The+Mid-Autumn+Festival+(Workset+24)

中秋节
 * = Zhōngqiūjié

The Mid-Autumn Festival ||= ||

Add a picture that you like. Add a caption showing your name and the author or source of the picture. Next to the picture, add 50 to 100 words explaining what you find most interesting about the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Personally I find the lighting of the lanterns the most intriguing of the Mid-Autumn Festival. When each are lit and they light up the sky it is really mesmerising as they shine with moon. It shows the unity of a nation coming together to celebrate the beauty of the moon. Each lantern is crafted carefully some much more intricate than others and in many sizes. Each person is represented within a lamp. The craftsmanship involved in more complicated paper lanterns is both stunning and breath-taking.
 * Jordan: **

(image from www.lillianlanko.com)

One thing I find interesting about the Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋節) is the variations in the stories of its origin. All the stories contain the characters Houyi, an archer who shot down nine of the ten suns, and Chang'e, his wife. After Houyi shoots down the suns, he is gifted with the elixir of immortality, but does not use it. In some stories, Houyi is made king for disposing of the extra suns, but becomes vain and tyrannical. Because of this, Chang'e steals and swallows the elixir, fleeing and becoming a spirit of the moon. Soon after, her husband dies of anger. In other versions, Chang'e is cornered while her husband is out hunting, and is almost forced into giving over the elixir. She refuses, swallows it, and flies into the sky, where she chooses to live on the moon so she can still be close to her husband. When Houyi finds out what happened, he is so sad that he takes out all of Chang'e’s favourite fruits and cakes to give sacrifices to her. No matter which version of the story you prefer, they all end the same way; every lunar 15th of August, people gather to commemorate Chang'e, the spirit of the moon. By Holly