Moon Legends

Many youngsters all over the world know of or have seen about the man in the moon. The longest standing European tradition tells that the man was banished there for a crime he did. This covers most Europen cultures including Russia. Christian lore says that he was caught gathering sticks on the sabbath day. Sunday is the day God rested and so called 'the Sabbath day'. It was to be kept holy, therefore any form of work was forbidden. So upon being caught, God sentenced him to death by stoning. A few Germanic cultures say he got busted pinching his neighbours hedgerow to fix his own. The Romans say he was a sheep thief. They all share the common tradition that there was a man serving his punishment on the moon for some crime he comitted.

A lot of people still don't know this but the moon doesn't actually rotate like all the other stars and planets do. This gave rise to the greatly inspirational album "The dark side of the moon" by Pink Floyd. However, depending on which part of the world you live in, the moon faces in a different direction. In New Zealand, I arogantly state that the moon faces upright.

Since the moon faces different directions in different parts of the world, different cultures told different stories about legends of the moon.

Māori Legend:

The Māori saw a Ngaio tree or in English, Mousehole tree. They used to rub the leaves from this tree on their skin as mosquito repelant. The leaves contain a liver toxin (now named Ngaione) which can cause sickness or death to animals.

The legend went that there was a beautiful lady named Rona. She used to get water at night from a stream. One night she fell over and started cursing at the moon, something along the lines of "Damn you Moko face!" (Moko meaning tatoo.) This time, the moon godess heard and swiped her away with anger. So frightened she gripped the top of the Ngaio tree but it was no use. The tree was uprooted and she was sent on her merry way to to the moon where she would spend the rest of eternity, tree in one hand, gourd in the other. This was an awful reminder and warning to those who were tempted to mock or curse at the gods in their haste.

It shares similar aspects and morals to the European belief.

Chinese Legend:

As well as the Māori the Chinese portray a woman on the moon. The legend comes from a story about Chang'e and her flight to the moon. Now there's a lot of stories but this one is my favourite;

Chang'e was a beautiful girl working at the palace in heaven as an attendant for the wife of the Jade Emperor. Houyi was an immortal who was soon to be married to Chang'e. This made the other immortals jealous and so they talked slander about him to the Jade Emperor. Upon their marriage they were banished from heaven and forced to live on Earth. On Earth Houyi became a great archer from hunting.

One day when all of the ten suns aligned, it became so hot that it started to scorch the Earth and all its harvest. Realising Houyi's archery skills, the Emperor of Earth demanded that Houyi shoot down all of suns except one. In exchange the Emperor gave him a pill that granted eternal life but warned that he first needed to prepare his body with cleansing and prayer. Houyi took the pill home and hid it on top of a rafter and so journeyed to fulfill the Emperors bidding. Months passed while his wife, Chang'e was at home alone. One day while cleaning up she notice a beam of light shining from above from one of the rafters. She found the pill and curiously swallowed it. Upon eating it, she discovered that she could fly. For days she would fly about her home with great enjoyment. Not before too long, while she was in joyous flight, her husband arrived home and he realised what had happened. In fear of what she had done she fled out the window and into the sky. Houyi took chase after her not realising he had his bow in hand. He chased her all over the heavens but eventually gave in. With her new powers, she was too fast and kept fleeing all the way to the moon. When she got to the moon she discovered a rabbit was living there. She was so exhausted that she coughed up part of the pill and begged the rabbit to make another so that she could return home to her husband. Saddened for the loss of his wife, Houyi returned to Earth and spent his days meditating and cleansing his body. As of today, the rabbit can be seen from earth still trying to conjure an elixer of everlasting life.

In later years, Houyi built a palace on the one sun that he spared, thus representing Yang (The male principle). Chang'e still resides on the moon with the rabbit. This represents Yin (The female principle).

Funnily enough, there was also mention of this during the Apollo 11 mission between Houston Capcom and the crew just before the first moon landing:

Houston: Among the large headlines concerning Apollo this morning there's one asking that you watch for a lovely girl with a big rabbit. An ancient legend says a beautiful Chinese girl called Chang-o has been living there for 4000 years. It seems she was banished to the moon because she stole the pill for immortality from her husband. You might also look for her companion, a large Chinese rabbit, who is easy to spot since he is only standing on his hind feet in the shade of a cinnamon tree. The name of the rabbit is not recorded.

Collins: Okay, we'll keep a close eye for the bunny girl.

Japanese Legend:

This is the story of how the bunny got there in the first place.

It was told as a story from the Buddha to his followers. The rabbit was the Buddha himself, but in a previous life. And so it was said that the rabbit posessed a great and deep wisdom that would surely lead him to enlightenment. The rabbit had three friends, a monkey, a fox and an otter. In the afternoons they spent their time alone, going about their business but in the evenings they gathered to hear the rabbits wisdom.

On the day of the full moon, fasting day, the rabbit proposed that they gather their food together and distribute it amongst the hungry. His friends agreed. With great agility, the monkey climbed trees and gathered mangos. The fox collected any leftovers farmers left behind on their fields. Being a good swimmer, the otter caught an abundance of fish from the river. This was perfect but the rabbit only ate grass all his life. It was the only food he knew how to harvest. He meditated on this dilema as he knew that no human would want to eat grass. He came to a solution. "If someone hungry comes to beg for food, I will offer them my body. I'm sure lots of people would love to eat rabbit meat!" Then he told his friends what he decided.

The king in the Heavens above was listening. He was surprised and curious about their sincerity so he came to Earth disguised as a lowly beggar. He visited each of them pleading for food. The monkey, fox and otter generously offered not only some, but all that they had gathered to the poor man. This made the king very pleased. He then went to the rabbit.

"Might you have some food for a poor beggar?" The king asked. "Certainly," said the rabbit. "I'll give you something delicious, but first you'll need to make a fire." With his great powers the king waved his arms and summoned a roaring fire right before the rabbits eyes. Without hesitation, the rabbit jumped into the fire but strangely the rabbit didn't cook. "Your fire is powerful, but it's not even hot enough to singe a single strand of my hair!" the rabbit exclaimed.

"Wise rabbit, I am no beggar. I come from heaven to test your sincerity. Doing good deeds is important and yours will not be forgotten." The King of heaven then wringed a mountain of its ink and used it to paint a rabbit on the moon as a memorial to the rabbit's generosity for all generations to see.

This tale most likely comes from Konjaku Monogatarishū (Anthology of Tales from the Past). It's a Japanese collection of more than a thousand tales written during the late Heian Period (794-1185). The numerous books contain tales from India, China and Japan.

This is why Eastern cultures picture a rabbit in the moon, not a man.