Background of Mid-Autumn Festival Legend:
Chang 'e is a character in the ancient Chinese Han mythology. She was the daughter of Emperor Ku (Emperor Dijun of Heaven), one of the three emperors and five emperors in ancient China, and the wife of Houyi. Her extraordinary beauty was originally called Heng, which was changed to Chang 'e and Chang 'e due to the taboo of Liu Heng, the emperor of Chinese Wen in the Western Han Dynasty. It is also called pure fox, Yuan 'e.
In the myth, because of stealing and eating the immortal medicine obtained from the West Wangmu place, Yi ran to the moon and became an immortal, living in the moon palace.
Before the Eastern Han Dynasty, there was no evidence that Chang 'e and Yi were husband and wife. It was not until Gao Yu annotated Huai Nan Zi that Chang 'e was Hou Yi's wife. It is said that Chang 'e and Yi created the first monogamy. In order to commemorate them, later generations deduce the story of Chang 'e flying to the sky. Han folk legends and poems are spread. In Taoism, Chang 'e is the goddess of the moon, also known as the star of the moon. Taoism takes the moon as the essence of the Yin, and honorantly calls it the Emperor of the Moon, or the Emperor of the moon, the Emperor of the moon, the Emperor of the moon, the Emperor of the moon.
In Lu's Spring and Autumn · Don't Bow, there is a sentence "Shang Yi is used to occupy the moon". Bi Yuan of the Qing Dynasty commented: "Shang Yi is used to occupy the moon. In ancient times, 'yi' means' he ', and later generations have contorted Chang 'e."
Another view is that "Heng e" was originally written as "Heng E", which is the Changxi of "birth month ten and two" in the "Classic of Mountains and Seas · Wild West".
According to legend, in ancient times, there were ten days in the sky at the same time, drying the crops and dying, and the people were miserable. A hero named Houyi, with infinite strength, sympathated with the suffering of the people, climbed the Kunlun mountain, pulled the God bow, shot nine SUNS in one breath, and ordered the last sun to rise and fall on time for the benefit of the people.
Houyi was thus respected and loved by the people. Houyi married a beautiful and kind wife named Chang 'e. In addition to hunting, Hou Yi spent all day with his wife, and people admired the loving couple.
Many scholars came to learn art, and Pengmeng also mixed in.
One day, Houyi went to the Kunlun Mountains to visit his friends and ask for a way. He met the Queen Mother who passed by. The queen mother gave him an immortal medicine. It is said that if you take this medicine, you can ascend to heaven immediately. However, Houyi could not bear to leave his wife, so he had to temporarily give the immortal medicine to Chang 'e for collection. Chang E will hide the medicine into the dresser's treasure box, but was seen by the villain Peng Meng, he wanted to steal to eat immortal medicine himself.
Three days later, Houyi led his followers out to hunt. Peng Meng, who had a malicious intention, pretended to be ill and stayed. Shortly after Hou Yi and his people left, Peng Meng entered the backyard of the inner house with a sword and threatened Chang 'e to hand over the immortal medicine. Chang 'e knew that she was not the opponent of Peng Meng. When she was in danger, she made a decisive decision, turned around and opened the treasure box, took out the immortal medicine and swallowed it. Chang 'e swallowed the medicine, the body immediately floated off the ground, rushed out of the window, and flew to the sky. As Chang 'e worried about her husband, she flew to the nearest moon and became a fairy.
In the evening, Houyi returned home, and the maids cried about what had happened during the day. Houyi was both frightened and angry, drew his sword to kill the villain, Peng Meng fled early, Houyi was angry and beat his chest, devastated, looking up at the night sky to call his wife's name, then he was surprised to find that today's moon is particularly bright and bright, and there is a shaking figure like Chang 'e. He tried to chase the moon, but he chased three steps, the moon retreated three steps, he retreated three steps, the moon advanced three steps, no matter how also can not catch up.
