What's the Name of that Guy???: Adventures in Biligualism/ Biculturalism

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.....

_________________________________________________

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???

Comments

[Yee-Wah]

Erm.. Hou Yi? And the wife is Chang E..

Now you got me curious, gotta search..
http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%B8%AD%E7%A7%8B%E8%8A%82

There's also that story about the mooncakes used to pass messages for revolution, I like that one too.

[Yee-Wah]

I like how you talk about the Chinese tales and discuss with a biblical mindest together, as a family!

Peter's not yet at the age of fantasy (well, he likes the children's stories with animals as main characters), but I have hesitated to introduce Journey to the West (Xi You Ji), Ne Zha and other stories because I'd be explaining half the time why not to emulate them. :(

[Jodie]

Hi Suwei, I think the guy who jumped into the river was Qu Yuan. The version I heard was that the villagers threw the rice dumplings into the river to feed the fish so that they would not eat his body. Also they went out in boats and made loud noises to scare the fish away, hoping to find his body, hence the dragon boats and rice dumplings during duan wu jie :) but this could be one of the many versions...

[Suwei]

Hey Yee Wah, how're u doin'?

When hubby read you mention Hou yi, his lights went on. :) For me, it's more like the lights are on but nobody's home. :p

If I were you I would not teach little Peter these stories too. We were talking mainly to the older ones because it's part of broadening their knowledge of chinese culture. But in our family, we've got all these younger audiences soaking it all up as well... :O/

And yes, we do always try to frame any sort of ideas or teachings or actions within a bible context. I pray it trains the children to always be discerning and think biblically. By the grace of God, it has become family culture. :O)

Deuteronomy 6:6-7 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

Colossians 2:6-8 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.

[Suwei]

Hi Jodie,

hello again! :) thanks for that info byte!
I'm humbled yet again. :P lol
I'll let the kids know... when it's dumpling time.

cheers,
Suwei