Moon FestivalThe Mid Autumn Festival, or Moon Cake Festival, is an important event on the Chinese lunar calendar. Most of us grew up with lanterns, mooncakes, Chinese tea and hearing stories about the lady on the moon, Chang Er. (For some us, it’s the “Man on the Moon” instead.) Just in case we’ve all forgotten the story, here's a refresher - the legend of Hou Yi and Chang Er. Mind you, if you ever read up more about them, you’ll find that there are many, many different versions of the story. But this is what most versions agree upon:Hou Yi and Chang ErLegend has it that Hou Yi and Chang Er were a heavenly couple. Hou Yi was a righteous and brave man, the stuff of heroes. Once, there appeared ten suns in the world. You can imagine that it’ll be quite hot. So, to save the world from drought and thirst, Hou Yi, a very skilled archer, drew his bow and shot down the suns one by one. One, two, three, seven, eight, nine, STOP! Chang Er interceded and said, “Let’s keep the last sun, so that we can continue to live.” What words of wisdom!Shortly after, the legend goes on that Hou Yi eventually became emperor. But he grew more and more power-hungry and evil. He wanted to make himself an immortal so that he could live forever. He searched and eventually found an elixir that would give him eternal life. But Chang Er knew that this should not happen. If the world had an evil emperor who lived forever, it would be disastrous. She took the elixir herself, and found herself getting lighter, lighter and lighter and viola! She was on the moon! So that’s the story of how Chang Er ascended to the moon. Later on, to keep her company, she was given the Jade Rabbit. Often, you can see Chang Er, not on the moon, but on the packaging of the moon cakes.