Myths and Legends Related to the Moon

Legend has it that during the time of Emperor Yao, ten suns suddenly appeared in the sky, bringing terror and disaster to the Divine Kingdom. A divine archer named Hou Yi shot down nine of the suns, eliminating the disaster for the people. The Queen Mother gave Hou Yi a packet of immortality pills. When Hou Yi's disciple Peng Meng found out about it, he took advantage of Hou Yi's absence to force his wife Chang E to give up the immortality potion. When Chang'e was in danger, she took out the immortality pill and swallowed it, and then her body immediately floated away from the ground, rushed out of the window, and flew to the sky. As Chang'e was attached to her husband, she flew down to the moon, the closest to the earth, and became immortal.

Hou Yi returned home and his maids cried about what happened during the day. Hou Yi, overwhelmed with grief, looked up at the night sky and called out the name of his beloved wife. He was surprised to find that the moon was exceptionally bright and clear today, and that there was a swaying figure resembling Chang'e. He was also surprised to find that the moon was very bright and clear today, and that the moon was very bright and clear today.

Hou Yi hurriedly sent people to Chang'e's favorite garden, set up incense, put on her favorite honey and fresh fruits, and sacrificed to Chang'e, who was fond of herself in the Moon Palace.

When the people heard the news of Chang'e's journey to the moon, they set up incense under the moon and prayed to the kind Chang'e for good luck and peace. From then on, the custom of moon worship on the Mid-Autumn Festival spread among the people.

Contrary to the widely circulated story of "Chang'e Runs to the Moon," the story of "Chang'e's transformation into a toad" was recorded in the collection of Ling Xian: "Chang'e, Yi's wife, also stole the Queen Mother's immortality pill and took it to run to the moon. When she was about to go to the moon, she took the medicine from the Queen Mother and ran to the moon. There is yellow accounted for it said: 'auspicious, fluttering back to the sister, alone will be traveling to the west, meet the sky obscure mang, do not be alarmed and fear, and the future and the great prosperity.' Chang'e then took refuge in the moon and became a toad." After Chang'e turned into a toad, she was punished for pounding immortality pills all day long in the Moon Palace, leading a lonely and miserable life. Li Shangyin once wrote a poem lamenting Chang'e: "Chang'e should regret stealing the elixir, the blue sea and the blue sky at night."

The Story of "The King Who Wanted to Touch the Moon"

Once upon a time, there was a kingdom in the distant Caribbean. This kingdom was an island like Taiwan, with lush green forests, surrounded by blue waters, and a warm climate all year round. The leader of this kingdom is a proud king, his life chores are always served, the people in the country also to him respectfully, do not dare to disobey his request. The king had nothing to lose, but one night, as he stood by the window sill of his castle, enjoying the cool evening breeze and looking up at the night sky, he was y attracted by the bright moonlight, and suddenly had the desire to touch the moon.

Once the idea had grown in his mind, he immediately summoned his minister and issued a message that he wanted to touch the moon, asking him to fulfill his wish. This minister, knowing the king's irritable nature, was so worried that he couldn't sleep, and finally offered a plan early the next morning: to mobilize the whole country to build a tower where the king could climb up and touch the moon. The king accepted this suggestion and immediately asked the whole country to contribute wooden crates from their homes, stacking them one on top of the other like logs. However, when the crates were exhausted and the moon was still far, far away, the king ordered the whole nation to cut down all the wood in the country to build the crates, and those who did not want to obey would be put in jail, because the king said, "In my country, there is no "no". When all the trees in the kingdom had been cut down, the tower reached almost to the sky, and the king gladly began to climb up the tower, floor by floor. However, when the king reached the top of the tower and stretched out his hand to touch the moon, he realized that he was still missing it by a little bit, so he shouted to the people on the ground, "Give me another wooden box.

The people replied, "I don't have any more crates". The king, who was only interested in touching the moon, then ordered, "Then pass up the bottom crate. The people knew that this was not a good idea and responded, "But...". The king was furious and said, "There is no such word in my kingdom." Knowing that they could not disobey the king's order, the people pulled out the bottom wooden box, and at that moment, all the wooden boxes shook and fell all over the place, and the king, who wanted to touch the moon, also fell down from the high place and died.

Taiwan aborigines

The moon in aboriginal oral literature is purely an individual being with a living breath of life; in Amis mythology, the sun and moon are a couple who often visit the gods and goddesses who were born from the sky to be the ancestors of mankind.

