Here she met the friendly Jade Hare who still keeps her company on the moon. Chang’E tried to reply, but accidentally swallowed the pill! Lo and behold, she began to float upwards and out of the window!, Try as he might, her husband could not keep her on the ground, and he watched helplessly as she floated up and away into the sky.Įventually, Chang’E reached the Moon, where she came to rest under a tree. Hou-Yi was pleased to see his beloved wife, and asked her if anything had happened while he was away. Fearing that her husband would catch her looking at the contents of the box, she hid the pill in her mouth. She took it out to examine it just as her husband was returning home. Because this holiday is based on the lunar calendar, where it falls on the solar calendar varies from year to year. It was beautiful, glowing and shimmering like a pearl. The Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival or Zhng Qi Ji ( ) occurs on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month each year (falling in September or October on our familiar solar calendar). While Hou-Yi was tending to his imperial duties, his beautiful wife, Chang’E came across the pill in a pretty little box. She lives there still, with the jade rabbit who grinds powder under a cinnamon tree. This pill was only to be taken after a year of meditation and fasting, so Hou-Yi hid it away, to be taken the following year. Filled with the potion, she became weightless and ascended to the moon. Hou-Yi was richly rewarded, and was given a Pill of Immortality by the Goddess of Heaven so that he might continue to protect the Emperor and the Earth forever more. Such was the skill and might of our hero, that he drew his bow back and from it flew nine arrows striking nine suns, leaving only one. Hou-Yi climbed up the Kun Lun mountain under the blazing heat, and raised his bow to the skies. Seeing the damage being caused to the Earth, the Emperor sent for his most skilled archer, Hou-Yi, and ordered for nine of the ten suns to be shot out of the sky. One day, all ten suns appeared in the heavens, scorching the Earth and drying up the water in the wells, rice paddies and lakes. The Mid-Autumn festival (often called Mooncake Day) is a time of year when parents tell their children the wonderous tale of the beautiful Lady on the Moon, Chang’E.Ī long, long time ago, during the Hsia dynasty around 2000BC, the Earth was circled by 10 suns, each taking its turn to shine down on the world.
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