First, the Mid-Autumn Festival gifts and the origin of the Mid-Autumn Festival
According to historical records, the word "Mid-Autumn Festival" first appeared in the book "Zhou Li", and in the Zhou Dynasty, there was an activity of "Mid-Autumn Night to welcome the cold". However, as a festival, Mid-Autumn Festival prevailed in the Tang Dynasty, and became one of the major festivals in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, along with New Year's Day. Since the Ming Dynasty, there have been many accounts about eating moon cakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival. "Miscellaneous Notes of Wan Department" said that every Mid-Autumn Festival, people make cakes of different sizes and give them to each other, which are called "moon cakes". Mooncakes sold in market shops are often filled with fruits, which are of different names. Some mooncakes cost hundreds of dollars each. It is also said in "Pleasure of Xi Chao" that August 15th is called Mid-Autumn Festival, and people give mooncakes to each other as gifts to get the meaning of reunion.
There is also a saying that the reason why Mid-Autumn Festival gifts become popular is related to the ancient imperial examinations. In China's feudal society, it has always been a major event that the rulers attach great importance to. And once every three years, the autumn festival is held in August of the lunar calendar. At this time, when the moon is full in Gui Xiang, people will regard those who take the exam for senior high school as those who won the laurels in the middle of the month. Therefore, every Mid-Autumn Festival, a grand celebration will be held, which has become an important custom of the whole society, and giving gifts to high school students in that year has also become one of the forms of celebration. Whether it is sending cakes or other things, everyone is trying to express their good wishes. It can be said that the Mid-Autumn Festival gift-giving just conforms to the trend at that time and has been popular since then.
The legend of Mid-Autumn Festival is also very rich, and the fairy tales of the Goddess Chang'e flying to the moon, Wu Gang cutting Guangxi and Jade Rabbit smashing medicine have been circulating. According to legend, Yi got the elixir from the Queen Mother of the West and gave it to Chang 'e for safekeeping. When Feng Meng heard about it, he went to steal it and hurt Chang 'e. In desperation, Chang 'e swallowed the elixir and flew to the sky, leaving it in the Moon Palace. It was unbearable to be lonely in the Guanghan Palace, so he urged WU GANG to cut down osmanthus trees and let Yutu pound medicine, so as to return to the world and reunite with Yi as soon as possible.
The Mid-Autumn Festival has always been a sensational day for literati. They miss their hometown for the moon, leaving behind the eternal quatrains of "lifting myself to look, I found that it was moonlight, sinking back again, I thought suddenly of home" and "I wish people a long time, and thousands of miles away." Across the Qian Shan, every corner of the world, everyone can see the Mid-Autumn Moon together.
Second, moon cakes are the main carrier of Mid-Autumn Festival.
At first, moon cakes were not called moon cakes, but called "small cakes" or "moon groups". The term "moon cake" first appeared in the Southern Song Dynasty, and a man named Wu Zimu first mentioned this word in the book Dream of Liang Lu. Then there is the original moon cake, which is not round, but rhombic. Besides, moon cakes in this period are not only eaten in the Mid-Autumn Festival, but actually more like a daily snack. By the Ming Dynasty, the custom of eating moon cakes in the Mid-Autumn Festival had become very popular, and the moon cakes at this time had become a familiar circle, and they were only eaten in the Mid-Autumn Festival.
In today's highly developed business, people have more choices. The earliest change reflected in moon cakes is the luxurious commercial packaging. Careful people can find that the shell of moon cakes has been upgraded from paper boxes and iron boxes to red wooden boxes and even crystal boxes, and it has also been artificially equipped with a group of attendants-tying gifts. It's just that many people think that this sky-high moon cake does not represent the pure traditional Mid-Autumn Festival culture.
Nowadays, many people position the concept of Mid-Autumn Festival gift-giving as the most important thing, such as spending more time with their families, simply eating, drinking tea and enjoying the moon, and the family sitting around chatting and talking about intimate words. Gifts are not the most important thing, but it is the simplest meaning of holidays to make their families feel a caring and affectionate.
