Mid-Autumn Festival
中秋节
zhōngqiūjié

The Mid-Autumn Festival is a traditional festival that falls on August 15 of the lunar calendar on the Autumn Equinox. The Mid-Autumn Festival brings special cakes, called moon cakes, pomeloes, and most important, family reunion dinners. Members who cannot return home for the holidays connect by looking at the moon, sending messages, or making phone calls. The legend about the moon goes that long ago there was a mythological Chinese archer named Hou Yi, who shot down all but one of the suns when there were 10 suns. People worshipped him as he saved them from a terrible drought plagued the earth at that time. Hou Yi decided to look for an elixir of life and live an eternal life with his fame and his wife Chang'e. To find a recipe for the Pill of Immortality, he even tried to take 100 adolescent boys' lives to grind them into powder. His wife Chang'e couldn't stand it so she swallowed some of his pills, and suddenly her body became light as air. She flew to the moon, grabbing a rabbit to keep her company. Every time Chinese people look at the moon in the night of Mid-Autumn Festival, they will recall this popular legend.

中秋节是我国的传统佳节，时间是每年农历的八月十五。因为农历中的七八九月是秋季，八月十五那天刚好是秋天过了一半，所以叫“中秋节”。中秋节时会吃一种特殊的糕点，名叫月饼，还会吃柚子，最重要的是全家还会一起吃团圆饭、赏月。不能回家团聚的人就会通过赏月、发短信或者打电话寄托思乡之情。有一个关于月亮传说是这么说的：后羿射日后功成名就，开始让人为他研制长生不老丹，妻子嫦娥不不忍看他用孩童做药引，偷了他的丹药，服下后身子变轻，直奔月亮而去，临飞走前带了一只兔子为伴。所以每当人们赏月的时候，就会想起嫦娥和月兔的故事。