together and watch the moon and celebrate this special Moon Cake Festival.

In the evening, family members and friends are stayed outside. They carry (Tang Lung), play candle, eat Moon Cake, talk about the beautiful moon and tell stories about this festival in the moonlight. Besides that, some of the family are having family parties and invite their friends to celebrate as well.

Moon Cake Story : This festival is also known as the Moon Cake Festival because a special kind of sweet cake (Yueh Ping) prepared in the shape of the moon and filled with sesame seeds, ground lotus seeds and duck eggs is served as a traditional Chung Chiu delicacy.

Nobody actually knows when the custom of eating moon cake of celebrate the Moon Festival began, but one relief traces its origin to the 14th century. At the time, China was in revolt against the Mongols. Chu Yuen-chang, and his senior deputy, Liu Po-wen, discussed battle plan and developes a secret moon cake strategy to take a certain walled city held by the Mongol enemy. Liu dressed up as a Taoist priest and entered the besieged city bearing moon cake. He distributed these to the city's populace. When the time for the year's Chung Chiu festival arrived, people opened their cakes and found hidden messages advising them to coordinate their uprising with the troops outside. Thus, the emperor to be ingeniously took the city and his throne. Moon cake of course, became even more famous. Whether this sweet Chinese version of ancient Europe's "Trojan Horse" story is true, no one really known. (This story is came from Regit Sdn. Bhd.)

Moon Cake History : A long time ago, the sky had ten Suns warming the sky. During one summer, the ten Suns shone so brightly that it caused all the plants and rivers to dry up. Life became unbearable for the Emperor and his subjects.

The Emperor called on the great archer well-known archer who could shoot and hit targets far and near with perfect precision. The Emperor commanded Hou Yi to shoot down all but one of the ten Suns from the sky. Taking nine magic arrows to his bow, the archer pulled back with all his might and shot down nine of the ten Suns. The summer returned to normal and the Emperor’s people were safe once again.Hou Yi.

The Emperor rewarded Hou Yi with a great wealth of money and jewels. Hou Yi took this money to marry the woman he so greatly loved and long for, the beautiful Chang Oh. The wedding was fabulous and the families of Hou Yi and Chang Oh were happy.

Later on, the Emperor called on Hou Yi again to perform another great feat. He wanted Hou Yi to build a new royal palace. Hou Yi was not only a superb archer. He was also the Emperor’s royal architect. The most lavish, grandest palace was built, decorated with gold and jewels and filled with precious silks and exquisite handicrafts.

The Emperor was impressed with Hou Yi’s accomplishments. This time, the Emperor chose not to reward Hou Yi with jewels or gold. Instead, he chose to give Hou Yi a small bottle containing the elixir of immortality. The Emperor told Hou Yi to be careful not to drink the entire bottle. It was supposed to be shared between Hou Yi and his beautiful wife, Chang Oh.

Hou Yi rushed home to share his reward with Chang Oh. Chang Oh, driven by excitement, drank the entire bottle of immortality elixir. When the elixir reached her stomach, her head spun wildly and then she fell to the ground. Suddenly, weightlessness overcame her and she started to float towards the sky! She grabbed everything she could to keep her from floating: chairs, plants, even her husband. The last thing she held onto was her caged pet white rabbit. Hou Yi desperately screamed for her and watched helplessly as the beautiful Chang Oh floated to the Moon.

Chang Oh had become trapped on the Moon to live eternally without her husband, only to be kept company with her pet white rabbit. It could only be magic that the Moon Bridge appears one night, once a year, during the eighth lunar month towards September or October, and connects the Earth to the Moon. During this one night, Chang Oh and Hou Yi are reunited for a brief moment of happiness. (This history is came from Colette Chooey)

~ Wishing all my friends
have a wonderful
Chinese Moon Cake Festival ~
Smile Always & Happiness Always !!!

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