Another Amis myth has the moon teaching a brother and sister who survived the flood how to get close enough to have normal children, because the brother and sister followed the sun's advice and became husband and wife, but produced some strange creatures; the moon told them, "Because you are brother and sister and should not be married, dig holes in a mat and place it between you so that you can have good children." Later, the sibling couple did produce four children, the ancestors of mankind; another story tells of a girl who was often abused by her stepmother and preferred to ascend to heaven in order to stop the people from seeking justice for her; five days later, the people did see the girl's figure on the moon.

Many of the myths of the sun shooters regard the moon as what the sun becomes when it is shot; for example, the story of the Atayal tribe tells of a time when there were two suns in the sky, when there was no day and night in heaven and earth, and when life for human beings was very hard, so three young men set out on a journey to shoot the sun with babies on their backs, and only when the babies they were carrying had reached the age of maturity did they arrive at the place of the sun shooter; one of the men shot an arrow, which hit the sun, which bled and lost its heat and light and became the moon, and the black shadow was the arrow. The moon, the black shadow is the traces of the arrow wound. The Zou myth is similar but goes further, saying that the red stones seen on the ground are stained by the blood of the sun. The story of some groups has some variations, the content is that in the past there is only the moon, and the moon does not appear every day, and the moon has a black shadow, every night, the earth is dark, grass and trees can not grow, the people also feel very inconvenient, so they sent two young warriors, went to shoot at the moon, and after decades, one of them hit the moon with an arrow, and removed the black shadow, then the earth will have a normal light.

The story of the Pe?an tribe tells of a time when the earth was flooded and even the sun and moon were submerged in the water, so the five surviving siblings floated on the sea and finally found land; since the earth was dark, a man and a woman were sent to the sky as the new moon and the new sun, in order to search for the rest of the human race. In the creation myth of the Pe?an, the moon and the sun bring children into the world, the first of which is a human being, followed by monkeys, horses, deer, fish and birds; later, the ancestors of the Pe?an passed down the idea that the cultivation of groundnuts should be based on the changes of the moon, and that one should not plow when the moon is full, but only when the moon is gradually becoming less full, and that if the moon is shaped like a scythe, then one should not plow it either. Another Amis legend mentions that two brothers and their sister, having fulfilled their mother's promise to comfort their father's spirit in heaven, danced in high spirits; the three of them gradually plunged into the ground as they danced. They say in unison, "We have done all that is necessary; the moon tonight is the elder brother, the sun in the eastern sky tomorrow morning is the younger brother, and the stars shining in the darkness of the sky are the younger sister; we will always be a blessing to mankind, and good-bye, mother." These episodes clearly show that these groups believe that the sun, moon and stars are made by people. The connection between the moon and the aboriginal farming of the year can also be traced in some stories, such as the aforementioned story of the Peinan tribe; as the corn (i.e., millet), which was the staple food of the aboriginal people, was mostly harvested in the fall, the moonlight on the nights of the fall was especially bright, and the harvest ceremonies or songs and dances of various tribes were mostly performed under the bright moonlight. The sharing of new grains and wine allows the members of the tribe to regroup their minds and emotions, so that they can be reconciled and look forward to the same abundance of food and clothing in the year to come. The fullness of the autumn moon therefore symbolizes the ardent hope in the hearts of the tribesmen.

(Source: Aboriginal Moon Myths)

The Moon Myths of the Bunun People

In the ancient times, there were two suns in the sky that took turns shining down on the earth, so that there was no day and night on the earth, and the scorching heat made the life of human beings very inconvenient. A couple worked diligently on the plow, placing their sleeping baby on a rocky outcrop in the shade of a tree and covering it with a palm leaf. Unexpectedly, the baby was still being exposed to the cruel sun and turned into a lizard to hide in the cracks of the rock pile. The father, knowing this, was very angry and vowed to avenge his child's death by shooting down the sun.

