Where is Chang’e?, originally uploaded by jiruan.
中秋节起源於中國，是東亞民间的一个传统节日，为每年农历的八月十五。中秋節不單單是華人的節慶，受中华文化的影响，中秋节也是日本、越南、朝鮮半島等地的传统节日。
按照中国的农历，八月为秋季的第二个月，古时称为仲秋，因此民间称为中秋，又称秋夕、八月节、八月半、月夕、月节，又因为这一天月亮满圆，象征团圆，又称为团圆节。
http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%B8%AD%E7%A7%8B
October 3rd is the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival of 2009. As Chinese, we celebrate the August 15th each year in Lunar calendar, so it is also called Mid-Autumn Festival. The origin of this festival has many versions. Here is my favorite.
Once upon a time, the earth had ten suns. They burned the crops and people suffered infertility. Houyi sympathized with humans, so he decided to shoot down nine suns and leave one for the benefit of the people. After he shot down the suns, he was treated as a hero. He had a beautiful wife named Chang’e, and they lived happily together. Houyi had a many apprentices; they followed him to learn hunting. One day, on Houyi’s way back home, the emperor of the immortals gave Houyi two pills, each of which granted eternal life as a reward for shooting down the suns, one was for Houyi, and the other for his wife. He warned Houyi, “Make no haste to swallow the pill.” Houyi was to wait until New Years Day, on which he and Chang’e were supposed to eat the pills together. Chang’e put the pill in her jewelry box for safekeeping. But Peng, one of Houyi’s apprentices, discovered their secret and decided to steal the pill. One day, when Houyi and other apprentices went to the mountain, Peng pretended to be sick so that he could stay home. After everyone had gone to the mountain, Peng sneaked into Chang’e’s room and forced her to give him the pill. Chang’e knew she couldn’t fight Peng, so she ate the pill herself. However, after eating it alone, she began to float. Unable to come back to earth, she took flight and flew far, far away. She did not want to leave her husband, so she stopped at the moon, which is the body closest to Earth. After Houyi found out what happened, he was very angry and heartbroken. He looked up into the night and called Chang’e’s name. He discovered that inside the moon there was a lady’s shadow that look like Chang’e, so he ran and ran and tried to reach the moon. He failed due to the wind.
More in
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Autumn_Festival
