Like most Chinese myths, many variations of the Mid-Autumn story exist. My version is about how the foolish search for immortality was foiled by a woman, turned Chinese Thanksgiving in celebration of the harvest moon. Or, can't live forever? Then work by moonlight to reap the harvest and make living comfortable. There, that's more like it -- the Mid-Autumn Festival is a celebration of the Fall harvest.
Careful though, this story too is mostly culled from my 8-year-old memory.
A long time ago lived the Archer. He was so artful with the bow and arrow that he had no rival, neither on earth nor in heaven. He was married to the most beautiful woman the world has ever seen. But he was also a vain and boastful man. He was so proud of his skill and renown that he wanted to live forever so he would always and forever be the best archer the world knows.
One year, ten suns appeared mysteriously around the earth, circling it nonstop. The land became hot and scorched, and people had a difficult time growing food. Earth and heaven dried up and people were dying. Finally, the gods asked the Archer to shoot down the suns. The Archer said, "I will shoot down the suns if you can make me an immortal."
The king of heaven agreed.
The Archer took his bow and nine specially-prepared arrows that will withstand the heat of the sun and stood in the middle of a field. One by one, he shot down nine suns. Everyone was relieved and overjoyed.
The king of heaven gave the Archer a small bottle containing the elixir of life. But the king said, "You must wait one year before taking the potion. You must spend this time cleansing your soul and preparing yourself spiritually for immortality. If you are not clean when you drink the potion, you will not ascend all the way to heaven to become an immortal."
The Archer took the potion home and hid it from his wife. Then he went about purifying his spirit.
The wife, who knew about the potion, wanted it for herself. She wanted to stay young and beautiful forever. So she looked for the potion everywhere in the house every chance she had.
One day, the wife found the potion. She opened the bottle and drank the potion. Just at that moment, the Archer came home and saw his wife finishing her drink. Immediately, she started to float up to the sky. By the time the Archer found his bow and arrow, she had already flown up to the moon.
There was only one moon in the sky so the Archer did not want to shoot it down, otherwise there would be nothing to balance the sun, and he could not disrupt the harmony of nature.
The wife stayed on the moon and was joined by a jade rabbit.
So while in the West, people look at the moon and think the man in the moon, in the East, people look at the moon and think the lady on the moon, and her jade rabbit.
Yup. That's the crazy story. I mean, where did the jade rabbit come from? What was it doing on the moon?
And the story of the lovers that I told? Not a lie at all. I assigned the story to the wrong ocassion. That's the Chinese Valentine story. The day is celebrated on the 7th day of the seventh month on the lunar calendar. Double Seven in mid-summer, usually early or mid-August on the Western calendar. And is mid-August not a romantic time of year?
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