| Everything you always wanted to know about
Saturday, October 3rd, 2009 |
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This is the full Moon that occurs closest to the autumn equinox. In two years out of three, the Harvest Moon comes in September, but in some years it occurs in October, just happens that this is the year of October.
At the peak of harvest, farmers can work late into the night by the light of this Moon. Usually the full Moon rises an average of 50 minutes later each night, but for the few nights around the Harvest Moon, the Moon seems to rise at nearly the same time each night: just 25 to 30 minutes later across the U.S., and only 10 to 20 minutes later for much of Canada and Europe. Corn, pumpkins, squash, beans, and wild rice the chief Indian staples are now ready for gathering.
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Harvest Moon and Howlingween Festival |
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What the heck are these and what do they have to do with anything on October 3rd??
 
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Greetings!
Be sure to mark your calendar for this coming Saturday, the 3rd of October - - it's Pot Luck and Social time once again. We sure would like to see you at our main monthly event. It starts off at 7PM and goes until the last table is folded!!
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What is happening
on October 3rd?
Well, for one it is a Chinese Celebration Day - - it is also one of the M.S.N.'s very noteworthy and traditional event nights for our Members and Friends to gather and feast and carry on social intercourse.
This coming Saturday, October 3rd, 7PM, at the Casas Adobes Congregational Church, 6801 N. Oracle Rd. We will celebrate the Harvest Moon and Howlingween (we will also tie in a little "Guess who came to dinner" for those that would like to dress in their Halloween garb a bit early to test the waters!!!!)
So what is this Chinese Celebration all about? The Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival. The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the two most important holidays in the Chinese calendar, the other being the Chinese New Year, and is a legal holiday in several countries. Farmers celebrate the end of the summer harvesting season on this date. Traditionally, on this day, Chinese family members and friends will gather to admire the bright mid-autumn harvest moon, and eat moon cakes and pomeloes together.
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| My concern is that they sacrificed 100 adolescent boys in this tale of old
There are several stories surrounding the history of the celebration, here is just  one. A popular school version, Houyi was a lazy boy who did nothing but to practice his archery. He practiced day and night until he became the greatest archer in the world. One day, the ten suns all assembled around the earth. Their presence destroyed all vegetation, and hundreds of thousands were perishing. The King, who was desperate, offered his crown to anyone who could shoot down the suns. Houyi answered his call. He shot down nine of the suns, and as he pulled his bow to shoot the last one, the King stopped him. Saying the earth must have one sun. Houyi then became the next King. He was pampered to the extent that he wanted to be King forever. He called his advisors to look for a way to make him immortal. His advisors found a way. They found a recipe for the Pill of Immortality. It required 100 adolescent boys to be ground into a biscuit like a pill. Every night he was supposed to grind one boy. On the hundredth night, his wife Chang'e could not bear to watch her husband become the tyrannical dictator for eternity. She prayed to Xi Wang Mu for help. She stole the pill, with Houyi shooting arrows at her, and flew to the moon grabbing a rabbit to keep her company.So the Chinese say that if you look up at the moon to this day you can sometimes see a rabbit making moon cakes.
We promise not to sacrifice any adolescent boys, to offer you the Pill of Immortality, but we will have a couple of guest speakers that will limit their presentations to 15 minutes each and take questions regarding anything financial.
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Contact Information |
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| Your Steering Committee |
Thom Goodrich, MSN President, Chairman of the Steering Committee, 520-908-6160
Merlin Spillers, Co-Chairman of the Steering Committee, Chairman of Internal Activities Sub-committee, 520-207-5336
Ken Cooper, Chairman of Public Relations and Community Affairs Sub-committee, 520-207-6264
Alan Herman, Chairman of Finance and Budget Sub-committee, 520-603-5726
Davis Palmer, Chairman of Media and Communications Sub-committee, 520-325-4754
Lee Roden, Chairman of Welcome Wagon and Membership Benefits Sub-committee, 520-207-5336
Ken Gottlieb, Member at Large (80-89yo), 520-294-6606
Sterling Gruver, Member at Large (60-69yo), 520-320-7949
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Thank you for your active involvement in the Men's Social Club.
Look for more event emails in the coming months!! |
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