Before embarking on the journey, the father planted an orange tree in front of the house beforehand, and set off to the rising sun, ready to seal it before the sun rises in the sky, the father of the precise shooting skill really shot the sun in one eye, the sun's light suddenly disappeared into the moon, the moon closed its eyes, reaching out to grab people indiscriminately, due to the palms of the hand is too big, the father from the finger cracks break free to escape. As one sun was wounded and turned into the moon, the other sun was too afraid to rise up to shine on the earth, so the earth was plunged into darkness, and people could not go out to work, and could not find food, so life was very difficult. If the clan had to go out, they had to throw a stone first, and the sound of the stone hitting the ground determined whether it was a road or an abyss in front of them. A Qiang, who went out to forage for food, was hit in the head by a stone thrown by the people, and his blood flowed like a stream of water, and the Qiang could not stand the pain and let out an angry roar, and then a strange thing happened. The people resumed their normal lives, but a beautiful scar was left on Qiang's forehead.

Later, the moon taught the father of the sun-shooter the rituals and taboos of various ceremonies, such as: not to eat sweets during the hunting and sowing ceremonies, or else there would be a bad year, or the prey would not be hit; and to hold a child sacrifice when the moon was full, or else the child would get sick and die. When my father returned to the tribe, he began to teach the people about the rituals, and by the time everyone had learned all the rituals, the orange tree had grown into a big tree. That is why several Bunun communities use the leaves of the orange tree as sacrificial vessels when performing rituals.

Gypsy Legend-Children of the Moon

Once upon a time there was a gypsy woman who had been married to her husband for many years without having any children. One night she prayed to the moon to give her a child. Soon after she got pregnant as she had hoped, but when the child was born, they realized that the child did not have the dark complexion and dark brown eyes of the gypsies, but had gray eyes and silvery-white skin, and the gypsy man was so angry that he thought his wife had betrayed him, and he wanted to kill the child.

The gypsy woman could not bear it, so she took the little child to the mountains and abandoned him. The moon then took care of the child from then on. Whenever the moon is full, the child is well-behaved, and whenever the moon turns into a crescent, the child cries, and the moon makes a cradle for him and coaxes him to stop crying. (The albino child is compared to the child of the moon.)

Moon goddess

Artemis, the goddess of the moon in ancient Greek mythology. She was the sister of Apollo, the god of the sun, and was very beautiful as well as a great archer, in charge of hunting, often accompanied by her beloved bow and hounds. Every day she drove through the night sky in a silver carriage, representing the night together - the cold, the loneliness, and the roads of the dead. She is also the patron saint of unmarried maidens - she herself is unmarried for life, and there's a sad story in that.

Poseidon, the Sea King, had a son named Orion, who was very fond of archery, a good hunter, and loved to run wild over the sea. The goddess of the moon was very fond of Orion, and they met and fell in love with each other, often hunting together in the jungle and running wild on the sea. Apollo, the goddess' brother, hated Oreon and disliked this relationship between her sister and Oreon, and was determined to get rid of Oreon. One day, when Oreon was running on the sea, Apollo covered Oreon with golden light to hide him, so that no one could see Oreon's true nature, and then went to encourage her sister, the Moon Goddess, who loved archery, to use the golden object in the distance as a target. The Moon Goddess, of course, unaware that this was her brother's plot, shot an arrow that hit Oreon squarely in the head. She later realized that it was her beloved Oreon she had shot, and fell into despair, weeping day and night. In order to treasure her love for Oreon forever, she asked Zeus to raise Oreon to the sky, hoping that she could see it at any time when she was running in the sky in her silver carriage. Zeus accepted her request and turned Oreon into Orion, the constellation in the sky. The goddess vowed that she would never marry, and that she would always be there for Oreon in the night sky.

Artemis, the moon goddess, loved oaks so much that she always carried her wooden staff of oaks when she hunted. She was also worshipped as the goddess of oak trees. In ancient Greece, people worship the moon goddess, we have to light oak torches, and then into the offering of sweet cakes and light candles, and finally evolved into a way to celebrate the child's birthday - the night in the cake inserted candles, blowing out and make a wish, the goddess of the moon will bless the wish can be realized. To this day, people still celebrate birthdays in this way.

v Chang'e Runs to the Moon v

Legend has it that one year in ancient times, ten suns appeared in the sky, baking the earth to smoke, the sea water dried up, and the people could no longer see life to go.

This event alarmed a hero named Hou Yi, he climbed to the top of the Kunlun Mountain, the power of God, pull open the bow, shot down nine excess sun.

Hou Yi made a great achievement and was honored and loved by the people, many of whom came to learn from him. The treacherous Peng Meng was also involved.

