Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival

Tuesday night all of China celebrated the Mid-Autumn Festival. Traditionally this day, which occurs on August 15 of the lunar calendar, celebrates the harvest. It is also associated with a legend about the beautiful Change E who drank a potion to become immortal and she flew to the moon where she lives forever with her white rabbit. The reasons she drank the potion vary depending on the legend, but they all revolve around the fact that her husband Hou Yi was never home and she was tired of being alone. It doesn't seem like it really helped her much as there is not much entertainment on the moon. Mid-Autumn Day is similar in many ways to our Thanksgiving. Families travel from far distances to their homes to be together, eat a large meal and then spend the evening outside making wishes on the full moon and eating beautiful mooncakes and fruit. Our small apartment is overrun with both items at the moment. If I only had an oven or sugar and cinnamon I could do something with 10 pounds of apples. We find the moon cakes hit or miss-a bit like Bertie Bots Every Flavor Jelly Beans. Sometimes you bite into one and it is sweet bean paste with an egg, other times meat other times mint. I have to admit to being a bit gun shy!

We celebrated the Moon Festival by venturing into the other old town and having dinner. After dinner we joined the crowds (many of them our students) dancing around the bonfire in the main square. It was part primitive and part U2 concert.

Happy Mid-Autumn Day, and we thought of you all under the full moon.

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