The Origins of The Mid-Autumn Festival
A long time ago, heroic archer Hou Yi shot down nine of the ten suns that had risen together and burned the earth. As a reward, the gods provided him with two portions of an immortality elixir.
But Hou Yi didn’t want to be immortal without his beautiful wife, Chang’e, so he asked her to store the elixir.
One of Hou Yi’s apprentices, Peng Meng, found out and broke into his house while Hou Yi was hunting. He tried to force Chang’e to give him the elixir, but she drunk both portions herself.
Right after that, Chang’e flew to the sky and took her immortal residency on the moon, never to be seen again by her beloved husband.
Ever since, Hou Yi would prepare a feast on the day of the year where the moon would be the fullest, in so hoping to catch a glimpse of his wife’s shadow.