I know, I know, it should really be a moon catcher, but those aren’t a thing and not all littles can stay up late enough to see the full moon! The Harvest Moon is what the September full moon is called in Europe and parts of North America. In most of Asia it is the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival and while I don’t live in Asia, I find this celebration and it’s related folktales super inspiring. I am also always interested in similarity of celebrations across cultures, and you will find some sort of harvest celebration in just about every place with a temperate climate this time of year, many with similar traditions.
The Mid Autumn Festival is connected to the folktale of Chang’e and the Moon Rabbit. It’s a lovely folktale if you’ve never read it, (this is our favorite version) and like most folktales comes in infinite variations of varying darkness. (Fair warning..) The gist of it is, in the olden days there were 10 suns and they were scorching the earth. An archer shot down all but one so that things could go back to normal. He was rewarded with an immortality potion, but he didn’t take it because he wanted to stay with his wife Chang’e who he loved dearly. A thief broke into their house while he was out and tried to take it, and to save herself Chang’e drank it. She then floated up to the moon. The archer saw her shadow in the moon and realized what had happened and set out mooncakes and fruit to let her know how much he missed her. I like the versions that say they are reunited for one night every Mid-Autumn Festival. In some versions Chang’e brings her pet rabbit with her for company, in others the rabbit was already on the moon. The shadow on the moon called the “man in the moon” in many Western countries is described as a rabbit in the East. In the story the moon rabbit is either pounding mochi, more immortality potion, or medicinal herbs, depending on which version you read. For this project, I decided to focus on medicinal herbs!
Materials:
- moon rabbit template (download below or draw your own!)
- various medicinal herbs pressed
- pale leaves pressed
- a flower press (or a stack of heavy books)
- contact paper (or laminator film)
- glue
- scissors
- exacto knife (optional)
Method:
First collect some medicinal herbs and leaves and press them so they are flat and dry. This can take a few days depending on the press you use– you can place them under a heavy book and do it the old fashioned way or you can use a fancy microwave press and have it done in minutes. Either way works! No one will be consuming these medicinal herbs so you can play pretty fast and loose with that idea– if you like the look/ color of something look it up and there is probably a medncinal use somewhere. Case in point I wanted to use sweet gum leaves because of their plae moon-y color and discovered that there are in fact medicinal uses for sweet gum!
Next download and cut out the rabbit template (below) or draw your own on black paper. If you use the template you’ll need an exacto knife to get the fiddly little details cut out. (Or leave them white if you prefer)
Cut yourself two pieces of contact paper roughly the same size as the moon template. You can trace the circle on the smooth side to use as a guide if you like. Take the backing paper off one of the pieces of contact paper and place in on your table sticky side facing up. Arrange your leaves and herbs to completely cover the circle. Once you are happy with your arrangement, place the second piece of contact paper (sticky side down) on top and press the whole thing as flat as you can/ make sure it’s making decent contact.
Cut contact paper the same size as the circle of the template. Glue the template down on top.
Hang in a window and enjoy!
***NOTE: instead of contact paper you laminate the whole thing if you have a laminator. Alternatively, you could use two pieces of recycled clear plastic and glue.
***NOTE: We used, sweet gum leaves, anise hyssop calendula and boneset, but you really can use anything. Culinary herbs all have medicinal uses. You could also forgo the herbs and just use autumn leaves if you prefer!
