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• Mid-Autumn Festival
• Legends of the Festiva
• Poems on the Festival

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Legends of the Festival

Houyi and Chang’er

Legend says that there were once ten suns in the sky, which made plants wither, water in rivers and lakes run dry. It’s too hot to live on the sun. Houyi, a young mwuganan who was good at archery was sympathetic with people’s torture so he decided to save them. He took out his bow, ascended up to the peak of the Kunlun Mountain and shot down nine of the ten suns one by one, and he might have shot the last one if it was not called off by others. Thus the severe drought was gone.

Houyi thus was respected and honored by people as a hero. Young men who were fond of archery flocked to him to learn shooting.

Houyi later married a pretty lady called Chang’er and lived a happy life with her.     
One day on his way to a friend’ home in the Kunlun Mountain, Houyi came across the Heavenly Empress. Houyi was enamored of the happy life with his wife and wanted to be with her forever so he asked the Heavely Empress to give him some elixir. The elixir was strictly controlled off normal people. The Heavely Empress, however, moved by Houyi’s contribution and affection to love and gave him one. The drug was said very powerful and people who took it can fly to the heaven and became a immortal immediately. However, the content was only enough for one person and Houyi was reluctant to leave his beloved wife alone on the earth so he gave the elixir to Chang’er to preserve and wanted to seek another one for his wife. Chang’er carefully stored it in a wooden box while her action was peeked by the evil Fengmeng-one of his husband’s adherents.  

Three days afterward, Houyi lead his disciples to go out for hunting but Fengmeng who wanted to steal the elixir while Houyi was way, stayed at home deliberately. No sooner as Houyi left his house, Fengmeng knocked into the courtyard where Chang’er was working. He wielded his glitter sword and threatened Chang’er to give him the elixir. Chang’e had no better idea than swallowed the elixir herself.  As soon as she took it, chang’er flew from her house toward the heave and finally landed on the moon. Houyi was told what was happening in the evening when he returned home from bumper hunting. He was astonished, anguished and then very anger so he decided to kill the evil man. But Fengmeng had fled away. Chang’er was transferred to the moon and has lived there since ever.

Wugang Cutting the Osmanthus Tree  

Another legend goes that there is a huge verdant osmanthus tree, as tall as 500 meters, in front of the Guanghan Palace( Wide and Cold Palace). Under the intertwined tree branches there is a man who is wielding an ax chopping it. But this tree has magical power and the cut pointing can immediately recovers every time. The endless chopping and then recovering goes on for thousands of years and the tree still grows verdantly and heavily sheltered the palace beside. The man was said from the Han Dyansty and called Wugang. He once followed an immortal to practise immortal skills. Wu successfully learnt the skill and flew to the heaven. Soon afterward, he made a serious mistake and was demoted to the Moon Palace(Guanghangong) to do this painful and endless task.

 

 

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