Author：China culture | 2022-12-13 | Views：297
According to legend, 10 suns appeared in the sky at the same time in ancient China, ruining the crops and forcing the people into poverty and despair. One day, a hero named Hou Yi shot down nine of the suns, and ordered the last one to rise and fall to bring benefits to the people. Hou Yi was then rewarded for his deed with an elixir by the Queen of Heaven. If he took it, he would immediately ascend to heaven and become an immortal. However, Hou Yi instead gave the elixir to his wife Chang'e for safekeeping, because he didn't want to leave her.
When Hou Yi was not at home, a villain named Peng Meng forced Chang'e to hand over the elixir. At the critical moment, Chang'e drank the elixir and rose into the sky to become an immortal, landing on the moon. From then on, Hou Yi missed his wife very much. On the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival with the moon at its fullest, he put her favorite sweet foods and fresh fruits on a table as a distant sacrifice to Chang'e who lived in the Moon Palace.
After learning that Chang'e became an immortal on the moon, people placed incense burners on tables outdoors beneath the moon and prayed to Chang'e for good luck and peace. The custom of worshipping the moon on the Mid-Autumn Festival then spread among the people.
