The legend of the mystical lady on the moon, Chang-Er, surrounds the festival. She grew up in the luxury of the heavens, where all the gods, goddesses and fairies lived, and as a young girl, served as a lady-in-waiting at the Jade Emperor’s palace. One day she accidentally broke one of the Emperor’s precious porcelain jars: as punishment, Chang-Er was banished to the craziness of Earth, where she was sent to live with a poor farming family. There she fell in love with a handsome young archer from a neighboring village, Hou Yi.
One day, the poor villagers woke up to a dawn of ten suns, which quickly began to blaze the Earth. Hou Yi, by now a master archer, shot down nine of the ten suns, saving humanity. The Queen Mother of the West awarded him the elixir of life, a magical potion that granted immortality.
Chang-Er was too curious to resist: when Hou Yi wasn’t looking, she sneaked a sip of the potent elixir. Suddenly, she found herself floating slowly up to the moon, forced to leave behind forever her earthly life. She has remained there ever since; her only company a lone bunny rabbit.
According to folklore, moon cakes played an important role during the Yuan dynasty (A.D.1280-1368), when China was ruled by the Mongolian emperor. Unhappy with the living situation under the Mongolian colonizers, a Han Chinese rebel leader, Liu Fu Tong, decided that the time had come to execute a rebellion. He ordered the making of special cakes during the annual Autumn Moon Festival: each moon-shaped cake hid a secret message detailing a plan of attack at its center. On the night of the festival, the rebel leader and his supporters successfully attacked and overthrew the Mongolian-ruled government, ushering in the Ming dynasty.
Of course, when dealing with folklore, from another country especially, there are many different versions and translations. Just some fun info! I think I will check out the local Asian Market to see if they have any.
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