If you believe they put a man on the moon, man on the moon.
If you believe there’s nothing up my sleeve, then nothing is cool.

"Man on the Moon"
R.E.M.

This week I am especially and uncharacteristically thankful for the moon.

But I must say I am more thankful that the Chinese people are thankful for (and interested in) the moon.  This Friday, October 6th, China officially will celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival.  Because of this holiday (which is supposedly second only to Chinese New Year in its importance on the Chinese calendar) I am enjoying a week off from classes.

Yippee!

It’s nice to start a semester, attend classes for a few weeks, and then
immediately take off for a week…I must say that I think the United States should adapt a similar strategy. 

Last year, we had only just arrived in Xining when we were introduced to this holiday (also known
as the Moon Festival, Mooncake Festival, August Moon Festival, and in certain
other parts of Asia, the Lantern
Festival.) 

The only thing that stuck in my memory at that time was that
it seemed like people were going ape over these semi-sweet goodies called
"mooncakes"

This year our college gave us a little more education (an introduction if you will) on what the Mid-Autumn festival is really all about…

I can’t say that their mandarin-translated-to-english introduction made
a lot of sense to me, but it got me curious enough to search online.
So, in a nutshell, I discovered that the holiday’s origins date back to
ancient China when "moon" worship was common.  The Mid-autumn festival
was traditionally the time when farmer’s would celebrate the end of the
harvest season.  Families would often reunite at this time and would
gather to admire the large "harvest moon".

The real interesting thing about this holiday (for me) was the various myths about Hou Yi and Chang’e.

There are quite a few variations on this myth (check out wikipedia or other resources for the details) but the gist of one variation of their tale goes something like this:

Hou Yi was an immortal archer who was married to Chang’e, a beautiful
mortal serving in the Jade Emperor’s (Emperor of Heaven’s) palace. The
other immortals got jealous of Yi and slandered him to the Emperor.
The married couple were then banished from heaven and forced to live by
hunting on the earth.

At this time 10 suns supposedly circled the earth (one circling per
day).  One day all ten (ganged up and) circled the earth on same day
(thus beginning to fry the earth!)  The Emperor of China commissioned
Yi to use his bow to strike down all but one of these suns.  To reward
him the Emperor gave him a pill which contained the "elixir" of life.
(Cool, huh?)

Yi was warned not to take the pill right away (until his soul was
ready) so he hid the pill in the rafters of his house.  Of course,
while he was gone his curious wife, Chang’e, caught sight of the pill
and swallowed it.  She then began to float up into the sky the same
time her hubby came back home.

Yi chased his wife up into the sky, but she went all the way to the
moon and he was forced to go back to the earth.  Upon reaching the moon
(this is the part I like) Chang’e was breathless and coughed up part of
the pill!  (Oops…)

The jade hare was already waiting for Chang’e on the moon. (Bugs has
his own story I won’t go into…but it’s interesting as well.)  Chang’e
asked the jade hare to work on pounding out a new pill from the
remnants of the piece she hocked up so she might return to earth and
her husband.  As far as we know the hare is still pounding out that
pill. 

Once a year, on the 15th day of the full moon, Yi visits Chang’e on the
moon (he built his own house on the sun by the way–this is also where
the Yin/Yang thing comes in…) and that is why the moon is so full and
beautiful on this night every year.

So that’s (basically) the story of Hou Yi and Chang’e.  Instead of a "man in the moon" the Chinese look up and a see "a woman on the moon". 

And potentially a green rabbit who has a certain knack for pharmaceuticals.