Soon, Hou Yi married a beautiful and kind wife named Chang'e. In addition to teaching hunting, Hou Yi also taught the art of hunting. Hou Yi, in addition to the art of hunting, and his wife together all day long, people envy this pair of talented and loving couple.

One day, Hou Yi went to the Kunlun Mountains to visit friends and seek Taoism, and coincidentally met the Queen Mother who passed by, and then asked the Queen Mother for a packet of immortality medicine. It was said that by taking this medicine, one could instantly ascend to heaven and become immortal.

However, Hou Yi couldn't leave his wife behind, so he temporarily gave the immortality pill to Chang'e to cherish. Chang'e hid the medicine in the treasure box of her dresser, but Pengmeng saw it.

Three days later, Houyi led his disciples to go out hunting, but Pengmeng pretended to be sick and stayed behind.

Shortly after Hou Yi left, Peng Meng broke into the backyard of the mansion with a sword in his hand and forced Chang E to hand over the immortality pill.

Chang E knew that she was no match for Peng Meng, and in a moment of crisis, she made a split-second decision, turned around, opened the treasure box, and took out the Pill of Immortality and swallowed it in one gulp.

Chang E swallowed the medicine, the body immediately floated off the ground, rushed out of the window, flying toward the sky. Because Chang'e attached to her husband, they flew down to the closest to the earth on the moon became immortal.

In the evening, Hou Yi returned home and his maids cried about what happened during the day. Hou Yi was shocked and furious, and drew his sword to kill the villains, but Peng Meng escaped. The company's newest product is a new product, which will be available in the market in the near future. Houyi, who was devastated, looked up at the night sky and called out the name of his beloved wife. At this time, he was surprised to find that today's moon is exceptionally bright and clear, and there is a swaying figure like Chang'e.

Hou Yi hurriedly sent people to Chang'e's favorite garden, set up incense, put on her favorite honey and fresh fruits, and sacrificed to Chang'e, who was fond of herself in the Moon Palace.

When the people heard the news of Chang'e's journey to the moon, they set up incense under the moon and prayed to the kind Chang'e for good luck and peace. From then on, the custom of moon worship at Mid-Autumn Festival spread among the people.

The story of Chang'e's journey to the moon glorifies and praises Chang'e with a distinctive attitude and brilliant colors. Compared with the records of Chang'e in ancient literature, it is evident that people have done a lot of processing and modification on the story of Chang'e's journey to the moon to make the image of Chang'e as beautiful as the moon, so as to make it conform to the people's pursuit of beauty. Contrary to the widely circulated "Chang'e Runs to the Moon" in modern times, "All the Ancient Writings", a collection of "Spirit Constitution", recorded the story of "Chang'e turning into a toad": "Chang'e, Yi's wife, also stole the Queen Mother's Immortality Pill and took it to run to the moon. When she was about to go to the moon, she took the medicine and occupied it with Yau Wong. There is yellow occupation: said: 'auspicious, fluttering return sister, alone will be traveling west, meet the sky obscure mang, do not be alarmed and fear, after and great prosperity.' Chang'e then took refuge in the moon and became a toad." After Chang'e turned into a toad, she was punished for pounding immortality pills all day long in the Moon Palace, leading a lonely and miserable life. Li Shangyin once wrote a poem lamenting Chang'e: "Chang'e should regret stealing the elixir, and the blue sea and the blue sky and the sky and the night are all in one mind."

v Houyi shoots the sun v

Legend has it that Houyi and Chang'e were both people at the time of Yao. Myth has it that, at the time of Yao, there were ten suns in the sky at the same time, scorching the land, withering the crops, and making people so hot that they couldn't breathe, and collapsed on the ground in a coma. Because of the heat, some strange birds and beasts came out from the dry rivers and lakes and the flame-like forests, and they brutalized the people everywhere.

The disasters on earth alarmed the gods in heaven, and Chang Jun, the emperor of heaven, ordered Hou Yi, who was good at sealing arrows, to come down to earth to assist Yao in removing the suffering of the people. Hou Yi came down to earth with a red bow and a pocket of white arrows given to him by the Heavenly Emperor, as well as his beautiful wife, Chang'e, with him.

Hou Yi immediately began the battle to shoot the sun. He removed the red bow from his shoulder, took out the white arrows, and shot one by one at the arrogant sun, and in an instant nine of the ten suns were shot away, only because Yao thought that leaving one sun behind would be useful to the people, he stopped Hou Yi from continuing to shoot. This is the famous story of Hou Yi shooting the sun.

