Reading Level

I wonder if it's due to the Chinese characters?

Happy New Year!

Found this at ChristmasMySpace.com, can't recommend all their graphics though!

Did you know...?

In Europe, Halloween and Ground Hog's Day were originally as cross-quarter days, halfway between an equinox and a solstice? Our modern calendar's have gotten away from the moon, and the real cross-quarter day will occur next week. Of course, in China they were marked as one of the 24 solar terms.

Full Moon Names?

Keith's Moon Page has a list of Full Moon Names that Include: Native American, Chinese, New Guinean Colonial American, English Medieval and Neo-Pagan. Sadly, he lists the Chinese moons by January, February, ... December while we know that they do not always fall in that month. I still love to see all of the different names together.

I think he has names from more cultures than the Crystal Forest monthly moon name list which suffers from the same dating problem.

These lists are European, but detailed!

Names of October in various cultures
In Anglo Saxon: Winter fyllith (winter begins at the time of the full moon during the 10th month,
probably the full moon of the 10th lunation);
in Carolinigian: the vintage month;
in Welsh: Hydref, the month of cattle lowing;
in Scots Gaelic, An Damhair, the month of deer rutting; and
in Irish: Deireadh Fomhair, end of autumn.

From:
Blackburn, Bonnie & Leofranc Holford-Strevens, Oxford Companion to the Year, Oxford University Press, 1999.
Kightly, Charles, The Perpetual Almanack of Folklore, Thames & Hudson, 1987.

What we call "October" to the Northern Tribes
Aleuts: Hunting month
Koryak: Rutting season of mountain sheep
Yukahir: Rutting time of the wild reindeer
Ugric Osniaks: Naked tree month
Ostiaks: Month in which the willow loses its foliage
Tatars; Little cold month
Buriats: Milk moon
Samoyeds: Month of the short days, Dark month
Eskimos: Time for setting seal nets
Lower Yukon delta: Time for shedding velvet
South of Yukon delta: Flying away (migration of the birds)
Konyag: Hoarfrost covers the grass
Tlinkit: Big moon (because bears get fat)

Nilsson, Martin P, Primitive Time-Reckoning, Oxford University Press, 1920.

"October" names of the European Peoples
Albania: Second autumn month
Basque: Gathering month
Lithuania: Autumn month
Bulgaria: Leaf-fall, gathering of the maize
Ruthenia: The yellow month
Slovakia: Time when the goat ruts
Czechoslovakia: Month of the lowing
Serbia: Vine month
Russia: Dirt month
Germany: Autumn month, first winter month, sowing month, slaughtering month, leaf-fall
Iceland: Slaughtering month
Norway: Vine tide
Denmark: Riding month

Nilsson, Martin P, Primitive Time-Reckoning, Oxford University Press, 1920.

TJMummy's "lesson plan"

Another mom's found some MAF resources that I didn't know about. Looks like I'll be doing some updating, thanks Anna!

It is for the preschool crowd so pick and chose what works for you.

Mid-Autumn Festival 2007

Solstice has passed, now the moon is full and it's time for the Mid-Autumn Festival. May you have a wonderful holiday spending time with your family whether it is today or this weekend. Photos of lanterns and happy families are already posted from this year - but I like this snap of a rabbit in with bunny lanterns. In Vietnam there were lanterns and stilt-walkers.

If you have not bought your mooncakes yet, it may be hard to get any now. I don't think we are the last family to love them, next to his photo Joshua Hartshorne describes them as "yummier than they look". Lynn shares her photo of a totally different kind. I will not reveal my favorite, but there are many flavors and styles, and they are not universally well-received even here.

In today's Christian Science Monitor, Connie Wieck discusses her mooncake disposal dilemma ("Like the Christmas fruitcake in the US, Mid-Autumn Festival mooncakes in China are prolific, but not well loved.") and a photo of the largest mooncake I have ever seen accompanies Donna Scaramastra Gorman's article Celebrate fall - the Chinese way ("Chinese people around the world celebrate autumn by gathering together and gazing at the full moon.")

MAF Craft Ideas

Cassia trees and the jade rabbit are on the moon with Chang Er.

Grating cassia bark (or even cinnamon is you can't find cassia) is fun and smells great. The clearest discussion of the difference I know is from Penzey's Spices, it starts "There are two main types of cinnamon."

If you don't mind the whole house smelling of cinnamon, bake rabbit or moon ornaments from cinnamon & applesauce. I don't know which cinnamon ornament recipe I used, but it used more cinnamon and less applesauce than McCormick's ornament recipe. Remember to put a hole in them so you can hang them later. They will retain their scent for years.

Cassia blossoms are yellow. Even the very young can draw a few lines for tree trunks on a paper, crumple yellow tissue paper and glue it down to create their own cassia grove.

Consider simple Mobiles, or even a long string, with different circle containing pictures of Hou Yi, Chang Er and the Jade rabbit. Children can make their own pictures, or color yours.

Origami Rabbits:
For the youngest, consider this origami rabbit face, or select one of Waterfordpress' origami rabbits. For the more dexterous, try these instructions for rabbits at Fishgoth.com or select the Thinkquest rabbit.