The Story Origin of the English Version of Mid-Autumn Festival Poetry

There are two legends that can explain the tradition of eating moon cakes.

There are two legends about the origin of the tradition of eating moon cakes.

A Tang Dynasty myth holds that the earth once had 10 suns revolving around it. One day, all 10 suns appeared at the same time, baking the earth with their heat. Thanks to an archer named Hou Yi, the earth was saved. He shot down all the suns except one. As a reward, the Queen Mother gave Hou Yi the elixir of life, but she warned him that he must use it wisely. Hou Yi refused to listen to her advice, was corrupted by fame and fortune, and became a tyrannical leader. Chang 'e, his beautiful wife, could no longer stand by and watch him abuse his power, so she stole his elixir and fled to the moon to escape his anger. In this way, the legend of the beautiful woman on the moon-the moon fairy began.

One is a fairy tale of the Tang Dynasty, which tells that the earth is surrounded by 10 suns. One day, 10 suns appeared in the sky at the same time, and the huge heat almost scorched the earth. Thanks to an archer named Hou Yi who shot down nine suns, the earth was saved. In order to reward Houyi, the Queen Mother gave Houyi the elixir of life, but the Queen Mother warned him to use it well. However, Hou Yi ignored the Queen Mother's warning. He was carried away by fame and fortune and became a tyrant. Chang 'e, Houyi's beautiful wife, could no longer stand by and watch his atrocities, so she stole Houyi's elixir and flew to the moon to escape his anger. Since then, there has been a legend about the moon fairy Chang 'e, who is a beautiful woman on the moon. The second legend is that in the Yuan Dynasty, an underground organization led by Zhu Yuan Zang was determined to get rid of Mongolian rule in this country. Mooncakes are used to send secret messages. When the moon cake was opened and the message was read, the uprising broke out and the Mongols were successfully defeated. It happened at the time of the full moon. Some people say that this explains why we eat moon cakes at this time.

The second legend tells that in the Yuan Dynasty, the rebels led by Zhu Yuanzhang planned an uprising to get rid of the Mongolian rule. They use moon cakes to send secret messages. You can open the moon cakes to find the secret information. In this way, the rebels successfully launched an uprising and drove away the rulers of the Yuan Dynasty. The uprising took place on August 15th, so the custom of eating moon cakes on Mid-Autumn Festival spread among the people.