The characters 兔魄, or ‘rabbit soul’ are another name for the moon because of the legend of the white rabbit on the moon. The inscription on the left side of our picture of Chang’e, written in traditional Chinese characters, says: 兔魄流輝 or ‘the moon is bright and shining’. Above, the moon rabbit (circled in red) can be seen preparing medicines. One explanation comes from the Fujian Province in China, where the practice of grafting Osmanthus onto the red pomegranate tree can create red flowers.Ĭhinese family enjoying the mid-autumn moon. He did, however, come across a historical reference to a rare ‘Red Osmanthus’ growing in the garden of a scholar in the coastal province Zhejiang during the Ming dynasty. Peter Valder, author of ‘The Garden Plants of China’ (1999), confirms this, having found no evidence of red Osmanthus in China. However, the blossom of Osmanthus is most often greenish-white or yellow, not red, as show in the picture. In an attempt to identify the tree in our picture, we stumbled upon something of a mystery because, based on the leaf shape, the tree does not appear to be Cassia.

The Song Dynasty (960-1279) poet, Yang Wanli, wrote that the scent of Osmanthus was so rich, it’s “ hard to believe it comes from nature and not the moon in heaven”. The flowers of Osmanthus were used to make a wine that cured the people. According to another Chinese legend, Osmanthus originally grew on the moon but the seeds were scattered on Earth by a goddess at a time when many people were dying of a plague. As well the blossoming of Osmanthus coinciding with the Moon Festival in mid-autumn when the sweet scent of the flowers is released into the air, it also served as a companion for Chang’e when she floated up to the moon. Osmanthus flowers also have a strong association with the moon in Chinese folklore. Botanical illustration from Manchester Museum Herbarium The bark of this tree is an important source of the spice cinnamon and, thanks to the continual regrowth of the bark, it can be cut and harvested year on year. The magical Cassia may well be a reference to the regenerative properties of the Chinese Cinnamon tree. This being a magical tree, the Cassia regenerated overnight and, try as he might, Wu Gang could never completely cut it down, so remains on the moon to this day. As a punishment, the immortal banished Wu Gang to the moon and told him that he could only return to earth once he had chopped down a large Cassia tree. He begged an immortal living in the next valley to teach him, but once again, Wu Gang failed showing no patience to work on any of the tasks assigned to him. In this story a man called Wu Gang could not settle in any of the apprenticeships he took up and eventually decided he wanted to be immortal instead. Botanical illustration from Manchester Museum HerbariumĬassia is a plant with cultural significance in China and strong connections with the moon, featuring in one of the four legends about the Moon Festival. This became a custom at the time of the full-moon in the autumn, and the tradition became part of the Mid-Autumn Festival or Mooncake Festival, when it is customary to give friends, colleagues and relatives gifts of mooncakes to celebrate.Ĭassia. Hou Yi was powerless to help and because he couldn’t join Chang’e, he put out food offerings which were round, like the moon.

She found herself floating up to the moon.

When one of Hou Yi’s followers tried to steal the elixir, Chang’e swallowed it, turning her into a goddess and making her immortal. Hou Yi married the beautiful Chang’e, a servant to the King of Heaven. As a reward the Queen Mother gave him the elixir of eternal life. Determined to relieve the suffering, a great archer, Hou Yi, shot down nine of the suns, saving life on Earth. The story goes that one day, some 4,000 years ago, ten suns appeared in the sky, ravaging earth with terrible heat and drought. The moon goddess Chang’e holding a rabbit and floating amongst the branches of a tree, with the moon behind her and an inscription to her left. We don’t propose to retell all of the stories here but will focus on one with close connections to a document in Manchester Museum’s collection, featuring Chang’e the moon goddess. There are many legends associated with the Mid-Autumn (or Moon / Mooncake) Festival. In this post, Bryan Sitch and Fang Zong describe some of the stories associated with this festival, also known as the Moon Festival, explaining the significance of mooncakes and rabbits, amongst other things. Today, Tuesday 21st September, is the Mid-Autumn Festival in China which, along with Chinese New Year, Dragon Boat Festival, and Qing Ming Festival, is one of the most important festivals in the Chinese calendar.

Earliest origin of midautumn festival