Houyi had no choice but to miss his wife, so he had to send people to Chang 'e's favorite back garden, put incense table, put on her favorite honey and fresh fruit, and offer a remote sacrifice to Chang 'e in the moon palace. After the people heard the news that Chang 'e had run to the moon and become an immortal, they arranged incense tables under the moon and prayed for good luck and peace to Chang 'e.
中秋节传说背景：
嫦娥，中国上古时期汉族神话中的人物，上古时期三皇五帝之一帝喾(天帝帝俊)的女儿、后羿之妻，其美貌非凡，本称姮娥，因西汉时为避汉文帝刘恒的忌讳而改称嫦娥，又作常娥。又有称其姓纯狐，名嫄娥。
神话中因偷食大羿自西王母处所求得的不死药而奔月成仙，居住在月宫之中。
东汉之前，无任何资料显示嫦娥与羿是夫妻关系，直到高诱注解《淮南子》才指出嫦娥是后羿之妻。据说嫦娥与大羿开创了一夫一妻制的先河，后人为了纪念他们，演绎出了嫦娥飞天的故事，汉族民间多有其传说以及诗词歌赋流传。在道教中，嫦娥为月神，又称太阴星君，道教以月为阴之精，尊称为月宫黄华素曜元精圣后太阴元君，或称月宫太阴皇君孝道明王，作女神像。
《吕氏春秋·勿躬》有句云“尚仪作占月”，清人毕沅作注说：“尚仪即常仪，古读'仪’为'何’，后世遂有嫦娥之鄙言。”
另有观点认为：“姮娥”原先写成“恒娥”，即《山海经·大荒西经》所记“生月十有二”之常羲。
相传，远古时候天上有十日同时出现，晒得庄稼枯死，民不聊生，一个名叫后羿的英雄，力大无穷，他同情受苦的百姓，登上昆仑山顶，运足神力，拉开神弓，一气射下九个太阳，并严令最后一个太阳按时起落，为民造福，
后羿因此受到百姓的`尊敬和爱戴，后羿娶了个美丽善良的妻子，名叫嫦娥。后羿除传艺狩猎外，终日和妻子在一起，人们都羡慕这对郎才女貌的恩爱夫妻。
不少志士慕名前来投师学艺，心术不正的蓬蒙也混了进来。
一天，后羿到昆仑山访友求道，巧遇由此经过的王母娘娘，王母给他一颗不死药。据说，服下此药，能即刻升天成仙。然而，后羿舍不得撇下妻子，只好暂时把不死药交给嫦娥珍藏。嫦娥将药藏进梳妆台的百宝匣里，不料被小人蓬蒙看见了，他想偷吃不死药自己成仙。
三天后，后羿率众徒外出狩猎，心怀鬼胎的蓬蒙假装生病，留了下来。待后羿率众人走后不久，蓬蒙手持宝剑闯入内宅后院，威逼嫦娥交出不死药。嫦娥知道自己不是蓬蒙的对手，危急之时她当机立断，转身打开百宝匣，拿出不死药一口吞了下去。嫦娥吞下药，身子立时飘离地面、冲出窗口，向天上飞去。由于嫦娥牵挂着丈夫，便飞落到离人间最近的月亮上成了仙。
傍晚，后羿回到家，侍女们哭诉了白天发生的事。后羿既惊又怒，抽剑去杀恶徒，蓬蒙早逃走了，后羿气得捶胸顿足，悲痛欲绝，仰望着夜空呼唤爱妻的名字，这时他惊奇地发现，今天的月亮格外皎洁明亮，而且有个晃动的身影酷似嫦娥。他拼命朝月亮追去，可是他追三步，月亮退三步，他退三步，月亮进三步，无论怎样也追不到跟前。
后羿无可奈何，又思念妻子，只好派人到嫦娥喜爱的后花园里，摆上香案，放上她平时最爱吃的蜜食鲜果，遥祭在月宫里眷恋着自己的嫦娥。百姓们闻知嫦娥奔月成仙的消息后，纷纷在月下摆设香案，向善良的嫦娥祈求吉祥平安。