10 years after Sep 11, 2001...May God bless all of the families who where there in NYC, Washington DC and PA on those doomed flights and those in their path. May God bless the leaders of our country today and give them wisdom so that we may never have to face that again. Like most of you, I will always remember where I was on this day. We were living in Romania at the time and it was about at 3:00pm in the afternoon at work when my assistant Liliana came to me with an ashen face and tears in her eyes letting me know that her son had called and told her to turn on the news. Me and the other members of the expat team gathered in a conference room and watched in horror as both towers were burning and falling down. We left work a little early that day, sick to our stomachs and just wanting to go home to be with our families in Bucharest. We called our families in the US to be assured they were OK and to let them know we were OK. The Romanians were so gracious to us, escorting us home and wanting to help us. We had visitors from the US and we tried to help them get home, but they could only reach Paris...not any further because the airports had already been shut down. I will never forget that time in our life.
Onto a more joyous occasion!
This is a 3 day weekend here in China, celebrating mid autumn festival. There are long stories and legends about this holiday in China on the internet. I got the following on wikipedia: (Probably more than you wanted to know...if you want to skip the wikipedia part, I've put it all in purple. I start writing and showing pictures after that!
The Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋節), also known as the Moon Festival or Zhongqiu Festival is a popular harvest festival celebrated by Chinese and Vietnamese people, dating back over 3,000 years to moon worship in China's Shang Dynasty. It was first called Zhongqiu Jie (literally "Mid-Autumn Festival") in the Zhou Dynasty.[1]
The Mid-Autumn Festival is held on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese calendar, which is in September or early October in the Gregorian calendar.
I love the legends that go with these holidays in China! Here's another copy/paste from wikipedia on the Mid autumn festival story of two lovers Haoyi and Chang'e
Houyi and Chang'e
Celebration of the Mid-Autumn Festival is strongly associated with the legend of Houyi and Chang'e, the Moon Goddess of Immortality. Tradition places these two figures from Chinese mythology at around 2200 BCE, during the reign of the legendary Emperor Yao, shortly after that of Huangdi. Unlike many lunar deities in other cultures who personify the moon, Chang'e simply lives on the moon but is not the moon per se.
There are many variants and adaptations of the legend of Chang'e that frequently contradict each other. However, most versions of the legend involve some variation of the following elements: Houyi, the Archer, an emperor, either benevolent or malevolent, and an elixir of life.
One version of the legend states that Houyi was an immortal and Chang'e was a beautiful young girl, working in the palace of the Jade Emperor (the Emperor of Heaven, 玉帝 pinyin:Yùdì) as an attendant to the Queen Mother of the West (the Jade Emperor's wife). Houyi aroused the jealousy of the other immortals, who then slandered him before the Jade Emperor. Houyi and his wife, Chang'e, were subsequently banished from heaven. They were forced to live on Earth. Houyi had to hunt to survive and became a skilled and famous archer.
At that time, there were ten suns, in the form of three-legged birds, residing in a mulberry tree in the eastern sea. Each day one of the sun birds would have to travel around the world on a carriage, driven by Xihe, the 'mother' of the suns. One day, all ten of the suns circled together, causing the Earth to burn. Emperor Yao, the Emperor of China, commanded Houyi to use his archery skill to shoot down all but one of the suns. Upon completion of his task, the Emperor rewarded Houyi with a pill that granted eternal life. Emperor Yao advised Houyi not to swallow the pill immediately but instead to prepare himself by praying and fasting for a year before taking it.[2] Houyi took the pill home and hid it under a rafter. One day, Houyi was summoned away again by Emperor Yao. During her husband's absence, Chang'e, noticed a white beam of light beckoning from the rafters, and discovered the pill. Chang'e swallowed it and immediately found that she could fly. Houyi returned home, realizing what had happened he began to reprimand his wife. Chang'e escaped by flying out the window into the sky.[2]
Houyi pursued her halfway across the heavens but was forced to return to Earth because of strong winds. Chang'e reached the moon, where she coughed up part of the pill.[2] Chang'e commanded the hare that lived on the moon to make another pill. Chang'e would then be able to return to Earth and her husband.[citation needed]
The legend states that the hare is still pounding herbs, trying to make the pill. Houyi built himself a palace in the sun, representing "Yang" (the male principle), in contrast to Chang'e's home on the moon which represents "Yin" (the female principle). Once a year, on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, Houyi visits his wife. That is the reason why the moon is very full and beautiful on that night.[2]
This is a time for family gatherings and exchange of mooncakes (kind of like Christmas gifts...and it's a huge business here in China...it's just as much about the box and packaging as the cake inside!)
Here are some mooncakes we have given some of our Chinese friends:
 |
| Here is a "suzhou" style moon cake, we purchased here in Shenyang |
 |
| Cross section of a mooncake |
 |
| Rod eating a piece...this one was filled with mungbean paste and walnuts...not too bad but heavy! (certainly much better than the silkworm larvae!) |
 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| These are moon cakes in their box from our hotel home |
No comments:
Post a Comment