But Hou Yi's exploits were met with jealousy by the other gods, who went to the emperor of the heavens with slanderous rumors, causing him to finally alienate Hou Yi and eventually banish him to the earth forever. Houyi and his wife Chang'e had to live in seclusion on earth, and Houyi hunted for a living.

How did Chang'e run to the moon? There are different stories in the ancient books. According to the record of "Huainanzi", Hou Yi felt sorry for his wife, who was banished to the earth, so he went to the Queen Mother of the West to ask for the medicine of immortality, so that the two of them could live in harmony forever in the world. Chang'e, however, was not accustomed to a life of misery, and when Hou Yi was not at home, she stole all the immortality pills and fled to the moon. Another theory is the account of Qu Yuan (about 340椩78) in "Heavenly Questions", which said that Hou Yi was unfaithful to Chang E and had an affair with He Bo's wife, thus causing Chang E to be extremely dissatisfied, so she left Hou Yi and ran away to the sky. After Chang'e ran to the moon, she soon regretted it, remembering her husband's usual benefits to her and the warmth of the human world, comparing with the loneliness in the moon, doubly miserable.

About Hou Yi's death, both Mencius, a thinker of the Warring States period (about 372椩?89 BC), and Huainanzi, a book compiled by Liu An (179椙?22 BC) in the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, said that he was assassinated by Feng Meng, a disciple of Hou Yi, who had avenged his death. The means of assassination were recorded differently, some said he was killed with a mahogany stick, some said he was shot with a hidden arrow. In short, the hero of the world died in the hands of the conspirators.

Some legends also say that Houyi's spirit was not dispersed after his death, and that he became Zhong Kui, a ghost-fighting god. This claim was verified by Gu Jiegang (1893-1980), a famous historian in China, based on the records of Huainanzi and other ancient books. This saying, in fact, reflects the infinite nostalgia of our ancient people for this unfortunate dead hero.

v Zhu Yuanzhang's Uprisingv

Space The traditional food for the Mid-Autumn Festival is mooncakes, which are round and symbolize reunion, reflecting people's good wishes for family reunion. Eating mooncakes at the Mid-Autumn Festival is said to have begun in the Yuan Dynasty, when Zhu Yuanzhang, who led the Han Chinese people in their revolt against the tyranny of the Yuan Dynasty, agreed to rise up on the 15th day of the 8th month, and to pass on the message by exchanging mooncakes with a note sandwiched between the mooncakes. The custom of eating mooncakes on the Mid-Autumn Festival then spread among the people.

Space later, Zhu Yuanzhang finally overthrew the Yuan Dynasty and became the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and although the Manchus later came to dominate China, people still celebrated the festival to symbolize the overthrow of foreign rule.

vWu Gang Loves Laurelv

Legend has it that there is a laurel tree in the moon that is five hundred feet tall. During the Han Dynasty, a man named Wu Gang, who was intoxicated with immortality instead of concentrating on his studies, was relegated to the moon to cut down the laurel, but the laurel in the moon was cut down as it merged, and could not be cut down endlessly, thus people in later generations were able to see the image of Wu Gang endlessly cutting down the laurel in the moon.

When do lunar eclipses usually occur?

On the fifteenth or sixteenth day of the lunar calendar, the moon orbits in the direction opposite to the sun.

Where do moon cakes come from?

Space mooncakes, also known as hu-cakes, Gong-cakes, Xiao-cakes, moon dumplings, reunion cakes, etc., were the offerings for worshipping the moon god in the Mid-Autumn Festival in ancient times, and along the way, the custom of eating mooncakes in the Mid-Autumn Festival has been formed.

Do you know the poems and songs of the ancients describing the moon? Please recite one.

Chang E (Li Shangyin)

The mica screen has a deep candle shadow, and the long river is gradually falling and the star is sinking. Chang'e should regret stealing the elixir, and the blue sea and the blue sky are in the heart of the night.

Lantern Riddle Wonderful

. "Two rows of distant trees reflecting on the mountains, a light boat with one leaf of water flowing across the river" (playing a word - Hui).

"A white mast with two sails, three cold stars reflecting a lonely boat" (playing a word - sorrow).

Do you know the story of Chang'e running to the moon?

