Mid-Autumn Festival

Mid-Autumn Festival (also called Moon Festival) is a traditional Chinese holiday which is celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month of the Lunar Calendar.  It originated in China but is celebrated in other Asian countries.  

This is the first year that the Chinese government has given a day off work for Mid-Autumn Festival, and a number of other traditional Chinese holidays.  During this festival people eat mooncakes (hard cakes with various fillings), re-unite with their families and watch the moon, which is at its fullest point of the year.

I have, for 3 years now, tried to get someone to tell me the origin of the Mid-Autumn festival, to no avail.  The stories are so confusing and seem to have so m

any discrepancies, that I have never been able to crack the code on the real meaning.  So this year, I finally decided to look it up, and luckily for me, Wikipedia is not censored today.  

What I found explained a lot.  The reason the story seems so confusing is because there are actually at least six variations of it.  The most popular one is this (quoted from Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Autumn_Festival):

Houyi was an immortal, while Chang'e was a beautiful young girl, working in the Jade Emperor's (Emperor of Heaven) (玉帝 pinyin:yùdì) Palace as the attendant to the Queen Mother of the West (wife of the Jade Emperor), just before her marriage. One day, Houyi aroused the jealousy of the other immortals, who then slandered him before the Jade Emperor. Houyi and his wife, Chang'e, were subsequently banished from heaven, and forced to live by hunting on earth. He became a famous archer.

Now at this time, there were 10 suns, in the form of Three-legged birds, residing in a mulberrytree in the eastern sea; each day one of the sun birds would have to travel around the world on acarriage, driven by Xihe (deity) the 'mother' of the suns. One day, all 10 of the suns circled together, causing the earth to burn. Emperor Yao, the Emperor of China, commanded Houyi to shoot down all but one of the suns. Upon the completion of his task, the Emperor rewarded Houyi with a pill that granted eternal life, and advised him: "Make no haste to swallow this pill; first prepare yourself with prayer and fasting for a year".^[5] Houyi took the pill home and hid it under a rafter, while he began healing his spirit. While Houyi was healing his spirit, Houyi was summoned again by the emperor. Chang'e, noticing a white beam of light beckoning from the rafters, discovered the pill, which she swallowed. Immediately, she found that she could fly. At that moment, Houyi returned home, and, realizing what had happened, began to reprimand her. Chang'e flew out the window into the sky.^[5]

With a bow in hand, Houyi sped after her, and the pursuit continued halfway across the heavens. Finally, Houyi had to return to the Earth because of the force of the wind. Chang'e reached the moon, and breathless, she coughed. Part of the pill fell out from her mouth.^[5] Now, thehare was already on the moon, and Chang'e commanded the animal to make another pill from it, so that she could return to earth to her husband.

As of today, the hare is still pounding herbs, trying to make the pill. As for Houyi, he built himself a palace in the sun as "Yang" (the male principle), with Chang'e as "Yin" (the female principle). Once a year, on the 15th day of the full moon, Houyi visits his wife. That is why, that night, the moon is full and beautiful.^[5]

This description appears in written form in two Western Han dynasty (206 BCE-24 CE) collections; Shan Hai Jing, the Classic of the Mountains and Seas and Huainanzi, a philosophical classic.^[6]

I, now, feel satisfied that I may know more than my students about this topic.  Thanks Wikipedia!