The festival became a national celebration in China after mooncakes were used to pass messages between rebels, such as "Kill the Tatars on the 15th day of the Eighth Moon" (八月十五殺韃子). This led to the fall of the Yuan Dynasty (Mongols) and the rise of the Ming Dynasty.
Meanwhile, celebrations this year were "clouded" by the haze from annual land-clearing fires in Indonesia that have plagued Malaysia, Singapore and southern Thailand. The Pollutant Standards Index today of 150 (unhealthy) topped Singapore's 9-year record but that was still lower than the 300+ (hazardous) levels over logging and agricultural-intense areas in East Malaysia and across Borneo. It's not surprising that the regional governments and populace are frustrated by their inability to resolve this annual environmental problem.
See here for more news on the haze. The scan on the right is from today's Singapore Straits Times in light of this year's hazy Mid-Autumn Festival.BTW, remember the cleaning I have to do?
On to Plan B.
1 comment:
Actually, you're not wrong there! While the festival didn't originate from this uprising, it obtained national significance when mooncakes were used by the rebellion to overthrow the Yuan dynasty (Mongols) to establish the Ming dynasty.
Here's the wikipedia excerpt:
The Mid-Autumn Festival also commemorates an uprising in China against the Mongol rulers of the Yuan Dynasty (1280–1368) in the early 14th century. As group gatherings were banned, it was impossible to make plans for a rebellion. Noting that the Mongols did not eat mooncakes, Liu Bowen (劉伯溫) of Zhejiang Province, advisor to a Chinese rebel leader Zhu Yuanzhang, came up with the idea of timing the rebellion to coincide with the Mid-Autumn Festival. He sought permission to distribute thousands of moon cakes to the Chinese residents in the city to bless the longevity of the Mongol emperor. Inside each cake, however, was inserted a piece of paper with the message: "Kill the Tatars on the 15th day of the Eighth Moon" (八月十五殺韃子). On the night of the Moon Festival, the rebels successfully attacked and overthrew the government. What followed was the establishment of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), under the rebel leader Zhu Yuanzhang. Henceforth, the Mid-Autumn Festival was celebrated with moon cakes on a national level.
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