Chang E ran to the moon: Chang E ate up her husband Hou Yi's immortality elixir on the spur of the moment under the threat of Peng Meng, and flew to the Moon Palace to live a lonely and miserable life.

Who gave the name "crater" to the moon?

Galileo.

Overview of the Moon

The Moon is the Earth's only natural satellite and is the closest celestial body to us, with an average distance of about 384,401 kilometers from the Earth. Its average diameter is about 3,476 kilometers, which is slightly larger than the Earth's diameter of ? slightly larger than the diameter of the Earth. The surface area of the Moon is 38 million square kilometers, which is not as large as the area of Asia. The Moon's mass is about 735 billion billion tons, equivalent to 1/81 of the Earth's mass, and the gravity on the Moon's surface is almost 1/6 of the Earth's gravity.

The Moon itself does not emit light, but only reflects sunlight. Its brightness varies with the angular distance between the sun and moon and the distance between the earth and moon. The average brightness at full moon is -12.7 magnitudes.

The surface of the Moon is a desert of plains, mountains and valleys. There are also many craters formed when space objects hit the surface of the Moon at high speeds. There is no air for humans to breathe on the Moon, but there may be water for drinking. Recently, ice was found at the bottom of a deep crater on the dark side of the Moon. Scientists think the ice may have been brought by a comet that collided with the Moon. The comet's ice didn't melt because the moon's dark side has very low temperatures.

Orbital motion of the Moon

The Moon orbits the Earth in an elliptical orbit. This orbital plane intercepts a large park on the celestial sphere called the "white way". The plane of the White Way does not coincide with the celestial equator, nor is it parallel to the ecliptic, and its spatial position is constantly changing. It has a period of 173 days. The average inclination of the Moon's orbit (the White Way) to the Earth's orbit (the ecliptic) is 5°09′.

The Moon rotates around the Earth at the same time, with a period of 27.32166 days, which is exactly one sidereal month, so we can't see the back of the Moon. This phenomenon, which we call "synchronized rotation", is almost universal in the world of satellites. It's thought to be the result of long-term tidal action of the planets on the satellites. The libration is an amazing phenomenon that allows us to see 59% of the Moon's surface. The main reasons for this are: 1. Mismatch between the rotational velocity and the rotational angular velocity in different parts of the elliptic orbit. 2. 2. the angle of intersection of the White Way and the Equator. The period of the Moon's rotation around the Earth is 29.53059 days for the solstice month; 27.32166 days for the sidereal month.

Topography of the Moon

The Moon's surface has rolling hills and mountains, as well as a variety of specialized names such as oceans, seas, bays, and lakes. There is actually no water on the lunar surface. Craters are bowl-shaped crater structures. There are more than 33,000 craters larger than 1 kilometer in diameter. Many craters have central peaks or clusters of peaks in the center. The dull black spots on the surface of the moon seen with the naked eye are called lunar seas, which are vast plains. There are 22 lunar seas. The largest is the Storm Ocean, which covers 5 million square kilometers. Because there is no atmosphere on the Moon, in addition to the heat capacity and thermal conductivity of the lunar surface material is very low, thus the temperature difference between day and night on the surface of the Moon is very large.

The topography of the Moon's surface includes craters, lunar seas, lunar lands and mountains, lunar radiation patterns, and lunar valleys (lunar gaps).

There are three hypotheses for the genesis of the Moon: the capture theory, the splitting theory, and the homology theory.

Lunar Eclipse

Principle of lunar eclipse. On the fifteenth or sixteenth day of the lunar calendar, the moon orbits in the direction opposite to the sun. At this time, if the centers of the Earth and the Moon are roughly in the same straight line, the Moon enters the Earth's umbra and a total lunar eclipse is produced. If only part of the Moon enters the Earth's umbra, a partial lunar eclipse is produced. When the Moon enters the Earth's penumbra, it is supposed to be a penumbral eclipse, but it is not called a lunar eclipse because it diminishes so little that it is not easy to detect, so there are only two kinds of lunar eclipses: total and partial.

Lunar eclipses all occur at the waning (full) moon, but not every waning moon has a lunar eclipse, for the same reason that solar eclipses do not occur at every solstice. In general, the Moon either passes above or below the Earth's umbra, and rarely passes through or partially through the Earth's umbra, so that a lunar eclipse does not normally occur. Lunar eclipses occur up to three times a year, sometimes none at all.

