moon cakes

Apparently, back when moon worship was all the rage, a holiday was formed in China to celebrate the harvest and to celebrate family. I think it's a pretty big deal, considering my students were outraged at the price of "moon cakes"--$24.99 for four-- and longing to be eating cheaper, undoubtedly better, mooncakes under the moonlight with their families back home.

A few of my students, probably thinking they'd earn extra credit, brought in some interesting tidbits about their festival. I eat this stuff up, and so should you.

It starts with the legend of Houyi, a great archer and architect, and his wife Chang E, whose "beauty was surpassed only by her curiosity".

So Houyi goes and saves the world by shooting down nine extra suns that had suddenly appeared in the sky. For this he was rewarded with a pill containing the elixir of immortality, but with strings attached--he must fast and pray for one year before taking it.

His wife screwed everything up, she found the pill, swallowed it, and found herself inconveniently soaring to the moon. Upon reaching the moon, she coughed up the pill in dismay, which turned into a jade rabbit that, day and night, pounds out a celestial elixir for the immortals.

But she's not up there alone. Another permanent lunar resident is Wu Kang, a mortal who happened to piss off an immortal because of his laziness. As punishment, he was sent to chop down a cassia tree on the moon, an impossible mission. For, as we all know, a cut in cassia tree heals itself within a day, and so Wu Kang is still up there chopping... for eternity. You'd think he would have died by now, but that's because I forgot to mention that he learned how to become immortal from his immortal master. Obviously.

So, that is why on the 15th night of the eighth lunar month the moon is brightest and the harvest is celebrated. An inspirational date.

One of my student's brought me a most coveted mooncake, which ways about 100 pounds, and tastes like a mixture of peanuts and honey, with a cool design on the top.

Now it is Friday-- I can't believe the weekend is already here, and with it, no plans. One thing I don't want to do is school work. One thing I must do is exactly that. Boo. I was hoping for a trip to Wonderland.