嫦娥

The Chinese beautiful goddess living on the moon palace called 广寒宫 (Guanghangong). Her husband was Hou Yi, a legendary archer in Chinese mythology.

They were celestial people living in heaven. Yi once shot down nine of the ten suns and saved all people on the earth. But his solution invoked divine wrath and they lost their immortality. Yi managed to get an elixir of life from Xi Wangmu, a Chinese goddess. However, instead of sharing the elixir with him to become immortal again, Chang'e swallowed the entire pill and ascended magically to the moon. Unfortunately, she was not able to reach the celestial world. The reason varies according to several variations of the story. The folktale the most Chinese people are fond of is that she tried not to be robbed of the elixir by Feng Meng, Yi's evil pupil. In any case, she is suffering from loneliness even now. She has a moon rabbit, called 玉兎 (Yutu, lit. Jade rabbit), making the elixir or various herbal medicines on the moon.

After her ascension, Yi took the food liked by Chang'e to an altar and offered it as a sacrifice for her. The legend is regarded as the origins of the mid autumn celebration.

External links

• Wikipedia article: Chang'e / Hou Yi / Mid-Autumn Festival

See also

• moon rabbit
• Wu Gang (吴刚) - the woodcutter living on the moon.
• mooncake
• satellite - Chinese spacecrafts, "Chang'e 1" and "Chang'e 2" are named after her.

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