Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival Legend

Chang E Flying to the Moon is the most widely told Mid-Autumn Festival legend. It is said that in ancient times, ten suns existed in the sky and the extreme heat made people’s lives very difficult. It was the hero Hou Yi, who, owing to his great strength, shot down nine of the ten suns. Later, Hou Yi married a beautiful and kind-hearted woman named Chang E and lived a happy life.

One day, the Queen of Heaven presented Hou Yi an elixir which, if taken, would help him to ascend immediately to heaven and become a god. Hou Yi took it home and asked Chang E to keep it. Unfortunately, a villain named Pengmeng got to know it, broke into their home and demanded Chang E to hand over the elixir while Hou Yi was out hunting. In a moment of desperation, Chang E swallowed the elixir. Reluctant to leave his husband, Cheng E tried her best to fly to the nearest place to the earth on heaven, which is the moon. Houyi missed Chang E a lot, so he placed foods on tables Chang E likes on full moon day. This custom was later followed by folk people to pray for good luck from Goddess Chang E and gradually formed the Mid-Autumn Festival.