It is the Moon Festival on October 1, 2020. (This post was written in 2020.) Why do I say it this way? The Moon Festival is held on the 15th day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar. Since it uses the lunar calendar, it will be different each year in the regular calendar. It is one of the important traditional holidays for the Chinese and Asians. The Moon Festival is also known as Mid-Autumn Festival, Moon Eve, August Festival, Moon Chasing Festival, Moon Worship Festival, Girl’s Day or Reunion Festival (仲秋節、月夕、八月節、追月節、拜月節、女兒節或團圓節). Like Thanksgiving, it is a harvest holiday when families get together and give thanks for nature’s abundance.
Many holidays have stories behind them. It is no exception for the Moon Festival. According to Chinese mythology, the earth once had 10 suns circling over it. One day, all 10 suns appeared together, scorching the earth with their heat. The earth was saved when a strong archer, Hou Yi (后羿), succeeded in shooting down 9 of the suns. The Queen Mother (王母娘娘) awarded Hou Yi with one elixir of life. He loved his wife and did not want to eat it by himself so he saved it. One day when Hou Yi was out of town, Hou Yi’s disciple wanted to steal the elixir. He forced Hou Yi’s wife, Chang Er (嫦娥), to hand over the elixir. Chang Er swallowed the elixir reluctantly and flew into the sky. That day was August 15th of the lunar calendar. She missed her husband so she flew to the moon which is the closest to the earth and lived in the Guanghan Palace (廣寒宮) on the moon. Hou Yi was heartbroken so he started a tradition to set a banquet to face the moon to reunite with Chang Er every year.
According to legend, eating moon cakes on the Moon Festival began in the Yuan Dynasty (元代). The people of Han (漢人) could not bear the cruel ruling of Mongolians (蒙古人) of the Yuan Dynasty, and they revolted against the Yuan Dynasty. Zhu Yuanzhang (朱元璋) united various resistance forces to prepare for the uprising. However, the government officers and soldiers monitored and controlled them very closely and it was very difficult to pass the flyers and notes. Sergeant Liu Bowen (劉伯溫) came up with a plan and ordered his subordinates to hide the note containing the “Uprising on the August 15th Night” in the cake, and then send them to the rebel army in various places. On the day of the uprising, all the rebels responded together and the uprising was successful. Later, Zhu Yuanzhang finally overthrew the Yuan Dynasty and became the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty (明朝). Then the custom of eating moon cakes on the Moon Festival spread among the people.
Besides Taiwan, Hong Kong and China, other countries such as Vietnam, Singapore, Korea, Japan, Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand also celebrate the Moon Festival and there are their own unique customs. It is very interesting to know the different customs for celebrating the same holiday.
Since we moved to California, we are very lucky to have mooncakes given by my in-laws as a gift. There are so many combinations of fillings for the mooncake. We have mooncakes made of lotus seed paste with two salted duck egg yolks this year. They are delicious.
2020 年 10 月 1 日是中秋節。(這篇文章是2020年寫的。）為什麼這麼說呢？中秋節是農曆八月十五。由於使用農曆，每年的陽曆都會有所不同。它是中國人和亞洲人重要的傳統節日之一。 中秋節又稱仲秋節、月夕、八月節、追月節、拜月節、女兒節、團圓節。就像感恩節一樣，這是一個豐收的節日，家人團聚在一起，感謝大自然的豐富。
許多節日背後都有故事。中秋節也不例外。根據中國神話，地球曾經有 10 個太陽繞著它轉。有一天，十個太陽一起出現，用它們的熱度烤焦大地。一位名叫後羿的強大弓箭手，成功地射落九個太陽時，地球便得到了拯救。王母娘娘賜予後羿一顆長生不老藥。他愛他的妻子，不想自己吃，所以他把它留了下來。有一天，後羿出城時，後羿的弟子想要偷丹藥。他強迫後羿的妻子嫦娥交出長生不老藥。嫦娥無奈的吞下了丹藥，飛上了天空。那天是農曆8月15日。她想念丈夫，飛到了離地球最近的月球，住在月球上的廣寒宮。後羿傷心欲絕，便開始每年擺設面月宴與嫦娥團聚的習俗。
相傳，中秋節吃月餅始於元代。漢人不堪忍受元朝蒙古人的殘暴統治，紛紛起義反抗元朝。朱元璋聯合各路反抗力量，準備起義。但政府官兵監視控制十分嚴密，傳單、紙條傳遞十分困難。劉伯溫軍士想出一個計，命令部下將寫有「8月15夜起義」的字條藏在蛋糕裡，然後送到各地的起義軍手中。起義當天，全體起義軍共同響應，起義成功。後來，朱元璋終於推翻了元朝，成為明朝的第一個皇帝。 於是，中秋節吃月餅的習俗就在民間流傳開來。
除台灣、香港和中國大陸外，越南、新加坡、韓國、日本、菲律賓、馬來西亞和泰國等國家也慶祝中秋節，並有各自獨特的習俗。了解慶祝同一個節日的不同習俗是非常有趣的。
自從我們搬到加州後，我們很幸運能收到嫂嫂送的月餅作為禮物。月餅的餡料有很多種組合。今年我們有蓮蓉月餅加兩個鹹鴨蛋黃。它們很美味。
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