It's time to admire the full moon

The Mid-Autumn Festival

It’s time to admire the full moon ,hang a lantern and eat a moon cake , The Mid-autumn Festival is here, The Mid-autumn Festival falls on the 15^th day of the eighth lunar month every year. It is call Mid-autumn Festival , because of the 15th day is a middle of a month, and the eighth lunar month is in the middle of autumn, It is believed that the moon is the brightest and roundest on this day,

The Mid-Autumn festival became an official celebration in China during the Tang Dynasty ,But there isn’t one clear answer to the questions of when and how the Mid-autumn Festival begain , Many believe the festival was first mentioned in the “Book of Rites” written more than 2,400 years ago, It was describe as a day for emperors to celebrate the year’s harvest , by giving offerings to the moon , and hosting a great feast,

Today, The Mid-autumn Festival is a very important family gathering, It’s when people and the moon reunited to form a full circle ,

As an old saying goes, There are many legends about the Mid-autumn Festival, The most popular one is about Chang’e and the jade rabbit ,  Hou Yi ,the husband of Chang’e, was rewarded with an elixir of immortality by the Queen Mother , Because he shot down nine of the ten suns,and saved people from the heat , He didn’t swallow it straight away , because he didn’t want to gain immortality without his wife , So, he asked Chang’e to keep it for him , Unexpectedly , While Houyi was out hunting on mid-auntumn day,an evil person tried to force Chang’e to hand over the elixir, Chang’e swallowed the elixir, and flew higher and higher , she then chose the moon as her living place , to be close to her beloved husband , Houyi was very sad, and made sacrifices to Chang’e with incense, cakes, and fruits evey mid-autumn day .

Along with the legend , the custom of worshiping the moon on the Mid-autumn day has been passed down from generation to generation , There is also a rabbit on the moon , white as jade, So it called-”Jade rabbit”, It is said that the jade rabbit is a companion of Chang’e, It constantly pounds the elixir of immortality on the moon ,As time passed, The Jade rabbit became synonymous with the moon.