落とし穴７８堀：中秋の名月 (Part1)
### Pitfall 78: The Harvest Moon
**The Harvest Moon**
The "Harvest Moon"—or *Chushu no Meigetsu*—is, simply put, a custom of admiring the moon. In modern terms, it’s what we call *Otsukimi* (moon viewing).
If you look into it, there are various origins, but it’s the usual trope of worshiping or fearing the moon that floats in the sky. Nowadays, thanks to scientific progress, it’s no longer an object of worship, but merely a seasonal tradition of autumn.
That’s only natural. The moon is just a satellite orbiting the Earth, a barren wasteland where no human can live. There are no rabbits pounding mochi, and no Princess Kaguya. It’s a reality devoid of dreams or romance, yet the custom of moon viewing has not disappeared.
Isn’t that fine? Even if those things aren’t really there, it’s still a dream, isn’t it?
***
**Side: Yuki**
The season is autumn.
With that in mind, I remembered moon viewing. I thought if there were a similar event in Aulito, it would be better to follow their way of doing things, so I asked Aslin and the others about it, but...
"Otsukimi? Big Brother, what’s that?"
"I don’t really know."
Aslin and Firia just tilted their heads. Well, these two were slaves since they were young, so there’s no way they’d be familiar with such culture.
Thinking that, I turned my gaze toward Labyris, who had been silent. Labyris is quite knowledgeable, so she might know about it. She seemed to be deep in thought, so perhaps she had some idea.
"Hmm... I feel like I’ve heard of something like that somewhere. A night when the moon shines beautifully is said to increase magical power, or make one stronger..."
So there *is* talk like that. There are many such stories on Earth, too. Well, it’s so easy to understand and something you see basically every day, so it’s easy for it to become an object of faith.
"I see. In that case, I’ll go ask someone who seems well-versed. It wouldn’t be good if the meaning was too different from the moon viewing I know and caused a problem."
"...Yes. I think that’s for the best."
And so, we set out to ask if there were any customs or beliefs similar to moon viewing.
"Hey, Big Brother. What kind of thing is this 'moon viewing' you’re talking about?"
On the way, Aslin fired a question at me about the moon viewing.
"Let’s see. It seems there were various things in the past, but nowadays, it’s just a way to kill time during the long autumn nights."
"Kill time?"
"Yeah. When night falls, it’s pitch black, so you can’t work or play outside, right?"
"Yeah."
"But the nights are long, so someone who couldn’t sleep came up with an idea: 'Why don’t we all just relax, eat some food, and drink some alcohol while watching the beautiful moon?'"
"Eh? Then wouldn’t that be moon viewing every day? You’d run out of money!"
"That’s true. So, they set some conditions. Like, only on beautiful nights when there’s a full moon in autumn."
"I see—!"
"There are few days when it’s a full moon, after all. That’s kind to the wallet."
While explaining it in a way that was easy for Aslin and the others to understand, we arrived at...
"Yes? Is that you, Yuki-san?"
We were at the government building, visiting Eris. Among my wives, the others acknowledge that Eris is the most knowledgeable. Originally, Eris had traveled to various places on a sightseeing trip to deepen her knowledge after leaving the elven homeland. She doesn’t have the narrow perspective of the upper classes like royalty, and whenever I want to do something, Eris is the one I ask to ensure there are no cultural issues.
So, I told her about the moon viewing.
"Moon viewing, is it?"
"Yeah. I’m planning to do it with just the family this year, but I was thinking of doing it for all of Weed next year. You know, Weed doesn’t have many farmers, and harvest festivals are basically led by farmers, right?"
"Ah, when you put it that way, I can see some dissatisfaction arising."
"Exactly. So, do you think there would be any problems?"
"Let’s see. There aren’t many places that worship the moon. After all, we have actual gods here."
Ah, right. Those self-proclaimed gods with the "useless" prefix.
"To be honest, there are only light mentions of the moon as part of the faith in those gods, and generally, it’s just a superstition that magical power increases with the phases of the moon. I’ve never heard of a festival or event where people enjoy looking at the moon, but I don’t think anyone would complain about it. In the first place, there’s also the perception that the moon is a sacred thing that brings light to the darkness of night, so I think people would actually be happy about it."
It’s true that since it floats in the night sky every day, treating it as evil or taboo is impossible. Oh, I remember hearing that in the old days, a new moon was a sign that something bad was going to happen.
Well, I got the answers I needed, and it didn’t seem like there would be any problems.
"Then, we’re doing moon viewing today, so look forward to it."
"Yes. I’m looking forward to it."
After saying that, I parted ways with Eris and headed to the supermarket. Naturally, it was to buy ingredients for the moon viewing.
"Hey, Big Brother. What do you eat for moon viewing?"
"What kind of things do you make?"
"Yes, I wonder what we’ll eat?"
The three of them asked with excitement, but I had to give them a disappointing answer.
"Actually, the food for moon viewing isn’t really set in stone."
"Eh? It’s not set?"
"What do you mean by that?"
"But you said 'not really,' so it’s somewhat decided, right?"
"Yeah. First off, there are dumplings. The filling can be sweet bean paste, or you can have them plain. Basically, they’re small, bite-sized round dumplings. The dumplings you eat at this time are called *Tsukimi Dango* (moon-viewing dumplings) or *Tsukimi Mochi*."
"That sounds cute!"
"We’ll make lots of little dumplings!"
"I see. So it’s like you’re imitating the moon?"
"Exactly. As Labyris said, the rule of moon viewing is to eat food or sweets that resemble the moon. Well, after eating the moon-viewing dishes, it’s normal to just snack on whatever you like."
Basically, these kinds of events are just an excuse to eat, drink, and make noise. Like cherry blossom viewing in spring, right? You eat things like *Sakura Mochi* that are unique to the season, but mostly you just eat what you like and have a blast.
Though, I feel like moon viewing is more about enjoying things quietly. That probably depends on the household.
"The sweets can be the moon-viewing dumplings, but is there anything to eat as a regular meal?"
"Let’s see. There are things we eat as a staple, but it’s pretty arbitrary. A lot of them use eggs. Well, it’s a bit of a stretch."
"A stretch?"
"Why is using eggs a stretch?"
"I don’t get it."
If I showed Taiki-kun what I’m about to say and called it "moon-viewing cuisine," he’d probably give a bitter smile and say, "Ah, I see."
"Well, for example, if you drop an egg or a soft-boiled egg into the middle of some udon, doesn’t it look like the moon?"