The Mid-Autumn Festival is just around the corner, so it's fun to celebrate and have a family reunion. Then, what kind of Mid-Autumn Festival customs do ethnic minorities have in China?

Tu people's "beating the moon"

Tu people hold clear water in a basin and put the reflection of the moon in a clear water basin. Then, people keep beating the moon in the basin with pebbles, commonly known as "beating the moon".

Tibetan custom of "searching for the moon"

The custom of Tibetan compatriots in some areas of Tibet to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival is "searching for the moon". That night, young men, women and dolls, along the river, followed the bright moon reflected in the water, took all the moon shadows in the surrounding ponds, and then went home to eat moon cakes.

Mongolian custom of chasing the moon

Under the mid-autumn moon, Mongolian men, women and children mounted horses and galloped on the grassland in silver moonlight. The moon rises in the east and falls in the west, but they set their horses and galloped towards the west, closely following the footsteps of the moon, and not only "chasing the moon" until it is under the moon.

Ewenki's custom of offering the moon

Ewenki compatriots celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival with family reunion and offering the moon as the main content. During the festival, they also visit relatives and friends and entertain each other. On the Mid-Autumn Festival night, people gather around the bonfire, singing and dancing until late at night.

the custom of "walking on the moon" of the Dong people in Guangxi

Mid-autumn night approaches, and Lusheng song and dance teams from all the cottages walk all the way to the nearby cottages, where they gather with the villagers to enjoy the moon, compete in songs and dances, and have fun all night.

Guangxi Zhuang people's "offering sacrifices to the moon"

Every year in the middle of August in the summer calendar, or in the mid-autumn night, people set up a sacrificial table in the open air at the end of the village for offering sacrifices and incense burners. On the right side of the table, a branch or bamboo branch about one foot high is planted, which symbolizes the community tree and also serves as a ladder for the moon god to descend to heaven. The activities are divided into: please ask the moon god to come down to earth; God and man sing to each other; Luna divination fortune-telling; Singers sing the mantra song and send the moon god back to heaven in four stages.

In addition, Zhuang people are used to using rice cakes and Yue Bai on bamboo raft houses in the river, while girls put lanterns on the water to measure their happiness all their lives, and sing beautiful folk songs of "Please Moon Gu".

Buyi people steal old melons and cook glutinous rice

Buyi people will wrap the stolen old melons in red cloth and shoot them all the way to families without children. When the owner of this family accepts the old melon, he must treat the delivery person to wine, night snack. It is said that this will bring children to this family. For this stolen melon, the stolen family will not care. On the contrary, they will think that it will bring them a better harvest.

the custom of "stringing the moon" of De 'ang ethnic group

For De 'ang ethnic group in Luxi, Yunnan, whenever the mid-autumn moon is high and bright, a melodious cucurbit will come from time to time, and young men and women will "string the moon" together to pour out their feelings. Some also set an engagement by sending betel nuts and tea through "stringing the moon".

the "August Festival" of the Li nationality

The Li nationality calls the Mid-Autumn Festival "August Festival" or "Tune Festival". At this time, song and dance parties are held in various market towns, and young men and women in each village are led by a "Tune Head" (that is, the team leader) to attend and give each other moon cakes, fragrant cakes, sweet cakes and cakes. At night, they gather by the fire, roast game, drink rice wine and sing duets, while unmarried young people choose this opportunity to find their future partners.

Korean Mid-Autumn Festival custom

Korean people kill cows and chickens, cook delicacies and make festive foods such as cakes and muffins with New Valley. Muffins are steamed rice flour, beaten into sticky dough, then rolled into small pieces, or rolled rice flour into pieces; Use adzuki beans, peas, sesame seeds, perilla seeds, chestnuts, sugar, etc. as stuffing, wrap it into a crescent-shaped water chestnut shape, and steam it in a pot to eat. It is as big as peanuts, tastes like glutinous rice balls, and has a unique flavor. At night, Koreans set up a "moon-watching frame" with wooden poles and pine branches. First, they invited the elderly to explore the moon on the frame, then lit the moon-watching frame, knocked on the long drum and played the flute, and danced together in a "farmhouse dance".

Yue Bai custom of the Dai people

According to Dai legend, the moon was changed by the rock tip of the third son of the Emperor. Yan Jian is a brave and strong young man who led the Dai people to defeat the powerful enemy and was deeply loved by the Dai people. Later, he died unfortunately, turned into the moon, rose to the sky, and continued to shine softly, giving light to the Dai people in the dark.

Every Mid-Autumn Festival, young men bring gunpowder guns to the mountains early in the morning to shoot fire finches and pheasants and hunt holiday game. Girls and daughters-in-law are busy catching fish in lakes and ponds. They are all busy preparing the holiday dinner. The old lady is busy frying glutinous rice and cooking foods of different sizes. On each corner of the four tables, a glutinous rice round cake is placed, and a wick Leng Xiang is inserted into each cake. When the moon rises from the mountain forest and lights Leng Xiang, the whole family, old and young, will begin to "Yue Bai". Later, gunpowder guns were fired at the air to show respect for the hero's rock tip. Finally, the whole family sat around the small square table, tasted food, laughed and enjoyed the moon, and had a good time.

Achang people's special customs

Achang people in lianghe county, Yunnan Province never forget to give their dogs a full meal every Mid-Autumn Festival.

