Moon Festival Worksheet - PowerPoint

							The Legend of Hou-Yi and the
         Ten Suns
  English I- Louise S. McGehee School
                   2005
   By: JaNét, Shannon, and Michelle
                               (Fark.)
                 The Legend
• Long ago, there were ten
  suns, who were brothers.
  They usually came out
  one at a time, but
  sometimes they came out
  in groups. The people in
  China were suffering
  because the suns were
  scorching the earth, and
  the wild animals were
  attacking the people,
  because they could not
  stand the heat (“One”).
                              (“Hou Yi”)
           The Legend cont..
• The townspeople
  asked the great
  archer, Hou-Yi to
  save them. He
  loaded his quiver with
  ten arrows, climbed
  Mount K’un Yun, and
  began to shoot down
  the suns, one by one
  (“One”).                     (“One”)
• After Hou-Yi had
  shot down many of
  the suns, a wise old
  man quietly hid one
  of the arrows. He
  knew that having
  too many suns was
  bad, but having no
  suns was worse
  (“Chinese”).

           The Legend cont…
                              (“Mid-Autumn”)
                                                             (“Chang-Er.”)




                       Chang’er




After Hou-yi shot down the suns, he received an immortality elixir
from the Great Mother of the West. She told him to wait for about a
year before giving it to Chang’er. Chang’er grew impatient and
obsessed with immortality, so she drank the elixir too soon and
flew to the moon. She now lives on the moon as the Moon Fairy.
She is represented by a rabbit, which was believed to help her fly
to the moon (Wang).
                   Other Legends
• Others believed that Hou-Yi
  and his wife were actually
  gods who came down to save
  the people of the village from
  the terrible heat (“Hou”).


                                                            (DnDCC.)


                               •They say that after Hou-Yi shot down the
                               suns, he became so full of himself that the
                               other gods punished him to live as a
                               mortal. After this, his wife got angry,
                               drank an immortality potion, and flew to
                               the moon (“Hou”).
(“Photo Gallery 4.”)



                       K’un-Lun Mountains

                       • The K’un-Lun mountains are
                         a mountain range in China.
                       • They are the home of the
                         Great Mother of the West
                       •   (“Mid-Autumn”).

                       • No one before Hou-Yi had
                         successfully climbed the
                         mountain.
                       • Before reaching the top, one
                         has to go through horrible
                         storms and freezing weather
                         (Balsanek).
     The Legend in China Today
• In China there is a festival called the Mid-
  Autumn Festival or Moon Festival. It takes
  place on the 15th day of the 8th lunar
  month (August). At the festival, people
  gather to look up at the moon when it is
  supposedly at its biggest and brightest in
  the night sky. They also eat moon cakes.
 (“Mid-Autumn”) (Wang)
                  Similar Myths




• Hou-Yi and Chang’er, a couple who represents the sun and
  moon, are very similar to the Greek god Helios, the god of the
  sun, and the goddess of the moon, Selene (Helios’ sister.)
• Other moon goddesses are Artemis and Hecate. (McCabe
  “Selene”).
• Another mythological husband and wife who are two very
  different subjects are the Greek god, Uranus, and the goddess,
  Gaea. Uranus is the sky and Gaea is the earth. (McCabe
  “GAEA”).
                                                       (Bergeron)
                                                    Works Cited
Balsanek, Kristy. “The Legend of the Mid-Autumn Festival.” World Wise Schools- Students. Peace Corps. 11 January 2005. <http://www.peacecorps.gov/
     wws/students/f olktales/festival.html>.

Bergeron, Joe. “Artemis.” Joe Bergeron’s Art, Astronomy, and SF Site. Joe Bergeron. 26 October 2004. 11 January 2005. <http://homepage.mac.com/joe
     bergeron/artemis. html>.

“Chang-Er chines moon goddess.” Casa Cenina. Casa Cenina. 6 January 2005.<http://www.casacenina.com/catalog/ product_inf o.php?products_id=306>.

“Chinese Fable: Chang’er Flew to the Moon.” Sample Chinese Fable: Chang'er Flew to the Moon Worksheet. edHelper. 5 January 2005. <http://www.edhelper
      .com/ReadingComprehension_Geography_23_1.html>.

DnDCC magic_item. 6 January 2005. <http://www.f apse.ulg.ac.be/lab/COG/staff/fs/tiles/web/magic_item/potion2.jpg>.

Fark.com. 3 January 2005. Fark.com. 4 January 2005. <http://f orums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comments.pl?IDLink=875499>.

“Hou Yi and Chang’er.” Legends of China. 2004. Chinatown Online. 4 January 2005. <http://www.chinatown-online.co.uk/ pages/culture/legends/index.html>.

McCabe, Walter. “GAEA: The Earth Goddess.” Walter McCabe’s Little Piece of the Web.        Walter McCabe. 11 June 2004. 11 January 2004. <http://waltm.
    net/gaea.htm>.

McCabe, Walter. “Selene, the moon goddess.” Walter McCabe’s Little Piece of the Web. Walter McCabe. 11 June 2004. 11 January 2005. <http://waltm.net
    /selene.htm>.

“Mid-Autumn Festival in China.” HELLO online. National Association of Teachers of English. 5 January 2005.<http://www.hello-online.ru/content.php?contid
      =1340>.

“One Sun.” University of Virginia. University of Virginia. 5 January 2005. 5 January 2005. <http://www.people.virginia. edu/~f c6t/China/ ten_sun.htm>.

“Photo Gallery 4.” The Endless Sky Trip- Cycling the Himalaya. Kreisels.com. 4 January 2005. <http://www.kreisels.com/tibet98/tibet-bike-photo4.htm>.

Wang, Frances Kai-Hwa. “Celebrating the Moon Festival.” IM Diversity.com. 2005. 6 January 2005. <http://www.imdiversity.com/Villages/Asian/family_lif estyle_
     traditions/wang_celebrating_moon_f estival_0904.asp>.
Wang, Frances Kai-Hwa. “A Story of the Moon Lady.” IM Diversity.com. 2005. 6 January 2005. <http://www.imdiversity.com/Villages/Asian/family_lifestyle_
     traditions/wang_moonlady_story_0904.asp>.