2018 Chinese Moon Festival & legendary stories

When is Chinese Moon Festival 2018?

September 24, 2018, Monday, is 2018 Chinese Moon Festival in China. Chinese Moon Festival is on the 15th moon day of 8th Chinese lunar month based on the Chinese Lunar Calendar. The new moon day is the first day of a Chinese Lunar Month. Because the first day of 8th lunar month is September 10, 2018, therefore, the Moon Festival is on September 24, 2018 in China time zone. Chinese Moon Festival is also known as the Mid-Autumn Festival. This is because the lunar 8th month is in the middle of Chinese autumn season. The lunar 15th date is in the middle of the month. However, the 15th lunar day is not always same to the full moon day of the 8th lunar month.

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The Legendary Story of Chinese Moon Festival

The story of the Mid-Autumn Festival is about the legend of beautiful lady Chang Er. The time of this story is around 2170 B.C. The earth once had ten suns circling over it; each took its turn to illuminate to the earth. But one day all ten suns appeared together, scorching the earth with their heat. The earth was saved by a strong and tyrannical archer Hou Yi. He succeeded in shooting down nine of the suns. One day, Hou Yi stole the elixir of life from a goddess. However his beautiful wife Chang Er drank the elixir of life in order to save the people from her husband's tyrannical rule. After drinking it, she found herself floating and flew to the moon. Hou Yi loved his divinely beautiful wife so much; he didn't shoot down the moon.

If you watch full moon carefully, you should see the image of a rabbit delineated on the moon's surface. In China, there is another Chinese folklore about a moon rabbit. In this folklore, three fairy sages transformed themselves into pitiful old men and begged for something to eat from a fox, a monkey and a rabbit. The fox and the monkey both had food to give to the old men, but the rabbit, empty-handed, offered his own flesh instead, jumping into a blazing fire to cook itself. The sages were so touched by the rabbit's sacrifice that they let him live in the Moon Palace where he became the "Jade Rabbit." Thus, the rabbit became the companion to the Change Er. Otherwise, Lady Chang Er will be very lonely in the Moon Palace. More Chinese Mid-autumn Festival Legendary Stories at www.chinesefortunealendar.com.

Mid-autumn Moon Cake Festival

Chinese enjoy tasting different moon cakes during Chinese Moon Festival. By counting the population of Chinese around the world, we know more than 1.3 billion moon cakes will be eaten during the week of Moon Festival each year. There also is a story about the Moon Cake.

During the Yuan dynasty (A.D.1280-1368) China was ruled by the Mongolian people. Leaders from the preceding Sung dynasty (A.D.960-1280) were unhappy at submitting to foreign rule, and set how to coordinate the rebellion without it being discovered. The leaders of the rebellion, knowing that the Moon Festival was drawing near, ordered the making of special cakes. Backed into each moon cake was a message with the outline of the attack. On the night of the Moon Festival, the rebels successfully attacked and overthrew the government. What followed was the establishment of the Ming dynasty (A.D. 1368-1644). Today, moon cakes are eaten to commemorate this legend.

Chinese moon cakes can be found in the Chinese bakery stores and Chinese supermarkets in USA. a good moon cake is more expensive than a hamburger.

When is Chinese Moon Festival 2019?

2019 Chinese Moon Festival is on September 13, 2019, Friday. China and USA time zones are on the same day. Usually, different time zones have different Chinese Moon Festival dates. For example, the 2018 Chinese Moon Festival of US Pacific time zone and Eastern time zone are on September 13, 2018. The explanation is Chinese Mid-Fall Moon Festival at www.chinesefortunecalendar.com.

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