Yep, Moon Cake Festival is coming up again! What's your favourite Mooncake? Mine's the flaky yam one. I like salted egg too! :)
Can't believe this post is 2 years old now! First posted sept 2011.
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Lemme just quickly capture the essence of our breakfast conversation this morning. This is third generation Chinese Singaporean trying to pass on Chinese culture to the next bewildered generation.
Mom: Ok kids, Zong Qiu Jie is coming up! What does zong mean?
9 yr old: "Middle".
Mom: what does Qiu mean?
silence
Mom: Autumn or fall... and what does jie mean?
9 yr old: "Festival".
5 yr old: So zong qiu jie is "middle fall festival"?
Mom: er... Yah! But most of the time, we call it mid Autumn Festival. Same thing. But papa, can you tell them about the story behind the festival?
Papa: OK. hen jiu hen jiu yi qian, (long long ago), the earth had 10 suns and this warrior.. his name was... *snap* what was his name?
Mom: Zheng He? No wait. Was that the guy who threw the rice dumplings in the river?
Papa: No no... that's the guy who sailed across the seas. Was it Wu Song? Noooo... that's the guy who beat the tigers.
Mom: But anyway, dear, this is the Moon Cake Festival lah. Moon. not Sun. Ok, children, the story is about this evil emperor who was afraid of dying and wanted to live forever and his magicians or physicians, whatever, succeeded in making him a pill, or something, that if he ate it, he would become immortal. His wife or concubine, or something like that, was afraid of that happening so before the king ate the pill, she grabbed it from him and she swallowed it. And she became a fairy and floated up to the moon.
Papa: And somehow, her pet rabbit went up with her.
Mom: See? The drawing on the moon cake box, there is the lady and that's the king. Now, papa, can you re-tell that story in Mandarin?
Papa: ............... (distracted)
5 yr old: But that's not a real story, is it?
Mom: Of course not! The bible says "the wages of sin is death". And "it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:". Nobody is immortal.
5 yr old: oh.....
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Yep. That was the gist of it.
Goodness, a quick check on wiki reveals FIVE versions of the story!!!And I am humbled... hubby was right! The Moon Cake Festival is about suns!
And, before anyone choking at my terrible rendering of Chinese folklore wants to jump in to set the record straight: yes, I know it wasn't the guy who threw rice dumplings into the river. He commited suicide in the river and the villagers offer his spirit rice dumplings every year. Like that makes any more sense. *shrugs*
But..... what's the name of that guy???
the name of the guy is Qu Yuan （屈原）. and the name of the festival is 端午节 (the dragon boat festival). hope it can help ：）
Posted by: grace | August 18, 2011 at 09:50 AM
后羿 is the man behind the shooting the nine suns :)
Posted by: Joni | August 20, 2011 at 10:27 PM
Hou Yi is correct. The king ordered him to shoot down the 9 suns. I came across your website and very impressed to know that you're homeschooling your kids. I was born in Singapore and now reside in America. Considering homeschooling due to the dissatisfaction of the very lax attitude of public schools and the complicated culture. Just realized that homeschooling is legal in Singapore, very surprised.
Posted by: Karen Tsia | September 20, 2011 at 07:59 AM