10 Things You Didn't Know about the Mid-Autumn Festival
There’s more to the Mid-Autumn Festival (Zhōngqiū Jié, 中秋节) than a nice, long weekend and random boxes of semi-edible mooncakes – here are 10 facts about the holiday you probably didn’t know:
Beijing’s totem, Tu’Er Ye ("General Rabbit"), is closely related to the mythology surrounding the Mid-Autumn Festival. According to legend, the capital was once struck by a plague – nearly every household was affected and no medicine seemed to make a difference. Chang’e (the moon goddess), seeing the suffering and prayers of the people, felt anguish; told Jade Rabbit to go down among the mortals to cure them. He took the form of a young girl, went household to household to heal the plague-ridden, refused to accept any gifts/compensation except clothes. Then, every time he went to a new place, he would wear a new outfit/guise – sometimes as a man, sometimes as a woman – and he rode horses, deer, lions and tigers around the city to reach as many plague sufferers as possible. Only after he finished healing everybody did he return to the Moon Palace and today Beijingers traditionally buy small statues of Tu’Er Ye around the Mid-Autumn Festival for good luck.
China has several versions of the Moon Goddess myth involving jade rabbits and immortality pills, but the Vietnamese version is more visceral: legend has it that the Moon Goddess was the wife of a man named Cuoi and was banished to the moon for peeing on a sacred banyan tree.
If you’re looking for supercharged skin and more bang for your buck when it comes to buying expensive cosmetics, traditional Daoist holiday rituals also include the offerings of bath-salts, lotions, and beauty aids to Chang E for her blessing.
Mid-Autumn Festival was also considered "Chinese Valentine’s Day" in ancient times, a tradition rooted in Yuè Xià Lǎo Rén (月下老人) – literally "the Old Man in the Moon" – a sort of Chinese cupid, only in the form of a wizened old man.
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This article originally appeared on our sister account beijingkids.
We at the Beijinger wish you a very pleasant Mid-Autumn Festival! Cheers!