Third, the significance of Mid-Autumn Festival gifts
As a traditional festival, the Mid-Autumn Festival is a good opportunity to strengthen kinship ties and enhance feelings, and it is a big gift festival in a year, second only to the New Year Festival. Every Mid-Autumn Festival, relatives and friends always contact each other to give gifts to enhance communication and affection. Gifts on Mid-Autumn Festival, called celebrating the festival, sending the festival and chasing the festival, are also called sending-off gifts, which often start to be held several days before the festival or even at the beginning of the month, and feed each other, reflecting the etiquette culture of China.
The implication of eating moon cakes in Mid-Autumn Festival is reunion, which reflects people's good wishes for family reunion. After the Mid-Autumn Festival, the whole family sat around and shared mooncakes, which gradually formed the implication that mooncakes represented family reunion. According to legend, eating moon cakes in Mid-Autumn Festival began in the Yuan Dynasty, which was related to Zhu Yuanzhang's uprising with various resistance forces.
Eating moon cakes in Mid-Autumn Festival, like eating zongzi in Dragon Boat Festival and glutinous rice balls in Lantern Festival, is a traditional folk custom in China. Every Mid-Autumn Festival, when the bright moon is in the sky, the whole family will get together, enjoy cakes and enjoy the moon, talk about everything and enjoy family happiness. Moon cakes, also known as Hu cakes, palace cakes, small cakes, moon cakes, reunion cakes, etc., are offerings to worship the moon god in the ancient Mid-Autumn Festival, and the custom of eating moon cakes has been formed since it was handed down. Mooncakes symbolize reunion and are a must-eat item in Mid-Autumn Festival. On the night of the festival, people also like to eat some reunion fruits such as watermelons and fruits, and wish their families a happy, sweet and safe life.
Fourth, China is a country that pays special attention to etiquette. In the Mid-Autumn Festival, gifts are given to honor elders or friends and relatives, and many of them pay attention to it! We should abide by the Mid-Autumn Festival gift-giving culture handed down by the older generation. Because of a little carelessness, it is not good to "do bad things with good intentions" and make relatives and elders unhappy. Therefore, the Mid-Autumn Festival gifts can not be arbitrary.
Mid-Autumn Festival gifts are double, not single.
Since it is a traditional festival, there are naturally traditional customs. Remember to "give a pair but not a bill" when giving gifts during the Mid-Autumn Festival. That is to say, you can't send one moon cake, and even number of moon cakes is ok in the gift box. You can't just send one bottle of wine, which will be impolite and disrespectful to each other. Because on such a festive festival as Mid-Autumn Festival, "yes man" is emphasized. You can send Mid-Autumn Festival gifts in even numbers of 2, 6 and 8, which is auspicious.
Mid-Autumn Festival gift box, not bulk.
China people attach no less importance to Mid-Autumn Festival than Dragon Boat Festival and Spring Festival. So whether it's sending moon cakes or wine, or fruit, everyone sends them in the form of gift boxes. First of all, the gift box represents exquisite and high-grade, even if it is ordinary moon cakes or fruits, the gift box will naturally go up after some packaging. In this way, the other party will feel that they are highly valued and feel happier inside. The Mid-Autumn Festival in bulk is a bit too casual. Anyway, it's a picture of everyone being happy. Send a gift box if you can!
However, the Mid-Autumn Festival also has a lot of gifts with bad meanings or homophones to avoid. For example, clocks and watches spoil the scenery, giving wallets will take away wealth, the homonym of "shoes" and "evil" of shoes is unlucky, and the homonym of "umbrella" and "scattered" means scattered and separated. The homonym of "Li" and "Li" stands for separation. In short, it is to avoid some gifts with bad homophonic meanings.
Written at the end, no matter what gifts you give during the Mid-Autumn Festival, you should take time to spend with your family. It is most important that the family is together, round and round, and safe. Zhuangzi said in "Knowing the North Tour": "If there is a gap between heaven and earth, it will be sudden." Life is alive, time is fleeting, and one day you will understand that family talent is the most precious wealth!