According to legend, in the past, rice grew by itself, and it was as tall as a banana tree, so people formed the habit of being lazy and wasted all the rice they could not eat. One day, Goddess Guanyin saw that people didn't cherish food so much. In a rage, a gust of wind blew and swept away all the millet. Soon, people were crying out in hunger. Guanyin heard the dog barking and thought that it was people who did evil, not dogs, so he threw handfuls of millet at the place where the dog barked, and people drove the dog away to grab the seeds to eat. An old man dissuaded everyone, and sowed a few grains of grain in the fields by the river. From generation to generation, people not only learned to grow millet, but also learned that life depends on hard work. In order not to forget the lessons of the past, but also to repay the kindness of the dog to get the seeds of grain, on the morning of August 15, every household will cook rice with newly harvested rice and feed it to the dog, and then visit relatives and friends and have fun together.

Gaoshan people's custom of holding the ball

According to legend, in ancient times, there was a young couple by the Daqingxi River, the male named Big Tip Brother and the female named Sister Shuihua, who lived by fishing. One day, the sun and the moon suddenly disappeared, the sky was dark, the seedlings withered, the flowers and fruits were not long, and the insects and birds cried. Big tip and splash decided to get the sun and moon back. Under the guidance of the white-haired old woman, they killed the male dragon that swallowed the sun in the deep pool with a golden axe, and killed the female dragon that swallowed the moon with golden scissors. Then they brought palm branches and lifted the sun and the moon into the sky. In order to conquer the dragon, they stayed by the pool forever and became two mountains: the big tip and the splash. This big pool is called "Sun Moon Lake".

Therefore, every Mid-Autumn Festival, Gaoshan compatriots miss the dedication of Dajian and Shuihua, and they all go to the Sun Moon Lake to imitate the couple's colorful balls holding the sun and the moon, so as not to let the colorful balls fall to the ground, so as to make the sun and the moon bright, the weather good and the crops plentiful.

Miao people's custom of jumping on the moon

According to the ancient legend of Miao people, the moon is a loyal, honest, hardworking and brave young man. A beautiful young Shuiqing girl fell in love with the moon after rejecting ninety-nine young men who proposed to her from Jiujiuzhou. After that, she experienced all kinds of hardships made by the sun, and finally came together happily with the moon.

Therefore, in order to show the memory of their happy love, Miao parents should bathe in the moonlight, sing and dance on the Mid-Autumn Festival night for generations, and call it "jumping on the moon". Young men and women look for each other's sweetheart and pour out their affection in the "jumping on the moon", saying that they should be as pure and bright as the water and the moon, and they will always have a good relationship.

In addition, the Axi people in Yunnan also have the custom of jumping on the moon in mid-autumn night.

Hakka Mid-Autumn Festival custom

Hakka people call Mid-Autumn Festival "August Festival" or "August and a half". Every time the Mid-Autumn Festival full moon rises, Hakka people set out moon cakes, peanuts, grapefruit and other fruits in the courtyard, balcony, or the place in front of the house where the moon rises, ready to "worship the moonlight" activities.

After the worship, the whole family enjoyed the moon and ate outside. Appreciating the moon is actually a matter for adults. Children generally don't just sit there and watch, but chase and play in the bright moonlight. This is their paradise. For eating, it is a little particular, often eating these sacrifices to the moon god first. This is the tradition of Chinese sacrificial culture, that is, after the gods enjoy it, the worshippers often divide up the sacrifices, thus ending the whole sacrificial ceremony. In the process of sharing food, on the one hand, we accepted the blessing of the moon god, on the other hand, we fulfilled the traditional sacrificial culture. Hakka people in Meixian say that eating these sacrifices will be more "good", more blessed and more auspicious.

In Meizhou, in addition to the traditional Mid-Autumn Festival food with universal significance, pomelo is also an essential holiday food. There are varieties of golden pomelo (Shatian pomelo), honey pomelo or crystal pomelo. Eating grapefruit in the Mid-Autumn Festival also has a certain meaning, such as cutting grapefruit is called "killing grapefruit", which means exorcism; It is also said that peeling grapefruit skin is "peeling ghost skin", which embodies the desire to exorcise evil spirits and eliminate disasters.

"Stealing Moon Cuisine" in Dong Township, Hunan Province

According to legend, in ancient times, on the Mid-Autumn Festival moonlit night, the fairies in the Moon Palace came down to the lower world and sprinkled nectar all over the world. This nectar is selfless, and people can enjoy fruits and vegetables sprinkled with nectar at this time. The Dong family named this custom "stealing moon dishes".

On the night of Mid-Autumn Festival, Dong girls use flower umbrellas to pick melons and vegetables from their beloved garden, without being regarded as "stealing". They also deliberately shouted: "Hey! Your melons and vegetables have been ripped away by me. Come to my house to eat camellia oleifera! " It turns out that they are passing the red line with the help of the Moon Palace Fairy. If you can pick a melon and fruit, it means that they can have a happy love. Therefore, the beans that grow in pairs have become the object of their picking. Sister-in-law also went to other gardens to "steal moon dishes" that night, but they hoped to get the fattest melon or a handful of fresh and green edamame, because it symbolizes the fatness of children and the health of hairy heads (the homonym of edamame refers to children). And the boys also have the custom of "stealing moon dishes", because they also hope that the moon fairy will give them happiness. However, they can only cook and eat in the wild, and can't take them home.