The Moon Lady And The Moon Festival
an Asian American festival with a bright future
by Molly H. Isham
Amy Tan has already written a popular childrenís book about the Moon Lady. When
President Clinton, in 1995, made a trip to San Francisco, he very publically stopped
to buy and enjoy some delicious Moon Cakes, eaten during the Moon Festival.
The Moon Festival happens to fall each year after Back to School but before Halloween,
in a long slack time with no holidays for the children, and on the West Coast all
elementary school children have taken to it, since you hear a charming story and
get to eat sweets stamped with pictures. Thereís even a friendly rabbit involved.
With Lunar New Year, the Moon Lady and her festival are sure to be Chinaís contributions
to the American childís holidays.
The fifteenth of the eighth lunar month is * Zhong Qiu Jie, Mid-Autumn Festival,
also known as * Yueliang Jie, Moon Festival. This date usually falls in the
latter part of September of the Gregorian calendar, if there is not a lunar intercalary
month. (Please see 'The Chinese Expressions in Amy Tan's Joy Luck Club' P.132, under
'* Lunar calendar'. Hereafter, Joy Luck Club.) The Chinese people celebrate
many general and local * Jie Qi, festivals, but, except for * Zhongguo
Xin Nian, the Chinese New Year, the Moon Festival is one of the most widely
celebrated festivals in both the People's Republic of China, and in Taiwan. The Chinese
New Year, also called * Chun Jie, Spring Festival, and the Moon Festival are
holidays when families have a * Da Tuan Yuan, big reunion; and like the *
Duan Wu Jie, Dragon Boat Festival (5th day of the 5th lunar month), they are
times for relaxation, eating good foods, visiting, and merry-making.
In the evening of the Moon Festival, it is believed, the silhouettes of * Chang
E (pronounced 'chang er'), the Moon Lady (Please see Joy Luck Club P.67,68 under
'moon lady', * Chang O ), and * Tu Ye, Master Rabbit, can be seen most
distinctly against the bright yellow light of the full moon. Therefore, after the
feast, the whole family would gather in the * Yuanzi, courtyard to
* Shang Yue, enjoy the moon, while eating * Yue Bing, moon cakes (Please
see Joy Luck Club P.69. under 'moon cake'). This is a most exciting evening for children.
I remember my mother was very strict about my bed time being no later than nine o'clock,
but the Moon Festival was one of the very few nights she would allow me to stay up
late and listen to the adults * Jiang Gushi, tell stories. It was a popular
belief that Master Rabbit, a symbol for longevity, resided in the moon. My cousins
claimed they could see the Rabbit and his long ears, but had a hard time locating
the Moon Lady, while I had no trouble finding her. I could even see her many *
Piao Dai, silk streamers, flowing in the wind. When I told my mother I saw her,
she related to me the sad story of the Moon Lady:
"During the rule of * Xia, roughly 4,500 years ago, there was a skilled
archer named * Hou Yi (Please see Joy Luck Club P.81. under 'Hou Yi'), and
he was married to * Chang E. There came a time when the * Tai Yang,
sun started to multiply into many suns. Small animals and plants couldn't stand the
heat and gradually died. However, ferocious beasts and pythons grew stronger and
stronger and were eating up the human race. Looking up and seeing ten suns, *
Hou Yi took out his bow and arrow, and he shot down nine of them, leaving only
one sun in the sky. Everything became normal again and mankind was saved. * Xi
Wang Mu, the highest of the Goddesses (Please see Joy Luck Club P.239.under 'Syi
Wang Mu'), gave * Hou Yi the Elixir of Immortality as a reward. * Chang
E stole the Elixir for her own consumption, and then fled to the * Yueliang,
moon. Soon after she arrived there, she was severely punished by the Gods, who turned
her into a * Chan, toad."
I felt so sorry for her after hearing the story. My only comfort was that every Moon
Festival I could still see her, frail but beautiful, bending with the wind. I never
once saw the toad, the embodiment of the Moon Lady.
My * A Po, maternal grandma (Please see Joy Luck Club P.33. under * Popo),
was a devout Buddhist, and on different occasions she would * Shang Gong,
send up offerings, which meant putting various kinds of food on her altar table,
and * Shao Xiang, burn incense, to show her respect for the Gods and ancestors.
For example, * Guan Yin, the Goddess of Mercy, was worshipped on the 19th
day of the second moon and sixth moon. On the 23rd of the twelfth moon she would
set her altar table full of good food to worship * Zao Wang Ye, the Kitchen
God. Then every other month when the moon is full, my grandma would burn incense
and * Ketou, kowtow, to her favorite God, * Lu Chun Yang, the God of
Healing. * Lu Chun Yang, circa 798 A.D., also known by the name * Lu Dong
Bin, was one of the legendary * Ba Xian, Eight Immortals. While wandering
over land and sea he was taught the technique of using secret prescriptions by the
chief of the Eight Immortals, * Zhong Li Quan. My grandma would always turn
to * Lu Chun Yang for help when there was sickness in the family.
Aside from worshipping the Gods, she also had many * Zu Zong, ancestors to
kowtow to. On my great grandfather's or great grandmother's birthday she would burn
incense, offer food and kowtow to a portrait. Whichever deity or ancestor she was
worshipping, she always had a portrait or an idol on her altar table. During the
Moon Festival she made offerings to the Moon, and paid homage to Master Rabbit. So,
instead of having a portrait of the Moon, she would have the maid servants help her
carry the altar table out into the courtyard, where the Moon could look down on it.
