The Moon Festival
"Once upon a time there was a beautiful lady called Ch'ang O. Her husband was a famous liberator who received an elixir of everlasting life as his reward. However, Ch'ang, the wife, stole it from him and swallowed it instead. Soon after she had done so, she found herself floating up to heaven, where she became the goddess of the moon and has lived there ever since."
The reasons Ch'ang took the pill from her husband are varied. I have heard two. The first, is that the husband's apprentice wanted the pill and was going to steal it away. The only way to protect the powers of the elixir from the greedy apprentice was to take the pill herself. The other version is that she was curious and wanted to test the powers herself, the "Eve" version.
Cast as martyr or the greed the story of the Moon will be cheerfully on the 15th day of the eighth month, according to the lunar calendar. This year, that day was September 29th in Taiwan. The best ways to celebrate are:
1. Eat Pomelo fruit!
2. Eat moon cakes!
3. Have a barbeque with your friends and family under the beautiful, full moon!
4. Give moon cakes away to friends and family!
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| Meina and Kelin enjoying Pomelo fruit in Chinese class. |
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| Xiangsome and Hefen enjoying Pomelo fruit in Chinese class. |
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| Me and Zhenya with Pomelo fruit. |
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| Teacher Wang or "Wang Laoshi" with the fruit! (Laoshi mean teachers in Mandarin) We call her Wang laoshi. She's the best! |
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| Class presentation on the elements of the Moon Festival: Look at moon, eat moon cakes, eat pomelo. |
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| Moon Festival Barbeque with International Student Club Below: post BBQ entertainment. A taiwanese students singing, "Call me Maybe" karaoke style. |
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Barbeque on tiny grills! 
Playing Mahjong with International Student Club. (not part of Moon Festival but the same weekend.) 
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