Do you know The Chinese Moon Festival?

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The Chinese Moon Festival, or sometimes called the Mid-Autumn Festival, takes place on the 15th day of the eigth lunar month. The festival dates back to the Tang dynasty 618 A.D. and celebrates the biggest and brightest full moon for the year, the harvest moon. There are ancient legends to explain the holiday. One is about a builder or architect named Hou Yih. Hou Yhi built a beautiful jade palace for the Goddess of the Western Heaven or sometimes called the Royal Mother. The Goddess was so happy that she gave Hou Yih a special pill that contained the magic elixir of immortality. But with it came the condition and warning that he may not use the pill until he had accomplished certain things. Hou Yih has a beautiful wife named Chang-O. Chang-O was as curious as she was beautiful. One day she found the pill and without telling her husband, she swallowed it. The Goddess of the Western Heaven was very angry and as a punishment, Chan-O was banished to the moon where, according to the legend, Chang-O can be seen at her most beautiful one the night of the bright harvest moon. The Moon Festival is a big holiday with family reunions, moon gazing activities. and feasting on "moon cakes" which are round pastries filled with red bean paste, fruit or jam. Especially exciting are the dragon and lion dances done during the festival. The origins of these dance also date back to ancient China.