Story About Mooncakes and Flying Princesses :P

Image taken from sbp.teledyn.com/node/316

This coming sunday people of chinese descent will gather with their families for the Mid Autumn Festival or more commonly known as the Mooncake Festival.

When I was growing up, my family would gather around to drink chinese tea, eat mooncakes and other foods like boiled chinese yam, peanuts, and a weird looking item that looks like miniature black horns of a tiny bull which I have totally forgotten what's it called! (No, seriously I'm not making this up!) It has a hard almost unbreakable black outer shell that you have to get past to get to it white flesh that tastes disappointingly like bland peanuts. To the eyes of a curious adolescent girl, I was fascinated with this thing and spent more time playing with it compared to eating it. To me the reward was no where near the effort. :P

Like many childhood memories, Mooncake Festival has its fair share of sweetness :) Anything that breaks the daily routine surely causes excitement. Us kids will be parading around the neighbourhood with our paper or plastic lanterns in shapes of animals or depending on the trend at that time, lanterns could be in shapes of cartoon characters too :) during those times Ultraman had a huge following 8-) Besides Chinese New Year and Hungry Ghost Festival, this is the other time when we get to play with fire as most of the lanterns uses short colourful candles. Hehe.. I remember my second elder brother held his lantern without even lighting it -- he was a timid child for the most part :P while other kids use battery powered lanterns too.

Besides the lantern parade and my preoccupation with tiny horns, I loved hearing my parents tell stories of how this festival came be. Like many chinese festivals, there are several variations of the story.

Legend of the Moon Maiden and The Herder Boy

Legend has it that a long time ago, the 7 daughters of the Jade Emperor descended to earth on their annual excursion to enjoy the beauty of waterfalls and trees. They would often take baths in the river while singing with their beautiful voices.

On one fated day, a herder boy happened to pass by and heard the beautiful singing. He approached the river and caught a glimpse of the 7 heavenly princesses and immediately fell head over heels for the youngest of the princess (it was not known if he actually saw them all naked :P Anyway...) Desperate to get to know her better, he devised a plan to steal the heavenly cloak of the youngest princess so to prevent her from flying off to heaven. When time came to end the excursion and return, the princesses were distressed to discover that their youngest sister's magic cloak was missing! Afraid the wrath of their father for returning late (I think they had some sort of curfew or something :P) The sisters had to leave their youngest sister behind but promised to find a way to get her home soon.

After the sisters departed, the herder boy appeared from his hiding and befriended the beautiful princess. He offered the tired princess food and at the moment the food touched her lips, she forgotten who she was! This was because she being a resident of heaven but to have consumed earthly food somehow caused her amnesia(?! Anyway...) So moved by his kindness, she followed the herder boy home where she later became his wife (hmm not a bad way to get a wife eh? :D)

Later the older sisters were distraught to discover that their beloved sister was no where to be found when they returned for her with a new magic cloak. They searched for her but to no avail. Years passed and the love between the herder boy and the princess grew and they had a child, but now and again, the princess felt something was amiss and often dreamt of some beautiful place far away and people whom she feel strangely connected with. Then one day when she was out collecting firewood, she heard strange but familiar singing of maidens. In the songs that they sang told of their lament for their beloved sister that went missing one day. Struck by enchantment of their singing, the princess rushed home and frantically turned the house upside down and finally inside a locked chest, she discovered her old magic cloak! Perhaps angered by this discovery, she immediately put the cloak on and magically she began to fly up towards the heaven! (ooohh nice eh? :D) A tearful reunion took place in the palace of the Jade Emperor, for after so many years, their missing daughter and sister had returned.

The Jade Emperor was in rage to learn that the herder boy had kidnapped his beloved daughter and with a flick of his finger transported the herder boy and their child before him. The herder boy was on trial for his life. When confronted, the herder boy admitted to all his wrong doings but maintained that his love for the princess was pure and true. The princess too in her heart loves the herder boy deeply and the love for their child was great. But heavenly beings and earthly man should never come together and because of this rule the Jade Emperor decreed that the herder boy and child would be sent back to earth unharmed but the princess will remain in heaven.

Separated and yearning, the herder boy cried and begged to be reunited with the princess. While in heaven, the princess too missed the herder boy and her child. Moved by their pleas and sincerity, the daughters of the Jade Emperor persuaded their father to allow the family to be reunited. At last the Jade Emperor relented and granted this family a reunion on the 15th day of the 8th moon in the chinese calendar -- which is the day we celebrate the Mid Autumn Festival.
On this day, the moon shines the brightest as if to light the night when familes come together in love and togetherness. :)

The End

Wow!! That was a bloody long story to write and I sincerely hope I didn't mix up the stories of another festival :| Well, there is another story about why we eat mooncakes on this day, I'll just give the super short version of it:

Chinese people were under the control of the Mongolian horde and life was oppressive as the Mongols held a tight grip on the people. Someone then had a great idea on how to plan and coordinate a revolt to oust the invaders by placing secret messages inside moon shaped cakes that was distributed among the people. The ingenious planed worked and on the 15th day of the 8th moon, a highly coordinated attack was launched upon the Mongols that later overthrew them. ;)

So traditionally, we munch on these little slices of exhorbitantly priced moon cakes and praised the chap that thought of this idea but secretly and privately we are eyeing the next slice of mooncake with the most egg yoke in it while hoping our calories won't be exceeded too soon! >:)

So, enjoy your mooncakes and tea with your family. Happy Mid Autumn peeps! :D

Image taken from
www.ebangkok.com/.../ChineseMoonCakeFestival.asp