Mid-Autumn Moon Festival
This festival falls on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month, and
has been observed in Asia for more than 4,000 years! There are
several legends about the birth of the Moon Festival, including
the following love story:
This story is about the immortal archer, Hou Yi, who shot down, at the request
of the Emperor of China, many suns, when they converged together and, literally,
scorched the earth with their fiery rays. The earth’s inhabitants were saved by
the archer's skills. The emperor gave Hou Yi a pill of immortality, because the
people were concerned that many suns would come together again someday and they
would, once again, need Hou Yi to save them. The emperor told Hou Yi not
to take the pill until he was both spiritually and physically prepared. Hou
Yi obeyed the emporer and hid the potion from his always curious wife, Chang O.
Of course, the beautiful, and nosey Chang O found the pill and ate it. She then
floated to the moon with her husband in hot pursuit. However, Hou Yi had to turn
back before he reached the moon and was unable to join her, so he set up camp on the
sun. Once a year, on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month, Hou Yi can visit his beautiful
wife, Chang O, in her lunar home.
The legend also says that Chang O coughed up part of the pill and she decided to
shower the earth’s people with it. That is how the rabbit became involved. Chang
O had discovered a rabbit, already a resident of the moon, while searching for a
warm place to be. She at once enlisted this precious hare to help her pulverize
the pill. That’s why an image of a beautiful rabbit is often found on moon cakes.
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Snow Moon Lore
The Snow Moon, also known as Dark Moon, Fog Moon,
Beaver Moon, Mourning Moon, Mad Moon, Moon of Storms,
and Moon When Deer Shed Antlers, occurs in November
(also known as Blotmonath (Sacrifice Month) and
Herbistmanoth (Harvest Month).):
Novern was the ninth month in the oldest of Roman calendars.
In the Celtic tradition this was the beginning of a new year.
The Celtic year ended on the eve before Samhain, and began
again on the day after. They considered it a Moon-month of
beginnings and endings.
The Isia, or rebirth of Osiris, in Egypt was a time of the receding
waters of the Nile floods. This rebirth does not mean reincarnation,
but rather refers to a rising from the dead. After and enactment of
the story of Osiris’ death at the hands of his brother, Set, the people
followed the mourning Isis to her temple. There the drama continued with
the combat between Horus and Set. Images of Osiris were made of paste and
grain; they were watered until the barley sprouted, and then floated down
the Nile with candles as part of the planting ceremonies. James Frazer, in
The Golden Bough, translates a “Lamentation of Isis” that has the goddess
say that she is Osiris’ sister, child of the same mother, and that the god
shall never be far from her.
The Japanese festival honoring the goddess of the kitchen range also honored
the women who prepared the daily meals, in a backhanded way. This goddess was
important because, through the use of the harvested food, she protected and
provided for the family. The goddess Hecate had many celebrations throughout
the year. November 16th was known as the Night of Hecate, the Three-formed.
Hecate is part of the most ancient form of the Triple Moon Goddess as Crone, or
Dark Moon; Artemis was the Crescent Moon, and Selene the Full Moon. Most of
Hecate’s worship, and especially on this night, was performed at a three-way
crossroad during the night. Food was left at the crossroads as an offering
to her. She is known to rule the passages of life and transformation, birth
and death. Her animals were the toad, the owl, the dog, and the bat.
Nicnevan is a Scottish goddess whose name means “divine” or “brilliant,” a form
of Diana, the Huntress. In Scotland, she is said to ride through the night with
her followers, at Halloween (The Celtic Samhain). During the Middle Ages she was
called Darne Habonde, Abundia, Satia, Bensozie, Zobiana, and Herodiana. In Tibet,
they celebrated the Feast of Lanterns, a winter festival of celebrating the
shortest days of the sun. Among the Incas it was a time of the Ayamarca, or
the Festival of the Dead.
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Wishing Moon Lore
Every third full moon within a month is a wishing moon and the first wishing moon
of the twenty-first century was on January 9, 2001. The wishing moon is the time
to make a list of your wishes, hopes and aspirations. Then, over the next three
months, your wishes should begin to manifest.
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