Chinese Mid-Autumn Moon Festival........................

Yes............................those are the crazy Wetzels eating moon cakes out on a sheet in the driveway in the dark! We like to celebrate a Chinese tradition each year called the Chinese Mid-Autumn Moon Festival. In late September each year, as the moon becomes full and rises, the Chinese people celebrate with their families, watching this event. They eat moon cakes and watermelon. They spend time together. They say they eat moon cake because moon cake means "reunion." If they can't be with family, they can at least express their feelings to them. I think they are comforted in the fact that we all are looking at the same moon in the sky, wherever we are.

There are 3 legends passed around about why this tradition was started. 2 of the 3 were not really that interesting to me, but the third, I'll summarize for you. A Chinese hero, Hou Yi, was given a drug that would keep him alive forever. He gave it to his wife, the beautiful, Chang E to hide for him. A bad man, Peng Men, threatened her to give him the drug. So he did not get the drug, she ate it. When she ate it, her body floated to the sky and dropped into the moon. Of course, Hou Yi (the husband) missed her dearly and called for her (moon festival night). The moon shined really bright, and he felt he saw her shadow in the moon. So every moon festival each year, he sets up a table with her favorite fruits, in her favorite garden to memorialize her. The people who lived around there heard of the "fairy in the moon, Chang E" and the tradition continued.

No, we don't believe there is a fairy in the moon, but we thought the idea of spending time as a family while the moon rises and shines on this day would be a fun Chinese tradition to follow, especially since two of the cutest Chinese girls in the world happen to live at our house!!!!! We never would give up the opportunity to eat a special treat, too, although we passed on the real moon cakes (some are made with red bean paste....sounds yummy, eh?). It is fun to think that the moon that we are looking at in TX is the same moon our family in OH and in other states is looking at, too!!!

Too bad for the pictures, the clouds were covering up the pretty moon. We just missed the photo opportunity for it to be in full view! :)