The City of Carmel and Carmel-Xiangyang Sister City Committee invite you the city’s Chinese Mooncake Festival this Saturday at Midtown Plaza.
The event will kick off with a dragon parade at 6:30 p.m. and conclude at 8:30 p.m. There will also be music, dancing – and of course – mooncakes!
This is one of the two main holidays in China. According to Chinese legend, there was a time when 10 suns hung in the sky, baking the earth, and depriving the people of water and life. A hero named Hou Yi climbed a mountain and shot down nine of the 10 suns with his bow, saving the earth.
Hou Yi met the Lady Queen Mother and she gave him the elixir of immortality. The elixir would allow him to become immortal and fly to the heavens. He gave it to his wife for safekeeping. Someone tried to take it from her while he was away. In a panic, she drank the potion and became a Goddess and flew to the sky. She cared so much for her husband, so she landed on the place closest to Earth, the moon.
When he returned and found his wife gone, he was devastated. He looked up to the moon to call out her name, and he saw Chang’e as the Goddess of the Moon.
He brought out her favorite cakes to pray for blessings from Heaven. Then it became a tradition for people to worship Heaven and celebrate with moon cakes on that day. Thus, the Moon Festival became famous among the Chinese.
Part of the tradition includes laying out fruits and mooncakes to celebrate the day by sitting together and gazing at the moon, and showing appreciation for Heaven, Earth, and Family Unity. The round shape is a symbol of unity.