Herbie wants a telescope to look at the full moon,
because we manage to googled some stories abt the origin
of mooncake festival, from Chinese Fortune Calendar
so i chose 3 that i'm vaguely familiar with to tell him,
and now he wants to see the...
Chang Er / Jade Rabbit / Mooncake Msg
the most famous is actually
1. Chang Er floats to the moon
Once upon a time, the earth had ten suns circling over it,
each took its turn to illuminate to the earth.
But one day all ten suns appeared together,
scorching the earth & killing crops with their heat.
Here comes Hou Yi, a strong and tyrannical archer.
He succeeded in shooting down nine of the suns,
leaving one sun to illuminate earth.
Hou Yi was given an immortal pill by the Emperor as a reward
(some say its elixir of life, i prefer the latter, i believe
liquid was a more common practice in ancient times,)
However his beautiful wife Chang Er drank the elixir of life,
(also, summarize from all the stories i've heard n read before,
i've always think Chang Er was a greedy lady, because
she knew the elixir was not meant for her anyway!!!
and she still drinks it without permission!!!)
well, you'll probably come across a more beautiful version
which says she was protecting her man from being poisoned....
After drinking it, she found herself floating away,
Hou Yi chased after her, even manage to anti the earth gravity
crashing through all stages of heaven to chase her,
but was stopped by the wind, & Chang Er could only stop at the
planet nearest to earth, which is the MOON
Hou Yi loved his now immortal wife so much,
and he didn't shoot down the moon,
i guess maybe he's afraid she'll die.
because we manage to googled some stories abt the origin
of mooncake festival, from Chinese Fortune Calendar
so i chose 3 that i'm vaguely familiar with to tell him,
and now he wants to see the...
Chang Er / Jade Rabbit / Mooncake Msg
the most famous is actually1. Chang Er floats to the moon
Once upon a time, the earth had ten suns circling over it,
each took its turn to illuminate to the earth.
But one day all ten suns appeared together,
scorching the earth & killing crops with their heat.
Here comes Hou Yi, a strong and tyrannical archer.
He succeeded in shooting down nine of the suns,
leaving one sun to illuminate earth.
Hou Yi was given an immortal pill by the Emperor as a reward
(some say its elixir of life, i prefer the latter, i believe
liquid was a more common practice in ancient times,)
However his beautiful wife Chang Er drank the elixir of life,
(also, summarize from all the stories i've heard n read before,
i've always think Chang Er was a greedy lady, because
she knew the elixir was not meant for her anyway!!!
and she still drinks it without permission!!!)
well, you'll probably come across a more beautiful version
which says she was protecting her man from being poisoned....
After drinking it, she found herself floating away,
Hou Yi chased after her, even manage to anti the earth gravity
crashing through all stages of heaven to chase her,
but was stopped by the wind, & Chang Er could only stop at the
planet nearest to earth, which is the MOON
Hou Yi loved his now immortal wife so much,
and he didn't shoot down the moon,
i guess maybe he's afraid she'll die.
2. Jade Rabbitthis story was copied from the site,
cos the version of Jade Rabbit i know,
is just a rabbit shadow illuminating the moon,
but i dunno how it got there at the first place!
cos the version of Jade Rabbit i know,
is just a rabbit shadow illuminating the moon,
but i dunno how it got there at the first place!
In this legend, three fairy sages transformed themselves
into pitiful old men and begged for something to eat
from a fox, a monkey and a rabbit.
The fox and the monkey had food to give to the old men,
but the rabbit, empty-handed, offered his own flesh instead,
jumping into a blazing fire to cook himself.
The sages were so touched by the rabbit's sacrifice
that they let him live in the Moon Palace
where he became the "Jade Rabbit."
(apparently, you will see Jade Rabbit & Chang Er together,
on the moon itself! and they say Chang Er made Rabbit,
pound away medicines so she could return to earth! lol)
into pitiful old men and begged for something to eat
from a fox, a monkey and a rabbit.
The fox and the monkey had food to give to the old men,
but the rabbit, empty-handed, offered his own flesh instead,
jumping into a blazing fire to cook himself.
The sages were so touched by the rabbit's sacrifice
that they let him live in the Moon Palace
where he became the "Jade Rabbit."
(apparently, you will see Jade Rabbit & Chang Er together,
on the moon itself! and they say Chang Er made Rabbit,
pound away medicines so she could return to earth! lol)
3. Mooncake MessageAhhhhh....this one is what we learnt in SCHOOL!!!!!
During the Yuan dynasty (A.D.1280-1368)
China was ruled by the Mongolian people.
Leaders were unhappy at submitting to foreign rule,
and set to plan on a rebellion secretly...
Knowing Moon Festival is near
(notice the missing word 'cake'?
the mooncake didnt exist
until this historical event took place!)
rebellion leaders ordered special cakes.
Baked into each moon cake was a message abt the attack,
(similar to fortune cookies concept)
everyone in the village knew and was prepared,
On the night of the Moon Festival,
the rebels successfully attacked and overthrew the government.
Followed by the establishment of Ming dynasty(A.D. 1368-1644).
(by the way, Ming Dynasty are the ones that
sponsors Cheng Ho's travels around Asia/world :)
Cheng Ho was in Malacca!!!~)
Today, moon cakes are eaten to commemorate this legend.
2 comments:
I see you like VLAD Studios... :-)
happy mooncake fest to you herbie~
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