let them eat cake
One of the stories associated with the Harvest Moon Festival takes place back when Mongolians ruled China, during the Yuan Dynasty (around A.D. 1300). According to one version of the story, the Mongols—to avoid an uprising by the Chinese—allowed each town to have only one knife. Whether from the desire for self rule or the lack of cutlery, the seeds of a rebellion grew. One of those rebels, named Zhu, created a cunning plan to signal other rebels to take up their arms—the town knives—and overthrow the Mongols. In order to avoid detection, the signal was a message placed inside of Moon Cakes, since the rebellion was planned for fall harvest time. When eventually the Mongols were overcome, Zhu became the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty. Today, eating Moon Cakes is a way of commemorating the routing of the Mongols.
moon lady
This story takes place thousands of years before the one town/one knife era. Back then the earth had nine or ten suns circling it (depending on whom you talked to), taking turns shining down on the planet. One day all of the suns shown together and began to bake the earth, so a young archer stepped to the fore and shot down all of the suns but one. This fantastic archer Hou Yi. was, accordingly, made King. For a time he ruled justly and honorably, but that doesn’t make a very good legend, so he grew arrogant and unpleasant and old.
In one version of the story, Hou Yi was an immortal who had become mortal, making him deathly afraid of dying. He began searching for the elixir of life, driving his doctors and scientists to do the same. When at last the elixir was discovered, his wife Chang Er snatched it and drank it down to prevent him from continuing his despotic rule for all eternity. The outraged King ordered her execution, but suddenly she rose up into the sky, floating up to the moon, where she now lives with her pet Jade Rabbit. Her former subjects were so moved by her sacrifice that today, eating Moon Cakes is a way of commemorating Chang Er’s sacrifice.
moon rabbit
Fortunately Lady Chang Er does not have to live for all eternity alone in her Moon Palace. In another legend, three magical wise men decided to test the character of a fox, a monkey, and a rabbit. The men turned themselves into desperate old beggars, and asked the fox, monkey, and rabbit for food. While the fox and the monkey did have food, they refused to share. But the helpful rabbit, who had nothing to give the old men, volunteered his own tasty self by leaping into a burning campfire to roast himself for dinner. The three men, who weren’t really starving, were overwhelmed by the rabbit’s self sacrifice, and gave him immortal life, sending him to live in the Moon Palace as Jade Rabbit. Today, eating Moon Cakes is a way of commemorating the Jade Rabbit.
The lady on the moon
This story takes place thousands of years before the one town/one knife era. Back then the earth had nine or ten suns circling it (depending on whom you talked to), taking turns shining down on the planet. One day all of the suns shown together and began to bake the earth, so a young archer stepped to the fore and shot down all of the suns but one. This fantastic archer Hou Yi. was, accordingly, made King. For a time he ruled justly and honorably, but that doesn’t make a very good legend, so he grew arrogant and unpleasant and old.
In one version of the story, Hou Yi was an immortal who had become mortal, making him deathly afraid of dying. He began searching for the elixir of life, driving his doctors and scientists to do the same. When at last the elixir was discovered, his wife Chang Er snatched it and drank it down to prevent him from continuing his despotic rule for all eternity. The outraged King ordered her execution, but suddenly she rose up into the sky, floating up to the moon, where she now lives with her pet Jade Rabbit. Her former subjects were so moved by her sacrifice that today, eating Moon Cakes is a way of commemorating Chang Er’s sacrifice.
moon man
Most of the Harvest Moon legends revolve around immortality and the desire to exist at least as long as the moon itself. Back when, there lived a restless fellow named Wu Kang. He got bored easily, and so moved from job to job, never following anything through before he tired of it. In the course of his flitting around, Wu Kang apprenticed himself to an immortal in hopes of learning the secrets of eternal existence. Three days later, Wu Kang’s fickleness reared its ugly head, and try as the immortal might, he couldn’t keep his apprentice interested. Unable to teach him anything, he became greatly annoyed, and sent Wu Kang into exile on the moon. The immortal declared he was not allowed back on earth until Wu Kang chopped down a giant cassia tree. What he did not declare was that moon trees grow back instantaneously when they’re chopped, which is why Wu Kang is still at his task, up on the moon. And so today, eating Moon Cakes is a way of commemorating the woodchopper.
Actually, the moral of these stories is that it doesn’t require a very good excuse to eat Moon Cakes—they’re just so tasty.
The rabbit on the moon
Fortunately Lady Chang Er does not have to live for all eternity alone in her Moon Palace. In another legend, three magical wise men decided to test the character of a fox, a monkey, and a rabbit. The men turned themselves into desperate old beggars, and asked the fox, monkey, and rabbit for food. While the fox and the monkey did have food, they refused to share. But the helpful rabbit, who had nothing to give the old men, volunteered his own tasty self by leaping into a burning campfire to roast himself for dinner. The three men, who weren’t really starving, were overwhelmed by the rabbit’s self sacrifice, and gave him immortal life, sending him to live in the Moon Palace as Jade Rabbit. Today, eating Moon Cakes is a way of commemorating the Jade Rabbit.
The man in the moon
Most of the Harvest Moon legends revolve around immortality and the desire to exist at least as long as the moon itself. Back when, there lived a restless fellow named Wu Kang. He got bored easily, and so moved from job to job, never following anything through before he tired of it. In the course of his flitting around, Wu Kang apprenticed himself to an immortal in hopes of learning the secrets of eternal existence. Three days later, Wu Kang’s fickleness reared its ugly head, and try as the immortal might, he couldn’t keep his apprentice interested. Unable to teach him anything, he became greatly annoyed, and sent Wu Kang into exile on the moon. The immortal declared he was not allowed back on earth until Wu Kang chopped down a giant cassia tree. What he did not declare was that moon trees grow back instantaneously when they’re chopped, which is why Wu Kang is still at his task, up on the moon. And so today, eating Moon Cakes is a way of commemorating the woodchopper.
Actually, the moral of these stories is that it doesn’t require a very good excuse to eat Moon Cakes—they’re just so tasty.
