(An artist’s interpretation of the character 閒. Photo Credit: Hanzi
Alive)
Today is the Moon Festival,
also known as the Mid-Autumn Festival. The day when we look at the full moon,
barbeque outside, and take time to be with family and friends.
The holiday reminds me of a
Chinese character: 閒. Some characters are incredibly complex, but this one is
profoundly simple. It is the character for idleness, or rest. The standard transliteration is “xián,” with a rising tone, although it would be better to write it as “she-én.”
The outside part, 門, represents a doorway, while the inside part, 月, represents the Moon.
A moon inside the door? What does that mean?
It means the Moon is outside,
and you can see it through the doorway because you are inside. It is night. The
work is done. Finally, you can rest your feet, and, with nothing to do, just
admire the beauty of the Moon. Looking at the Moon is the symbol of leisure,
and which better Moon to look at than the full Moon?
The Moon Festival is a harvest
festival. The crops have been gathered, the grain houses filled, animals
raised, and the cruel winter is fast approaching. We should probably save and
ration what we have for a more difficult day, but we don’t. We slaughter the
animals, barbeque far too many plants and animals, and drink too much beer. We
celebrate that we have worked hard and our labor has been rewarded. We’ll deal
with the cold winter later.
The Moon Festival is a reunion
festival. Uncles and aunts, relatives close and distant, all come together,
bringing something to contribute to the feast. We realize that when we
sacrifice together, we gain much more than we ever could alone. We are all so busy,
always working, but today, we are 閒 together. Nothing to do but look at the Moon through the
doorway, and isn’t it beautiful, when you actually stop to look at it for more
than a glance?
The Moon Festival is an
outdoor festival. Outside at night, feel the comfortable breeze that is
winter’s warning. Soon you’ll board the windows shut, bundle up in layers of
clothes and piles of blankets. But you don’t need hot pot or spicy soup
tonight, you just need a cold beer in one hand, and an iron tongs in the other
to flip meat, corn on the cob, and whatever else the big family brought
together.
The Moon Festival is a short
festival. It is not two weeks, like Chinese New Year’s, but it doesn’t need to
be, because the weather is not so cold yet as to test our faith in the eventual
second-coming of our savior: Spring. No, it is four days because all we need is
to see the results of our labor, to see that our work has been fruitful, and to
motivate us to keep going so that, hopefully one day soon, we can laugh, drink,
and be 閒 together once more.