We had fun painting lanterns and making mooncakes with friends earlier today!!

Living in Singapore for a decade, Mid-Autumn Festival is still my favourite local festive of all. Mooncakes in various kind of flavour, beautiful lanterns in various colors, patterns and sizes, I just love it!! 😍 I’m a huge fans of the mooncakes and lanterns throughout the festive season.

The Mid-autumn Festival (Zhong Qiu Jie in Mandarin), also known as the Mooncake Festival, falls on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month. It is called the Mid-autumn Festival because the 15th day is the midpoint in a month, and the eighth lunar month is in the middle of autumn, when the moon is at its brightnest.

In Singapore, as early as a month before the festival, mooncakes and lanterns are offered for sale.

There are many legends about the origin of this festival, but this one has always been my favourite:

So in the ancient time we had 10 suns shining down the earth, the heat made people’s life very difficult to bear with. Until one day, a hero with a marvellous archery skill named Hou Yi shot down 9 suns, and made people’s life much easier. Hou Yi then met and married a beautiful and kind-hearted woman named Chang’E and lived a happy life. The news traveled all the way to heaven, Wangmu (the queen of heaven) presented Hou Yi a very precious potion that can make someone’s body become lighter so that he can fly up all the way to heaven and become immortal god/goddess. But instead of taking it instantly and leaving his wife to heaven, Hou Yi gave the potion to his wife named Chang’E, to keep it secret and to avoid it to be handed to a bad person. Until one day, one of Hau Yi apprentice found out and wanted to steal it from Chang’E. She knew that this sacred potion should never ever been given to anyone else. So been cornered she took the risks and swallowed the potion for herself, worried that it will handed to a wrong person. The moment she swallowed it, her body became lighter and lighter and flew out of the window and up into the sky. Chang E’s great love for her husband drew her towards the moon, which is the nearest place to the earth on the heaven. At the same day every year Hou Yi could always saw her wife’s face drawn on the beautiful full moon. He prayed and wished her happiness and luck forever.

So the lanterns represent Chang’E flying to the moon.

And the mooncake represent the full moon that showing Chang’E’s beautiful face every year at the very same night she was flying to the moon.

For Chinese, the moon is a symbol of fertility, prosperity and peace, it also indicates nurturing of our dreams, and passion. The full moon symbolises family reunion and an auspicious token of abundance, harmony, and luck.

While in the world of art&science, full circle in Sacred Geometry symbolises a protection, also represent a whole world/universe.

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!!

May we all live a whole-life in abundance happily ever after 🙂