Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Happy Moon Festival!


Today marks our 2nd Moon Festival with Myah. Many of you did not follow us on our baby jelly beans site so you did not see our celebration last year. We have a special " Chinese Fairy Godmother" who makes sure that we celebrate these special Chinese holidays with Myah. She works with my neighbor and sends little gifts through her. We have never met her but she is from the same province as Myah. Last night there was a knock on my door and my neighbor had 2 little tins with moon cakes inside. I could not believe that a year has passed since we ate our moon cakes last year! I found this information on about.com and thought I would pass it on to you all!
The Chinese Moon Festival is on the 15th of the 8th lunar month. It's also known as the Mid-autumn Festival. Chinese culture is deeply imbedded in traditional festivals. Just like Christmas and Thanksgiving in the West, the Moon Festival is one of the most important traditional events for the Chinese.
The Moon Festival is full of legendary stories. Legend says that Chang Er flew to the moon, where she has lived ever since. You might see her dancing on the moon during the Moon Festival. The Moon Festival is also an occasion for family reunions. When the full moon rises, families get together to watch the full moon, eat moon cakes, and sing moon poems. With the full moon, the legend, the family and the poems, you can't help thinking that this is really a perfect world. That is why the Chinese are so fond of the Moon Festival.
The Moon Festival is also a romantic one. A perfect night for the festival is if it is a quiet night without a silk of cloud and with a little mild breeze from the sea. Lovers spend such a romatic night together tasting the delicious moon cake with some wine while watching the full moon. Even for a couple who can't be together, they can still enjoy the night by watching the moon at the same time so it seems that they are together at that hour. A great number of poetry has been devoted to this romantic festival. Hope the Moon Festival will bring you happiness.
The moon cake is the food for the Moon Festival. The Chinese eat the moon cake at night with the full moon in the sky. Happy Moon Festival to you all!!

2 comments:

Don and Lisa Osborn said...

Sounds like you had a very festive time! May you have many, many more...

Have a happy day,
Lisa

Sheri said...

Happy Moon Festival to your family! If we can see the moon (rain & storms predicted), we'll be thinking of your family.

By the way, my nieces saw the picture on our blog of Sarah and Myah and said "they just have to be sisters."