The Process of Lunar Eclipse

The process of lunar eclipse is divided into five stages: first loss, eclipse, eclipse of the moon, birth of light, and resumption of full circle.

First Loss: The Moon just touches the Earth's umbra, marking the beginning of the lunar eclipse.

Eclipse: the western edge of the Moon is tangent to the western edge of the Earth's umbra, and the Moon is just inside the Earth's umbra.

Eclipsed: The center of the Moon is closest to the center of the Earth's umbra.

Luminosity: the eastern edge of the Moon is tangent to the eastern edge of the Earth's umbra, which is the end of the total eclipse phase.

Recurrence: the western edge of the Moon is externally tangent to the eastern edge of the Earth's umbra; this is the end of the total phase of the eclipse.

The degree to which the Moon is eclipsed is called the "eclipse fraction", which is equal to the ratio of the farthest distance of the edge of the Moon's wheel into the Earth's umbra to the Moon's apparent longitude at the time of the eclipse.

In ancient times, people did not understand the scientific reasoning behind the occurrence of lunar eclipses, and were as afraid of solar eclipses as they were of lunar eclipses. Some people in foreign countries have legend that in the early 16th century, Columbus sailed to Jamaica in South America and clashed with the local natives. Columbus and his sailors were trapped in a corner, cut off food and water, the situation is very critical. Knowing a bit of astronomy, Columbus knew that a total lunar eclipse was going to happen that night, so he shouted to the natives, "If you don't bring food, you won't get the moonlight!" At night, Columbus' words came true, and there was no moonlight. The natives were terrified, and they quickly turned their differences with Columbus into peace.

The Mesopotamian lunar eclipse of 2283 BC is the world's earliest record of a lunar eclipse, followed by the Chinese lunar eclipse of 1136 BC. The phenomenon of lunar eclipses has always driven the development of human understanding. As early as 1,881 years ago, Zhang Heng, an astronomer of the Han Dynasty in China, figured out the principle of lunar eclipse. In the 4th century BC, Aristotle deduced that the Earth was spherical from the fact that the shadow of the Earth seen during a lunar eclipse was round. The ancient Greek astronomers Aristarchus in the 3rd century BC and Hipparchus in the 2nd century BC proposed to determine the relative size of the Sun-Earth-Moon system through lunar eclipses. Hipparchus also proposed to measure geographic longitude by observing lunar eclipses simultaneously in two places far apart, and in the 2nd century, Ptolemy used ancient eclipse records to study the motion of the Moon, a method that has been used to this day. Before the advent of rockets and artificial Earth satellites, scientists had been observing lunar eclipses to explore the structure of the Earth's atmosphere.

One of the Mid-Autumn Legends - Chang'e Runs to the Moon

Legend has it that, in ancient times, there were ten suns in the sky at the same time, sunburned the crops to death, and the people did not have enough to live on, and a hero named Houyi, with infinite strength, sympathized with the suffering people, climbed to the top of the Kunlun Mountain, transported all the divine power, drew his divine bow, and shot down more than nine suns at once, and strictly ordered the last one to be on time, and the last one to be on time. He also ordered the last sun to rise and set on time for the benefit of the people.

Hou Yi was thus honored and loved by the people, and he married a beautiful and kind wife named Chang'e. In addition to his hunting skills, Hou Yi also had the ability to hunt and hunt with his bow, which he used to shoot more than nine suns. Hou Yi in addition to the art of hunting, all day long and his wife together, people are envious of this couple of love.

Many people came to learn from Hou Yi, and Peng Meng, who had a bad heart, also came to learn from him.

One day, Hou Yi went to the Kunlun Mountains to visit his friends and seek Taoism, and coincidentally met the Queen Mother passing by, so he asked the Queen Mother for a packet of immortality medicine. It was said that by taking this medicine, one could instantly ascend to heaven and become immortal. However, Hou Yi could not leave his wife behind, so he temporarily gave the immortality pill to Chang'e to treasure. Chang'e hid the medicine in the treasure box of the dresser, but was unexpectedly seen by the villain Peng Meng, who wanted to steal the medicine to become immortal himself.

