Mid-Autumn Festival 歡慶中秋節 The annual Mid-Autumn Festival also known as the Moon Festival is celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month. “May we live long and share the beauty of the moon together, even if we are hundreds of miles apart.” -Su Shi (Song Dynasty Poem)

The Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival or Mooncake Festival, is a harvest ritual that has been celebrated in Chinese culture for 2,000 years since the Song Dynasty. It is held on the 15th day of the 8th month of the Chinese lunisolar calendar with a full moon at night, this year corresponding to September 17th to early October of the Gregorian calendar. Originally a mid-Autumn festival, farmers offered thanks to the moon for an abundant harvest. 

Legends grew up about a beautiful goddess who lives in the moon. Before becoming a Goddess, Chang’e was a woman renowned throughout China for her beauty. She had pale, milky skin, hair as black as night, and lips like cherry blossoms. In art, Chang’e is depicted as a graceful young lady wearing stylish hair ornaments and long, flowing robes. She is sometimes shown holding her pet an elegant white rabbit. 

Little is known about her background except that Chang’e was married to the legendary archer hero Hou Yi. In some versions of her myth, Chang’e served the Jade Emperor, the ruler of Heaven, before being condemned to live as a mortal for accidentally breaking a porcelain pot. 

The Elixir of Immortality

Here is how Chang’e became the Goddess of the Moon. 

When the earth was still young, there were ten suns in the sky. It was extremely hot all the time and there was no night. The extreme heat made it hard to farm crops and endangered entire populations. One day, Chang’e’s husband, the skilled archer Hou Yi, decided that enough was enough. He raised his bow to the heavens and shot down nine of the ten suns. To reward him for his heroic deeds, the goddess Xiwangmu, who tended the peaches of immortality in Heaven, gave him an elixir of immortality, a prize typically reserved for immortals who had achieved enlightenment. While Hou Yi was grateful for the gift, he felt conflicted. Xiwangmu had only given him enough elixir for one person, and he did not wish to be immortal if his wife Chang’e could not live at his side for eternity. Hou Yi decided to remain mortal and hide the elixir under their bed.

Chang’e soon discovered her husband’s gift and found the elixir and drank every last drop. Realizing that his wife was not in bed with him, Hou Yi ran outside to find her slowly drifting into the night sky. Hou Yi was so angry that he grabbed his bow and tried to shoot Chang’e down. But as time went by, Hou Yi’s anger subsided and he missed his wife. He would often stare up at the moon and imagine how lonely Chang’e must be. In appreciation of her beauty, Hou Yi left her favorite desserts and fruits out every night. He continued this loving gift until the day he died. This tradition continues today, as many people make Mooncake offerings on alters celebrating love and beauty during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Delicious Mooncakes are a great treat that everyone enjoys during the holiday. Resembling the shape of the full moon, Chinese mooncakes symbolize beauty, unity and harmony and are enjoyed with tea during family reunions.

Prepare for the Moon Festival 

You can be as lovely as the goddess Chang’e with a few famous Asian beauty secrets. Choose from among the delicately fragrant facial potions made by Farm Stay. They gently exfoliate the complexion, refreshing the skin with new luster. Cooling cucumber, invigorating pomegranate, and rich avocado lend milky softness and enhance moisture retention for your delicate skin. Made in Korea, the cleansing milks offer a gift of renewed beauty and revitalized collagen. 

A special exfoliating cream contains powerful revitalizing enzymes from snail extract that remove dead skin cells while refreshing and protecting moisture, the glow of youth. You will be ready to share the joy of beauty, health and happiness with family and guests at your moon feast. Hang colorful paper lanterns in the patio, lighting the way to prosperity and good fortune. Listen to haunting melodies played on the Chinese 2 string violin, an erhu. Gazing up at the moon enjoy luscious round mooncakes made fresh and delicious filled with white lotus seed paste, mixed nuts or durian fruit. 

Mooncakes 

In Chinese culture, roundness symbolizes completeness and togetherness. A full moon symbolizes prosperity and reunion for the whole family. Round mooncakes complement the harvest moon in the night sky at the Mid-Autumn Festival. The mooncake is not just a food, it is a celebration of love and harmony. 

MEI-XIN Mooncakes

We are thrilled to carry a series of 2024 MEI-XIN Mooncake

Traditionally referred to as the Mid-Autumn Festival, it is an annual celebration on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month. The story of Chang'E and the Jade Rabbit is the most renowned tale of its origin. Chang’E drank the Elixir of Immortality, ascended to Heaven and became the Goddess of the Moon.

Today, this 3,500 year old tradition is observed all over the world to celebrate the beautiful Goddess, blessings of an abundant harvest, and life’s cycles turning between old and new. Resembling the shape of the full moon, mooncakes symbolize unity and harmony, and are enjoyed with tea during family reunions.

We wish you happiness, prosperity, health and many shared memories.

“May we live long and share the beauty of the moon together, even if we are hundreds of miles apart.” -Su Shi (Song Dynasty Poem)

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Chinese culture Chinese traditional festival chinesefestival moon cake Moon Festival traditional festival

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