On the fifteenth day of the eighth month, when the moon is fullest and brightest, the Harvest Moon Festival is celebrated in China. The legend behind this festival begins around 2170 B.C. after a great flood. Yu, the king of many kingdoms had stopped the flood, and was teaching the farmers how to once again cultivate their fields.

The Jade Emperor of Heaven wished to help Yu and the farmers. So, he gave orders to his ten sons to become ten suns and travel across the sky one at a time, each one taking a day. The ten sons disobeyed their father, and all of them came out at once every day. The heat from the ten suns was unbearable. People and animals were dying of the heat, rivers and lakes dried up, the land became barren, and trees and crops scorched and burned.

Hearing the farmers prayers for relief from the suns, the Jade Emperor looked at the destruction that his sons has caused. He sent Hou Yi, the bravest god in heaven , down to the earth to fix the wrong caused by his sons. Hou Yi, was a benevolent god with a beautiful wife named Chang Er. The couple loved one another deeply, and were known as the divine couple.

Not wishing to be separated from her husband, but against her better judgment, Change Er descended to earth with Hou Yi. While on earth, Change Er and Hou Yi would become mortals and live among the people.

Hou Yi was a great archer, and he had brought his magic bow to earth with him. He climbed to the top of a high mountain, and tried to convince the suns to have pity on the earth and the people. He asked the suns to begin taking turns in their journey across the sky, one on each day.

But, the ten suns had other plans. They considered to be boring to cross the sky one at a time. They felt it was much more fun coming out together, so they refused to listen to Hou Yi. In fact, they increased their heat, causing even more suffering to the people. This angered Hou Yi, so he took out his magic bow and arrows and shot down nine of the suns. The last sun begged for his life and promised that he would stick to his job of separating night from day.

At last the people of the earth were once again enjoying their daily lives. But when Hou Yi returned to heaven and made his report to the Jade Emperor, the Jade Emperor became furious at Hou Yi for killing his nine sons. He banished Hou Yi and Chang-O from heaven.

Hou Yi was upset with the banishment, but he had been made leader of the clans, so he was always busy. He passed his time teaching the people of the lands how to protect themselves. In fact, he was so busy that he began to neglect his wife. Chang-O was not happy being mortal. She hated the suffering, aging and death that were an innate part of the mortal process. Chang-O was also extremely upset with the Hou Yi for angering the Emperor. So the couple became unhappy and estranged from one another.

Eventually, Hou Yi encountered another woman in his travels. He succumbed to his desire, and wound up having to kill the woman’s jealous husband. Hearing about this the Jade Emperor forbid Hou Yi to ever see the woman again and sent him home to Chang-O who had heard about her husbands infidelity.

Chang-O was becoming more and more unhappy as she caught sight of her reflection in a lake and saw wrinkles starting to appear on her beautiful face. Hou Yi heard that on top of Kunlun mountain, the Royal Goddess had a pill of immortality. Wanting desperately to make things right with his wife, he climbed the mountain and found the Royal Goddess.

The Royal Goddess gave him the pill and told him that if one person took the pill he or she would ascend to heaven, but if two people split the pill, they would live forever. The pill had to be taken on the fifteenth day of the eight month when the moon was fullest. Hou Yi and Chang-O decided to split the pill and obtain immortality.

However, three days before they were to take the pill, Hou Yi heard of a “jade elixir” which could prevent women from aging and help them to stay eternally beautiful. Wanting to surprise his still slightly angry wife, he decided to make the three day trip to get the elixir.

On the fifteenth day of the eighth month, Chang-O still could not find Hou Yi. So she sought out one of his scheming “friends” to find out where he was. The man lied and told her that Hou Yi had gone to see the woman who he had been unfaithful with before. In her fury, Chang-O went outside under the moon and took the whole pill by herself and started to drift upwards into the sky.

Hou Yi arrived just in time to see his wife rising rapidly upwards. But, sadly, the Gods and Goddesses in heaven did not like Chang-O because she had abandoned her husband. So, she changed her direction and headed toward the cold palace in the moon.

Hou Yi was killed by his unscrupulous friend who had since become his enemy. Chang-O was very saddened and mourned for what she had done. She was cut off from the love of her life, and doomed to spend eternity alone in the moon. Hence, she became the Moon Goddess.

And so it is, on the fifteenth day of the eighth month when the moon is at its fullest and brightest, the people of China look to the moon and sometimes they say they see Chang-O gazing back at them.