Three days later, Houyi led a group of disciples to go out hunting, and Peng Meng pretended to be sick and stayed behind. Shortly after Hou Yi left, Peng Meng broke into the backyard of the house with a sword in his hand and forced Chang E to hand over the immortality pill. Chang'e knew that she was no match for Peng Meng, and in a moment of crisis, she made a snap decision, turned around, opened the treasure box, and took out the Pill of Immortality and swallowed it in one gulp. Chang'e swallowed the medicine, her body immediately floated away from the ground, rushed out of the window, and flew to the sky. As Chang'e was attached to her husband, she flew down to the closest to the earth on the moon and became immortal.

In the evening, Hou Yi returned home and his maids cried about what happened during the day. Houyi both shocked and angry, drew the sword to kill the villains, Peng Meng early escape, Houyi angry chest thumping, grief, looking up at the night sky calling his wife's name, then he was surprised to find that today's moon is exceptionally bright and bright, and there is a swaying figure resembles Chang'e. He desperately chased towards the moon, and the moon is the closest to the earth. He desperately chased after the moon, but he chased three steps, the moon back three steps, he retreated three steps, the moon into three steps, no matter how can not catch up with the front.

Hou Yi had no choice but to send someone to Chang'e's favorite garden, set up incense, put on her favorite fruit and honey, and sacrificed to Chang'e, who was fond of her in the Moon Palace. When the people heard the news of Chang'e's journey to the moon, they set up incense under the moon and prayed to the kind Chang'e for good luck and peace.

Since then, the custom of worshipping the moon on the Mid-Autumn Festival has spread among the people.

Mid-Autumn Festival Legend No. 2--Wu Gang folded the laurel

On the Mid-Autumn Festival, there is another legend: According to legend, the laurel tree in front of the Guanghan Palace on the moon grows luxuriantly, with a height of more than 500 zhang, and there is a man who often cuts it down, but every time he cuts it down, the cut place immediately closes up again. For thousands of years, it was cut down and closed up in this way, and the laurel tree could never be cut down. It is said that the man who chopped down the tree was named Wu Gang, a man from Xihe in Han Dynasty, who had followed the immortals to the heavenly realm, but he made a mistake, and the immortals relegated him to the Moon Palace, where he was punished by doing this kind of futile and hard work day after day. Li Bai's poem, "I want to carve the laurel in the moon, and hold it as a salary for the cold".

Mid-Autumn Legend No. 3 - Zhu Yuanzhang and mooncake uprising

Mid-Autumn Festival eating mooncakes is said to have begun in the Yuan Dynasty. At that time, the majority of people in the Central Plains could not bear the cruel rule of the Yuan Dynasty ruling class, and they revolted against the Yuan Dynasty. Zhu Yuanzhang united various resistance forces to prepare for the uprising. However, the imperial court officials and soldiers searched very closely, and it was very difficult to pass the news. Liu Bowen, the military advisor, came up with a plan to order his subordinates to hide the note with the message "Rise on the 15th of August" inside a cake, and then sent people to deliver it to the rebel armies around the world, informing them to rise on the night of the 15th of August to respond to the revolt. On the day of the uprising, all the rebel armies responded together, and the rebel army was like a prairie fire.

Soon, Xu Da captured the Yuan capital and the uprising was successful. The news came, Zhu Yuanzhang was so happy that he hurriedly sent down an order, in the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival, so that all the generals and soldiers with the people to have fun, and will be the year when the army to secretly transmit information "moon cake", as a holiday pastry reward for the ministers. Since then, the "moon cake" production more and more fine, more varieties, as large as a disk, become a gift of goodies. After the Mid-Autumn Festival, the custom of eating mooncakes was spread among the people.

●The first Chinese myths about the moon are contained in the Classic of Mountains and Seas, Chu Ci, and Huainanzi.

●There are many legends and myths about the moon in folklore. Among them are the stories of Chang'e running to the moon and Zhu Yuanzhang's uprising against the Yuan.

●Legend has it that there is a laurel tree in the moon which is five hundred feet high. During the Han Dynasty, there was a man named Wu Gang, who was drunk on immortality instead of concentrating on his studies, and was relegated to the moon to cut down the laurel, but the laurel was cut down as it was cut down, so later generations were able to see the image of Wu Gang endlessly cutting down the laurel in the moon.

Fourth, China's ancient poems about the moon is rich in fantasy

●Night light what virtue, death and breeding? What is the virtue of the night-light, and when it dies, it breeds again? (Qu Yuan's "Chu Rhetoric - Heavenly Questions")