Being half Chinese and growing up in Hong Kong, I remember celebrating the mid-Autumn festival with my mum's family. I remember lighting the colourful lanterns and scowling when being asked to try the moon cake. I also remember loving the stories.
Tonight I was trying to recall the myth about the Chinese Moon Goddess, Chang'e, but my memory fails me. So I scoured the Internet instead, looking to jog my memory.
Who would have known that practically every Chinese province has a different version of that story!
So I read a few different versions, picked them apart and sewed the pieces back together into the story which fitted my childhood.
Chang'e and her husband, Hou'yi, were immortals living in Heaven. Enjoying a comfortable life, Hou'yi was a well respected archer, and Chang'e and her sisters were known for their beauty. One day the Jade Emperor's 10 sons transformed themselves into suns, scorching the earth below. Having failed to take heed from their father, the Emperor summoned Hou'yi for his help. It is unclear what the Emperor's intentions were, asking Hou'yi to assist in the matter, but when Hou'yi shot and killed nine of his sons (leaving one for the sun), the Emperor was furious. In anger, he banished Hou'yi and Chang'e to Earth.
Chang'e was devastated. Seperated from her family and facing her own mortality, she became depressed. As they began to age, and seeing his wife's despair, Hou'yi decided to go in search of the elixir which would grant them youthful immortality again. The road was treacherous and long, but the love he felt for his wife, and the opportunity for them to live together forever, spurred him on.
Eventually he reached the Queen Mother of the West who was so moved by Hou'yi's love for his wife, and the perilous journey he took for her, she agreed to give him the elixir. Taking Hou'yi's hand, she placed a pill in the middle of his palm, " Take this home to your wife. Take half a pill each, and you will fly to the moon where you can live and rule together, forever."
Chang'e was delighted when Hou'yi returned with the promise of immortality.
However, when Hou'yi left the room to get some wine for them to take the pill with, Chang'e opened the pouch and was devastated to see there was only one pill. She did not realise they were to take half a pill each, and in haste, took the whole pill herself. By the time Hou'yi returned, Chang'e had gone.
Broken hearted Hou'yi was inconsolable and the Gods took pity on him, thereby granting Chang'e and Hou'yi a reunion once a year. The legend has it, Chang'e is at her most beautiful on this night, ready to greet her husband, and so the moon shines brighter than any other night.
* Today, for the first time in just under twenty years, the harvest moon and the autumnal equinox coincide. This won't happen again until 2029. I wonder what that means for Chang'e and Hou'yi?
