A Lahu"s Belief

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What is on the MoonA Lahu"s Belief
The Moon is the nearest star in orbit to the earth when compared to other stars. Human beings were interested in this star for as long as the history of mankind.
The Moon has an eminent feature in that humans can see it clearly with their own eyes.
on a full Moon day, it is larger and brighter at night than any other stars,illuminating the earth. The size and the brightness of the Moon decreases gradually day by day until the darkness moves in to replace the bright light. Then, the Moon re-appears gradually and increases its size and brightness until becoming afull Moon once again. Human beings have taken advantage of this phenomenon, from one full moon to the next which lasts about 30 days for each cycle, tocreate A lunar calendar.
on the full moon day, humans in the world can see it more clearly than any other star. It noticed carefully,we can see some dark shadow on the moon. People in different cultures and different societies have different beliefs about the moon.
In 1994, I was in a remote tribal community on the mountain in Mae Hongson,whic was very naive to civilization and technology. On one full moon day after the class session,the evening. In such an environment,the moon was so ravishing and gleaming. To be in congruent whith the atmosphere, I started teaching them A song about the moon. This song is included in the primary education curriculum. The verse of the song is:
Looking up in the sky
the moon"s bright,I see
Looking up in the sky
A rabbit"s in there clearly
this is told in the tale is it true?
Please tell me
on that beautiful moon
is the rabbit in there,really?
As soon as I finished the song, one of the children who could understant Thai language better than others argued with me,saying "tercher there is no rabbit in the moon. Mommy told me there is "Mae ku jae " up there."
I was curious to find out What is " Mae ku jae." No one, however,was able to explain to me What it was. They just said Mae ku jae was in the jungle not far away from the school.
The following day,I asked the children to take me to see What Mae ku jae really was. They took me to A place quite A distance from the school and pointed to " Mae ku jae ". I was sort of tired and sweating. In fact, the thing they pointed at was actuaally a tree, called by Thai Yai(an ethnic group of Thai ) as " mai hung " or What is called by central Thai People as banyan tree!!!
In addition, the elderly People told me that the ancestors of the Red Lahu believed there was a huge banyan tree and a magic well on the moon. Whoever had an opportunity to drink the water, would become immortal. The only animals that might have a chance to drink the water were eagles or falcons becuse they could fly up to the ceiling of the sky ( right now they have to give in to Human beings as we can build an airplane to fly much higher and faster ).
I was so tired from going to see Mae ku jae in the jungle and got a fever after coming back. after taking two tablets of paracetamol, I laid down in the teacher"s residence and took A glance at the moon which was still very bright outside,thinking " if only I could drink that magic water on the moon!!!". however,What I see in the moon is still a rabbit.
I can"t held thinking about the day, lovely children running in front of me excitedly to show me the banyan tree. Taking into account the food They eat of which the main components are salt, chilli, and vegetables, and also taking into account their interesting culture,the picture of a rabbit on the moon began to fade out. The picture of the banyan tree on the moon has now become prominent and has replaced the picture of the rabbit.
Have you tried staring at the moon closely on the full moon day? What kind of picture is it on that shadow?