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Cina: la festa di metà autunno.
The Chinese
Mid-Autumn Festival


Cina: da un posto qualsiasi..

The Mid-Autumn Festival, in Chinese, is one of the major festivals in China.

According to the Chinese Han calendar, it falls on the 15th day of the tenth month, which is usually between September 8 and October 7 in the Gregorian calendar.

This year it falls on October 4th. Since October 1st is also the Chinese National Day, these two events make an official 8-day holiday in China.

During this festival there will be lanterns, riddles, fireworks, people will eat with their friends and family, travel and go outside after dark to gaze at the moon in its biggest and roundest and brightest.

Some regions such as Hong Kong will even hold dragon and lion dances!

A must-eat food during the Mid- Autumn Festival are mooncakes, a symbol of reunion and happiness.

But every Chinese holiday has a story to tell, and the Mid-Autumn Festival, arguably the second-greatest holiday after the Chinese New Year, has a legend of over 3,000 years tied to it.

The characters in the legends have of course Chinese names, so I will refer to them by their transliteral name:
He Yi
Chang E
Wang Mu
Peng Meng

Now, a long time ago there were not one, but ten suns in the sky.

The heat on Earth was awful, with draughts and fire and people dying of heat and starvation.

People had to eat tree roots and live underground to shield themselves from the strength of the ten suns.

There was a man at that time called He Yi.

He saw the world being destroyed before his eyes, and decided that he needed to do something about it.

He climbed to the highest peak and shot nine arrows into the sky, destroying nine of the ten suns.

With only one sun left, people could come out of their hiding, and reclaimed He Yi for his bravery.

He had followers from all over the world, all grateful to be in a newly blossoming world.

Amongst these there was a man called Peng Meng.

He Yi was glorified by masses, and married an intelligent and beautiful woman called Chang E.

One day, He Yi was going to meet an old friend, and he encountered Wang Mu, the Queen of the Heavens.

She had been amazed by his courage when he shot down the suns, so she gave him an Elixir of eternal life which made the person who drank it immortal, becoming a god/goddess.

He Yi didn't drink the potion.

Instead, when he came home he gave it to Chang E in secret, so that it didn't end in the wrong hands.

Unfortunately, Peng Meng saw the exchange and when He Yi wasn't there, he went to Chang E, demanding the Elixir.

Chang E refused, but seeing that she couldn't escape that man but wanting to make sure he didn't get the Elixir, she gulped it down.

Within a few seconds she drifted to heaven, becoming a goddess.

She decided to live on the Moon, the closest point to the Earth within the borders of Heaven to be closest possible to her husband.

He Yi was devastated at the loss of his wife, so every year, when the moon was at its fullest, he prayed to the moon and reunited with his wife.

The tradition of making moon cakes in honor of Chang E and He Yi has been practiced for thousands of years, and people still do it now.

Moon cakes can be bought, but can be home made as well, and there are so many recipe variations anyone can find online.

In the past there was only one flavor, red bean paste, but now you can find salty or sweet mooncakes:
They can be filled with sea food, egg, roast pork, pineapple, lotus seed, chocolate, green tea paste,
… Häagen-Dazs even makes ice cream mooncakes!

I personally prefer the traditional red bean filling.

I like the Mid-Autumn Festival not only for the food and the fireworks and the lanterns, but for looking up at night, hoping to see the fullest moon of the year.

Cortesia di L.B.


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