3 classic legends of the Mid-Autumn Festival
legends of the Mid-Autumn Festival
Legend story 1 : Lady Chang’e flying to the moon
According to legend, Houyi, Chang’e’s husband, asked for the medicine of immortality from the Queen of God. After Chang’e stole the food, she flew to the Moon Palace. Although the Moon Palace is exquisite, it is very cold because of its high space.
嫦娥应悔偷灵药，碧海青天夜夜心。
Maybe the Chang’e regrets ever having stolen the elixir of life,
As night after night she must over azure seas hover and in the blue resides
It is the portrayal of her feeling of loneliness
Later, Chang’e confided to her husband: “Tomorrow, the moon will round. You use flour to make a round cake. Put it in the northwest of the house. Then call my name continuously. I can come home in the middle of the night.” Second God, Hou Yi did as his wife ordered. Chang’e fruit flew from the middle of the moon, and the couple reunited. The custom of making mooncakes for Chang’e during the Mid-Autumn Festival was also formed from this.
Legend story 2 : Wu Gang Cuts the Osmanthus Tree
Legend has it that there are laurels in the moon. The ancient Chinese mythological novel “Huainanzi” says that “there are laurels in the moon”.
Later, the legend was more specific, and Wu Gang, who cut the osmanthus tree, was added beside the osmanthus tree. The legend of Laurel in the Moon and Wu Gang is the most concretely recorded in the collection of legendary novels in the Tang Dynasty. Said: “It is said that there are osmanthus and toads in the moon. The laurel tree in the moon is five hundred meters high, and a person uses an axe to cut it down. legends of the Mid-Autumn Festival
Cut the tree away and close it immediately. The tree-cutter was named Wu Gang. He was punished to chop the tree because he had violated the rules of Tiangong. “The Emperor of Heaven used this kind of never-ending labor to punish Wu Gang. It is like Sisyphus in Western mythology.
Legend story 3 : Jade rabbit making herbs
This is the legend of the Han Dynasty.
Jade rabbit makes herbal medicine called Toad Pill. Dedicated to His Majesty the Emperor, taking this medicine can become a god. According to legend, there is a rabbit in the moon, white as jade, so it is called the rabbit of jade. Holding a stick made of jade, it knelt on the ground and crushed herbs to make Toad Pills. Take this pill to keep you old and not dead. Jade rabbit may be Chang’e’s earliest playmate in the moon palace.
China’s space program and aerial probe are named Chang’e. The lunar rover that landed on the moon is called Jade Rabbit. This is the gifts that the ancient legend left us today.
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