Happy Mid-autumn Festival everyone!
I know this is a big holiday for everyone back home, and you've all been celebrating just as much as I have.
I have today and tomorrow off of work, with today being the actual holiday itself, but, in a move that's typical for holidays in China, everything that was supposed to happen on Friday, including classes and work, have all been rescheduled to Sunday. Because it's important that everyone has off for the holiday itself, but no four day weekends!
Anyways, I'm going to spend today walking around the city some more, and then watching some of the festivities later tonight on an island in the middle of the Pearl River that divides Guangzhou. That will consist of seeing lanterns, I believe, and eating mooncakes. I've been told by several people that this holiday is kind of similar to American Thanksgiving, where the most important thing is to gather with your family and eat, none of the other festivities are particularly important. Except for mooncakes. I have been given and have eaten so many mooncakes over the past several weeks since I arrived in Guangzhou that it's preposterous. I move into my apartment on Saturday (yay!) and the only food that's going to be in there at that time is boxes upon boxes of mooncakes and one hunk of cheese (vacuum-sealed, hopefully not spoiled) that I brought with me from Italy.
So, the mid-autumn festival celebrates the story of Chang'e, the woman who lives on the moon. As far as I can recollect, from the stories we were told while celebrating the holiday back at Oberlin, there was a time long ago when there were many many suns in the sky over China, so everything was hot and dry and nothing could grow. One day, a famed hero and incredible archer (whose name I forgot) took it upon himself to set things right and, one-by-one, shot down the suns from the sky. In gratitude, the king (or someone) gave the archer a potion of immortality, which he consumed a small amount of every night in order to prolong his life indefinitely. One day, he was out on a trip, and his wife snuck into his room and started to take a little bit of the potion, hoping to use its magic for herself. However, the archer suddenly returned home while she was in the middle of consuming it, and, to escape his judgement (or something), she fled to the moon, where she lives to this day, immortal, as Chang'e.
I believe that's the story. I probably butchered it incredibly.
Regardless, happy mid-autumn festival everyone! If you come across any mooncakes, eat them! But try and find the ones with egg yolks in them, they're much tastier than the red bean ones.
I know this is a big holiday for everyone back home, and you've all been celebrating just as much as I have.
I have today and tomorrow off of work, with today being the actual holiday itself, but, in a move that's typical for holidays in China, everything that was supposed to happen on Friday, including classes and work, have all been rescheduled to Sunday. Because it's important that everyone has off for the holiday itself, but no four day weekends!
Anyways, I'm going to spend today walking around the city some more, and then watching some of the festivities later tonight on an island in the middle of the Pearl River that divides Guangzhou. That will consist of seeing lanterns, I believe, and eating mooncakes. I've been told by several people that this holiday is kind of similar to American Thanksgiving, where the most important thing is to gather with your family and eat, none of the other festivities are particularly important. Except for mooncakes. I have been given and have eaten so many mooncakes over the past several weeks since I arrived in Guangzhou that it's preposterous. I move into my apartment on Saturday (yay!) and the only food that's going to be in there at that time is boxes upon boxes of mooncakes and one hunk of cheese (vacuum-sealed, hopefully not spoiled) that I brought with me from Italy.
So, the mid-autumn festival celebrates the story of Chang'e, the woman who lives on the moon. As far as I can recollect, from the stories we were told while celebrating the holiday back at Oberlin, there was a time long ago when there were many many suns in the sky over China, so everything was hot and dry and nothing could grow. One day, a famed hero and incredible archer (whose name I forgot) took it upon himself to set things right and, one-by-one, shot down the suns from the sky. In gratitude, the king (or someone) gave the archer a potion of immortality, which he consumed a small amount of every night in order to prolong his life indefinitely. One day, he was out on a trip, and his wife snuck into his room and started to take a little bit of the potion, hoping to use its magic for herself. However, the archer suddenly returned home while she was in the middle of consuming it, and, to escape his judgement (or something), she fled to the moon, where she lives to this day, immortal, as Chang'e.
I believe that's the story. I probably butchered it incredibly.
Regardless, happy mid-autumn festival everyone! If you come across any mooncakes, eat them! But try and find the ones with egg yolks in them, they're much tastier than the red bean ones.
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