DRAGON COVE OF MYTHS, LEGENDS, AND STORIES: the Legend of Chang’e, the Two-Faced Moon Goddess 🌗
The Mid-Autumn Festival: a time for family reunion, indulging in tasty mooncakes, gazing up at the moon, and of course, retellings of classic folktales. In my Chinese culture, it’s impossible not to bring up the tale of the moon goddess Chang’e:
When her husband is gifted an elixir of immortality, he plans for him and his wife to drink the potion together. But while he is away, a greedy man breaks into the house in an attempt to steal it, and in a desperate act, Chang’e drinks the elixir to keep it out of his hands. Unfortunately, the potion was meant for two, so overwhelmed by its effects, she floats to the moon away from her beloved husband, famously with her jade rabbit. As such, we honor her through moongazing and eating mooncakes, circular motifs representing family and togetherness that Chang’e herself could not enjoy from her selfless sacrifice.
But there's another version of this story:
When her husband leaves the house, Chang’e is the one who selfishly decides to down all of the elixir and floats to the moon instead of the heavens as a fitting punishment, the curse of immortality in perpetual solitude.
Well that certainly changes the narrative doesn’t it? The second version used to irk me: if Chang'e is a villain deservedly imprisoned on the moon for giving into her selfish desires, then why would we go through all the effort of retelling her story? But then again, she serves as a villain deserving of pity and a reminder for us to cherish our connections with one another over greedy pursuits if we want true happiness. I think this version is also a practice in compassion. Even villains deserve sympathy, and we keep her company by spending the night outside with her and sharing her story. Even the story itself was kind enough to offer her a rabbit companion so that she wouldn’t be entirely alone.
Perhaps just like our moon, Chang'e exists with two faces, a dark and a light (only one face of the moon faces the Earth as it orbits at all times so this has some scientific backing), and we can learn from both to be kinder people and more mindful of our relationships with our friends and family. 🌗
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Transitioning to university has meant not being able to reunite with family during the holiday (out-of-state student struggles), so celebrating the holiday is looking quite different but the sentiments and values remain the same. I continue traditions of eating mooncakes from local supermarkets and club events (this time with friends!), watching the night sky, and finding time to call and catch up with my family so that even though we can't be physically present, we feel a sense of togetherness all the same.
中秋 = mid-autumn, 嫦娥 = Chang’e
Note: Mid-Autumn Festival follows the lunar calendar, so the exact date varies. This year it fell on Oct 6, 2025.
A painting that I did on this theme of duality that I did last year! The background is inspired by colorful mooncake tins.
