LAST week, we celebrated the Mid-Autumn festival. It is a beautiful festival, where people hang lanterns, sip tea and eat mooncakes under the full moon. The romantics among us can almost hear the sweet voice of late Teresa Teng singing, “The moon represents my heart.”
There are a few legends associated with the Mid-Autumn festival. The most prominent one is that of Houyi and Chang’e. As the story goes, once upon a time there were ten suns around the earth. The suns each took turn to illuminate the earth and everything was honky dory, peace and harmony prevailed. One day, for some reason the whole system went awry. All ten suns appeared at the same time. Their collective heat was so powerful that the earth was burning up. To save the earth, the Celestial Emperor commanded Houyi, a skilled archer, to shoot down all but one of the errant suns with his magic bow and arrows.
Upon completion of the task, the Emperor rewarded Houyi with a pill that could give him eternal life. Houyi had meant to share the pill with his beautiful wife Chang’e. As it happened, Peng, one of Houyi’s apprentice archers, heard about the elixir of immortality, decided to forcefully take it during Houyi’s absence. Chang’e knew that she could not fend off the evil minion, swallowed the pill. She took to the air and floated to the moon.
Without the magic potion, Houyi was unable to join his wife. All he could do was to bay at the moon, longing for his beloved. However, the Celestial Emperor took pity on the couple and once a year, on the night of the Mid-Autumn moon, allowed Houyi to visit his wife. According to the myth that is the reason the moon is especially bright and beautiful on that night.
The idea of the world sharing the joy of the couple on this moonlit August evening is so endearing and romantic. However, in Kuching, Sarawak we have a practice on this occasion that makes it even more beautiful. Every year a street in Kuching, Carpenter Street, is turned into a vibrant night food market. On that night the street is festooned with colourful lanterns and decorations. It is such a joyous occasion. What makes it more beautiful is that every year a Malay Gendang (Barrel drum) band would partake in the celebration, playing their traditional musical instruments and singing with gusto. There is even a couple of Malay gentlemen complete with “songkok” (traditional Malay cap), doing the “joget” (traditional dance) merrily.
When I first saw it, I did a double-take. What? Muslim participants in the most Chinese of a festival? Yes! I thought, hurrah for One Malaysia! But sadly, alas only in Sarawak. For from what I read in the newspaper it appears that in some parts of Malaysia if a Muslim is found having dinner with some non-Muslims on their premises of worship he could be hauled up for questioning. I am so proud that here in the fair land of the hornbills, we have a Malay traditional band joining in the fun of the mooncake celebration and in the heartland of the Kuching Chinatown!
Unfortunately, this year the cursed pandemic COVID has put a stop to any in-person celebration. I wonder when will we see the wonderful mooncake celebrations at Carpenter Street again. More importantly, would the Malay Gedang be part of the occasion again? I said this pointedly because at the moment there are signs that religious bigotry is rearing its ugly head. They might be prevented from joining.
The story behind the Mooncake festival, of the ten burning suns, of Chang’e and Houyi the archer is an apt analogy to the predicament that the world is facing now.
In the context of Malaysia, the burning suns that are threatening our delicate multi-racial and multi-cultural world are the bigots, racists and avaricious individuals who for their own selfish end are prepared to sow discontent and create division in our harmonious society. They would fight zealously for a lion share of the economic pie for their own select group rather than work collectively with others to increase the size of the pie for the well being of everyone.
At the world level, the ten burning suns appropriately are like the threat of global warming. In the last decade, we have been inundated with the news that our world might literally be burnt up. When the scientists first alert the world to the dangerous phenomenon of the greenhouse effect it was greeted with scepticism. But over the years this assertion has evolved from what was seen as speculative fiction to scientific fact. The world is beginning to wake up and take notice. There have been a number of world summits to garner support for a more organised and collective effort to thwart what is now considered as the imminent doom.
So who are the modern-day Houyi with the magic bow and arrows to shoot down the errant destructive suns that are scorching up our earth? Who are the modern-day Houyi to arrest the poisonous rise of bigotry and racism that threaten to destroy our society?
I contend that we are all collectively the modern-day Houyi.
The magic bow and arrows are we, the world citizen’ willingness to reign in our self-centred desire and our preparedness to suffer some inconveniences to save the world for the sake of our future generation.
In Malaysia’s context, the magic bow and arrows are the citizens’ courage to join the rank of right-minded people to stand up to the bullies who through their agenda would bring ruination to our beautiful land.
The Malay cultural group who participated in the mooncake festival with their Chinese counterparts has shot an arrow at the menacing scorching sun of intolerance that seems to be hovering over our horizon. Bravo for them!
Whether at the societal or world level we are under no illusion that our task can be any easier than that of Houyi in shooting down the errant suns. But together we must act. May we continue to bask under the silvery glow of the August moon many years to come.