Offerings to the Moon Fairy
Mid-Autumn Festival is a traditional Chinese festival in Singapore. Many families have a reunion dinner together to celebrate the festival. It is a time where almost everyone eats mooncakes on that day too. :)
The moon on this day is almost always the brightest and roundest.
I decided to 'pray to the moon' this year.
piglet mooncake for the children
When I was a young child, my mother used to pray to the moon on every mid-autumn festival. After our reunion dinner, the children would help to set up the table for the worship. My Mom would steam some yams and prepare Chinese tea. On the table would be a variety of fruits ..... and mooncakes!
Offering prayers to the moon is a ritual for the women and the children, the men do not participate in it. They will sit around chit-chatting, sampling tea and eating mooncakes.
new stationery for the kids
What my brothers and I liked about this prayer thingy is that we would get new stationery. My grandma hoped that using the stationery blessed by the Moon Fairy, the children would have better results. :P
I think to keep up with the times, I should offer a laptop or iPhone or iPad next year. :P
my modern day cosmetics... hehehe....
According to Chinese mythology, the earth once had 10 suns circling over it. One day, all 10 suns appeared together, scorching the earth with their heat. The earth was saved when a strong archer, Hou Yi, succeeded in shooting down 9 of the suns. He stole the elixir of life to save the people from tyrannical rule, but his beautiful wife, Chang-E drank it. Thus started the legend of the lady in the moon to whom young Chinese girls would pray at the Mid-Autumn Festival.
According to Chinese mythology, the earth once had 10 suns circling over it. One day, all 10 suns appeared together, scorching the earth with their heat. The earth was saved when a strong archer, Hou Yi, succeeded in shooting down 9 of the suns. He stole the elixir of life to save the people from tyrannical rule, but his beautiful wife, Chang-E drank it. Thus started the legend of the lady in the moon to whom young Chinese girls would pray at the Mid-Autumn Festival.
My grandma and Mom would offer their newly purchased face-powder to the Moon Fairy. They believed using the blessed face-powder would ensure they have beautiful, smooth skin. I offered my modern day cosmetics.
How lovely it is to enjoy the mooncakes while admiring the full moon with my family members and neighbours who couldn't resist joining me in praying to the moon. :D
Foreigners too enjoy our mid-autumn festival :)
I too enjoy the mid autumn festival. Love eating mooncakes. :)
ReplyDeleteLina,
ReplyDeleteHigh 5! We both love mooncakes.
What a nice tradition and story !
ReplyDeleteI wonder why in germanistic languages the moon is male while in roman languages like French, Italian, Spanish etc it's female. Isn't that strange ?
Lovely post and thank you for sharing your tradition. Happy WW!
ReplyDeleteIT looks like a fun festival. I always wonder about the origin of such tales, whether simple mythology or harkening back to a time of technology greater than we suspect could have possibly existed - Weaponry capable of destroying suns...
ReplyDeleteGattina,
ReplyDeletehmmmm.... I didn't know how to distinguish the sexes between objects. :D
eileeninmd,
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoy learning about our tradition. Happy WW!
Sukhmandir Kaur,
ReplyDeleteIt is an extremely fun festival.
I think it's just simple mythology.
There are several versions about the lady in the moon and the shooting down of the 9 suns.
It said the hero shot down the 9 suns with a bow and arrow. Impossible. :P
i love mooncakes too but they keep getting more and more expensive. the Mid Autumn festival has always been a busy month. lots of occasions and weddings fall on this auspicious month.
ReplyDeleteLife ramblings,
ReplyDeleteThe mooncakes are indeed getting more costly each year. But since we eat it only once a year, expensive also must buy some to try.
Luckily we get several new, creative fillings every year.
I look forward to new favours every time.
I was so tempted to eat mooncakes but for health reason, I've to resist myself from those at the moment since I'm diagnosed with gestational diabetes mellitus during my pregnancy right now.. :(
ReplyDeleteVisiting you from EC adn WW's HQ ^__^
Interesting mythological tale. I like learning about these customs.
ReplyDeleteLove the nutty moon cake. One thing I dont know how to eat is that horny black thing something called 'lian kok' but to play with it instead of eating haha. Keep the traditional going at the rate of modernization we might forget this festival in future.
ReplyDeleteI must find a moon cake!
ReplyDeletehappy mid autumn festival
ReplyDeleteGlad that you enjoy the mid-autumn festival and have the traditional praying too :)
ReplyDelete