No male person was allowed to touch anything related to * Bai Yue, Moon-worshipping,
it was strictly a female's job. On the other hand, no female should touch any food
that was to be offered to the Kitchen God; that would bring bad luck to the family.
On the altar table * Ah Po would stack up dozens of moon cakes and put large
plates of fruit. In the center of the table sat a clay idol of Master Rabbit, bought
at a specialty shop the day before. Dishes of fresh green soya beans boiled in salted
water were specially prepared for Master Rabbit, because he did not care for moon
cakes.
The apparel of Master Rabbit was most interesting: he had on full armor including
a helmet, like a * Yong Shi, warrior; if it were not for his * Chang Erduo,
long ears, and his * Huo Zui, harelip, I could hardly tell he was a rabbit.
Grandma usually paid quite a lot of money for Master Rabbit, but after the offering
was over, he just became one more toy, sitting among my dolls and wooden soldiers.
The ceremony and rituals would be over by the end of that day, but my fun days at
Grandma's house would usually last a few days longer. * Qiu Tian, Autumn,
is the best time in many parts of China as far as the climate is concerned. It is
a time for picnics, boating, and * Guang Shichang, wandering around (meandering)
in the bazaars. Grandma often took me to * Guozi Shi, Fruit Market, the street
that got its name because every Fall all the fruit vendors gathered there to sell
their freshly picked fruits. The juicy pears were as big as baseballs. The pale green
* Ma Nai grapes were so delicious I could never have enough of them. *
Ma Nai means horse nipple, and they got that name because they were long and
juicy as though * Nai, milk, would drip from them any minute. After we had
bought all the fruit we can carry, we would go to * Dong An Shichang, the
Eastern Peace Market, where we would taste a variety of different * Xiao Chi,
small eat, meaning snacks (Please see Joy Luck Club P.10.under 'Dyansyin'). The ones
I have most vivid memories of are first, the * Tang Hetao, sugar-coated walnuts,
they were crispy and sweet-smelling, and now one can buy them in Los Angeles Chinatown.
Secondly, the * Wandou Huang, pea paste cakes, which were pale yellowish-green
in color, and tasted like the highest quality pea soup, except they were sweet, and
in the shapes of square, jelly-like cakes. Last but not least, the * Fuling Bing,
a sweet snack of Chinese date paste and nuts sandwiched between very sheer rice pancakes,
looked like two flat, round pieces of styrofoam, about 4 inches in diameter, enclosing
some chewy, sweet filling. I have not yet been able to find the latter two sweet
* Dianxin, refreshments, in America.
My Grandma was a frugal woman. Even though she bought me and my cousins (her other
grandchildren) many expensive snacks, she herself would be reluctant to eat in large
quantities the sweet things she really liked. She was always * She Bu De,
unwilling to let herself enjoy, because of the thought of extravagance. I used to
hear my mother * Quan, try to persuade, my grandma so often: "Ma, don't
* She Bu De eat, and * She Bu De drink. The children are young and
have many more years to taste the good things. Think of yourself now." My *
Baba, Dad, was just the opposite. He was * She De eat, willing to treat
himself with good food, * She De drink, and * She De spend money, bare
no grudge in spending money.
One year, when my * Xiao Jiujiu, Little Uncle, my mother's younger brother,
came home from college to spend the Moon Festival with us, my grandma decided to
hold the ceremony on our * Chuan, boat. The boats in Peking (Please see The
Different Names Used For The City of Beijing) looked very different from the boats
we have here. I had seen Chinese junks or fishing boats in China, but had not known
anyone who owned a sailboat. Our boat was a * Youting, pleasure-boat, kept
in a boat house at * Beihai Park. One of the men-servants knew how
to * Cheng Chuan, push and move a boat with a long pole, but the one who was
really crazy about doing it was my Little Uncle. I suspected that might have been
the reason why Grandma decided to spend the Moon Festival on the lake that year.
The boat had a half-covered deck, but there was no below-deck. A long, rectangular-shaped
dining table took up most of the space on deck, and there were long benches on either
side of the table where people could sit and * He Cha, sip tea, or * Chi
Fan, eat a meal. Amy Tan gave the best description of that kind of boat in her
Joy Luck Club (p.72, paperback, 1989). She called it a 'floating teahouse'.
A full nine-course meal was cooked and brought to the boat, but my Dad and my Little
Uncle still bought a lot of * Haochide, goodies, from * Fang Shan,
a famous restaurant in * Beihai Park that used to cook for * Xi Tai Hou,
the Princess Dowager. I had the same palate as the Princess Dowager, my aunt used
to say to me, because I loved the * Xiao Wotou, a sweet, pyramid-shaped bun
made of ground chestnuts, which was the Princess Dowager's favorite, too. That night
at * Beihai Park, Little Uncle and I had so much fun, and we stayed so late,
until the Moon even got tired and began to sink into the West.
To my deepest sorrow, that night was the last time I saw my Little Uncle. After graduating
from college in 1940, he joined the Chinese Air Force to fight the Japanese who had
invaded our country. He died in a accident while he was in the last stage of his
training at the Luke Air Force Base in Phoenix, Arizona.
Further Reading:
Cheng Manchao, The Origin of Chinese Dieties. Beijing: Foreign Language Press, 1995.
de Bary, William Theodore, East Asian Civilizations: A Dialogue in Five Stages. Cambridge
and London: Harvard University Press, 1988.