Chinese mid-Autumn Festival by YuShen Lin

The legend of Chinese mid-Autumn Festival
Celebrations and festivals happened to originate from legends and tales.People celebrate those festivals for various reasons like gods worshiping ,abundant harvest.There is an ancient legend about the moon when the Chinese celebrate mid-Autumn Festival.
The legend was about the heroic Houyi and his wife Chang'e, the Moon Goddess of Immortality, Chang'e simply lives on the moon but is not the moon herself.There are many version about the legend.Most versions of the legend involve few basic elements: Houyi, the Archer, an emperor and her wife Chang'e swallowing an elixir of life.

The story began with Chang'e being a beautiful palace maid.One day, 10 suns appeared in the sky and the earth became very hot. The king looked for an archer who would be able to shoot down nine of the suns. Houyi knew that people would die for the extreme heat. He took out his arrow and bow and shot down the nine suns with nine arrows. the King was pleased and gave Chang'e to him as a reward. The two lived happily together

one day, a mysterious old man came and gave Houyi an elixir that could make him live forever. Houyi hesitated whether to take the pill. He was unsure and left the pill under his pillow on the bed. Chang'e found the pill. She did not know what it was and just swallowed it. Chang'e became immortal and flew to the moon. Houyi was despair and died.

Mid-autumn festival is one of the important celebrations in China.Chinese all go back to their home for family reunion and moon watching.They hope that Chang'e would bestow blessings upon their family members.