There is another story about the Mid-Autumn Festival
According to legend, in ancient times, ten suns suddenly appeared in the sky, causing the earth to smoke and making it impossible for people to live anymore.
There was a powerful hero named Hou Yi who was determined to relieve the common people from this suffering. Hou Yi climbed to the top of the Kunlun Mountains, gathered all his strength, fully drew his divine bow, and shot down nine suns in one go. He said to the last sun in the sky: “From now on, you must rise on time and set on time every day to benefit the people.”
Hou Yi eliminated harm for the people, and everyone respected him. Many people worshiped him as their teacher and learned martial arts from him. There was a man named Pang Meng, who was treacherous and greedy, and he followed others to worship Hou Yi.
Hou Yi’s wife Chang’e (original name: Chang’e) was a beautiful and kind-hearted woman. She often helps poor villagers, and the villagers like her very much. One day, the Queen Mother of the West on Kunlun Mountain gave Hou Yi a pill of elixir. It is said that people who take this medicine can not only live forever, but also ascend to heaven and become immortals. However, Hou Yi was unwilling to leave Chang’e, so he asked her to hide the elixir in a treasure box.
Somehow Pang Meng found out about this, and he wanted to get Hou Yi’s elixir. In the early morning of August 15th, Hou Yi wanted to take his disciples out to study and practice, but Pang Meng pretended to be sick and then practiced Xidian Lian and stayed. At night, Pang Meng rushed into Hou Yi’s house with his sword in hand and forced Chang’e to hand over the elixir. Chang’e thought to herself that if such a person takes the elixir of life, wouldn’t it harm more people? So, she dealt with Pang Meng tactfully. Seeing that Chang’e refused to hand over the elixir, Pangmeng rummaged through the boxes and searched everywhere. Seeing that she was about to find the treasure box, Chang’e hurried forward, took out the elixir, and swallowed it in one gulp.
Chang’e took the fairy medicine and suddenly flew up leisurely. She flew out of the window and flew over the silvery countryside, flying higher and higher. There was a bright moon hanging in the blue night sky, and Chang’e kept flying towards the moon.
When Hou Yi came back from his trip, his wife Chang’e was missing. He rushed out anxiously and saw the bright moon in the sky, the shadows of the trees dancing on the round moon, and a jade rabbit jumping around under the tree. Ah, my wife is standing next to a laurel tree and gazing at me lovingly. “Chang’e, Chang’e” Hou Yi called repeatedly and chased towards the moon desperately. But when he took three steps forward to catch up, the moon took three steps back and couldn’t catch up.
The villagers missed the kind-hearted Chang’e very much. They placed the food that Chang’e loved to eat in the yard of the courtyard and blessed her from a distance. Since then, every August 15th has become the Mid-Autumn Festival when people look forward to reunion.
Our country has the custom of admiring the moon during the Mid-Autumn Festival since ancient times, and eating mooncakes is also an indispensable custom during the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Every Mid-Autumn Festival night, people look up at the bright moon, smell the fragrance of cinnamon, drink a glass of osmanthus honey wine, and celebrate the sweetness of their families and gather together happily.
