八月十五

on this very night. when you look into the sky. have you ever wonder how this day came about, why is it celebrated? staring at candles, lanterns, mooncakes..have you thought about their origins. i did some research and where's what i found out..

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Once upon a time, there were ten suns shining on earth. HUMAN saw this, took out his bow and arrow and shot them all down. PUBLIC became happy and celebrated wildly. HUMAN instanly became HERO. Once the europhia died down and they realised the whole world is now plunged into darkness, HERO retreated into his own home and never dare stepped foot out into the public again.

It wasn't the complete opposite of what it had been like before when there were the ten suns were around though. It was cold, it was dark. However, there were similarities albeit the contrasting climate and temperature. Fear, sadness, and anxiety were still prevalent. Plants died, crops could not grow and people became sick due to the lack of vitamin D. Diseases and plague were spreading. There was no way to tell the night from the day and no one could account how long this dark period lasted. Finally one day, by a spark of genus, literally, somebody started a fire and realised how much light and warmth it could bring. Slowly word spread around and everybody carried lanterns and put up candles. On the night of the 8th month on the 15th, HERO looked out of his balcony and realised this could not be a long term solution. After speaking to his wife, the couple decided to talk to the Jade Emperor about it, and flew to the sky, along with their pet rabbit and housekeeper. Half way, the wife tire and decided to take a rest at the moon. Not wanting to waste time, HERO decided to press on with the journey and seek the Jade Emperor, telling the rest that he will be back after he found the Emperor. And as we all know happy endings are only in fairy tales, HERO did not find the Emperor. Wandering in the darkness alone, he got lost. He did not drop traces of his trail back to the moon (Hansel and Gretel learnt from his mistake) and the darkness did not made it easier for him to find the Emperor, or trace his way back to his wife back to the moon. Despotent, he wandered around in space aimlessly. Disappointed by his mistake and angered by his own stupidity, he grew frustrated angry and mad, turned so red, so hot, all the suppressed negative emotion were channeled out as heat. Burning at the coldest region in the highest density, he turned into a star and glowed so much like a sun. Light and warmth filled the surface of Earth again, much to the joy of the people.

But being the only sun has its limitations. It could not light Earth twenty four hours a day. He could only shine half the globe, and the sun and the moon, being on opposite ends, they cannot meet. (whenever they meet in an eclipse, people on earth make noise with their pots and pans chasing them away like how they would scare a dog). And so, his wife waited and waited on the moon....waiting for Hero to come back and find her.

These days, people love to cut long story short. And so, they say Hero shot ALL but one sun. The rest of the modern story can be found at wiki. Hero is now named Hou Yi (Thick One, because of his foolish decision) and his wife is called Chang 'Er (Long Ears) because of his resemblance to her pet rabbit.

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To commemorate the sacrifice that Hero has made, bringing light and warmth back to Earth again. on the 15th of the 8th month every year, people will light lanterns and light candles to show their appreciation of his sacrifice.

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and most recently, people have questioned, why is the rabbit Jade Rabbit, and not the Fire Rabbit, or a more precious metal like Gold, Sliver, or a light Titanium Rabbit? simply because the ruler of all rulers is the Jade Rabbit, hence, to show the significance of the rabbit, hence the title of the Jade Rabbit is given to the rabbit on the moon, for her significant contribution of keeping her mistress company during this period of time.

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On this special day, people ate lotus paste cake as well, along with tea. In the day time, everybody were busy working and it was only at night that they could unite with the families and eat this special cake and drink tea (like all chinese meals). After years passed by of the sacrifice Hero has made, and families sat together to tell stories to the younger generation, a small child asked what is the name of this special cake on this occasion. And the eldest of eldest, wisest of wisest member of the family looked up to the sky for an answer. He saw the moon, and answered 'Mooncake'. You do wonder if things would be different had it been the day time when you look up and see the Sun instead.

Imagine, Suncake.

PS: Recently, the addition of the double yoke into the cake has been used as a symbol to unite the couple, hero and his wife, or more recently known as Hou Yi and Chang 'Er.

PPS: The evolution of Snow skin mooncakes are now use to make Mooncakes more like the moon. Being colder, softer and whiter.

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enjoy your mid autumn festival. playing with fire under the stars.

the above version of the history of mid autumn should be taken with a pinch of salt.

for i do know. snow skin mooncakes came about because the ingredients inside cannot be baked unlike traditional double yoked lotus seed paste mooncake. :)