Since ancient times, the Mid-Autumn Festival has had customs such as offering sacrifices to the moon, enjoying the moon, eating Yue Bai, enjoying osmanthus flowers and drinking osmanthus wine, which have spread to this day and lasted for a long time. Information about the Mid-Autumn Festival, welcome to learn from it!
Legend 1
According to legend, one year in ancient times, ten suns appeared in the sky, which made the earth smoke and the sea dried up, making it impossible for ordinary people to live any longer. This incident alarmed a hero named Hou Yi, who climbed to the top of Kunlun Mountain, drew his bow and shot down nine redundant suns in one breath. Hou Yi made great achievements in the world and was respected and loved by the people. Many people with lofty ideals came here to study as a teacher. The treacherous and cunning Peng Meng also mixed in. Soon, Hou Yi married a beautiful and kind wife named Chang 'e. In addition to hunting, Hou Yi spent all his time with his wife, and people envied this beautiful and loving couple. One day, Hou Yi went to Kunlun Mountain to visit friends and seek Tao. He happened to meet the Queen Mother who passed by and asked her for a pack of elixir. It is said that taking this medicine can immediately ascend to heaven and become immortal. However, Hou Yi could not bear to leave his wife, so he had to give the immortal medicine to Chang 'e for the time being. Chang 'e hid the medicine in the treasure box of the dresser, only to be seen by Peng Meng. Three days later, Hou Yi led his followers out hunting, and Peng Meng, who had ulterior motives, pretended to be ill and stayed. Soon after Hou Yi led the crowd away, Peng Meng broke into the backyard of the inner house with a sword in his hand, threatening Chang 'e to hand over the elixir. Chang 'e knew that she was no match for Peng Meng. When she was in a crisis, she made a decisive decision, turned around and opened the treasure box, took out the elixir and swallowed it in one gulp. Chang 'e swallowed the medicine and immediately floated off the ground, rushed out of the window and flew to the sky. Because Chang 'e was concerned about her husband, she flew to the nearest moon and became a fairy. In the evening, when Hou Yi came home, the maids cried about what happened during the day. Hou Yi was both surprised and angry, and drew his sword to kill the villains. Peng Meng had already escaped. I was so angry that Hou Yi beat his chest and screamed. The grief-stricken Hou Yi looked up at the night sky and called for the name of his beloved wife. At this time, he was surprised to find that today's moon is particularly bright and bright, and there is a swaying figure resembling Chang 'e. Hou Yi hurriedly sent someone to Chang 'e's favorite back garden, put on a table sweetmeats, put on her favorite honey-eating fresh fruit, and made a remote sacrifice to cherish Chang 'e in the moon palace. After hearing the news that the Goddess Chang'e flying to the moon became an immortal, people set up incense tables under the moon to pray for good luck and peace to the kind Chang 'e. Since then, the custom of Yue Bai in Mid-Autumn Festival has spread among the people.
Legend 2
The Mid-Autumn Festival was originally a harvest festival. In the agricultural society of China, farmers always celebrate with great events during the harvest season. The reason why this festival has become a festival is also related to the beautiful myth of "the Goddess Chang'e flying to the moon".
Legend has it that in ancient times, there were ten suns in the sky, which appeared in turn to illuminate and bring warmth to the earth. But one day, the ten suns appeared together, and the crops on the earth were burnt. At this time, a marksman named Hou Yi shot down nine of the suns, eliminating the disaster for all the people. So people made him king. After Hou Yi became emperor, he became a tyrant by indulging in debauchery and killing people at will. He wanted to live forever and went to Kunlun Mountain to steal the immortal medicine of the Queen Mother. His wife Chang 'e was afraid that he would live forever and the people would suffer, so she stole the immortal medicine and ate it, so she flew lightly to the Moon Palace herself. Later, every Mid-Autumn Festival in Yue Bai, ordinary women offered sacrifices to Chang 'e in the Moon Palace.
The traditional food of Mid-Autumn Festival is moon cakes, which are round and symbolize reunion, reflecting people's good wishes for family reunion. Eating moon cakes in the Mid-Autumn Festival is said to have started in the Yuan Dynasty. At that time, Zhu Yuanzhang led the Han people to resist the tyranny of the Yuan Dynasty, and agreed to revolt on August 15th, and put notes in the moon cakes to convey the news. The custom of eating moon cakes on Mid-Autumn Festival spread among the people.
Later, Zhu Yuanzhang finally overthrew the Yuan Dynasty and became the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty. Although Manchu people later entered China, people still celebrated this festival symbolizing the overthrow of alien rule.
Legend 3
Tang Minghuang visited the Moon Palace, saying that Tang Minghuang, who is the son of heaven, is very infatuated with Chang 'e. One day he went to the Moon Palace, where he saw a jade rabbit and a group of fairies who could sing and dance.
Zhu Yuanzhang succeeded in overthrowing the Mongols and establishing the Ming Dynasty. It is said among the people that mooncakes were used as a communication tool. Zhu Yuanzhang took the lead in taking justice, stuffed a note in each mooncake stuffing, and called on everyone to revolt in time.
One of the sayings about the origin of Mid-Autumn Festival is that the 15th day of the eighth lunar month happens to be the time when rice is ripe, and all families worship the land god. The Mid-Autumn Festival may be the legacy of the Autumn Newspaper.
On Mid-Autumn Night, in addition to offering sacrifices, there are moon cakes and lanterns to celebrate the festival. Of course, it is Chang 'e who worships in the sky, and some people call her Moon Mother. The old man said that children should not point to the moon with their fingers, or their ears would be cut off.
Today, not many people know the original intention of Mid-Autumn Festival. For the new generation, the most memorable Mid-Autumn Festival is moon cakes and lanterns. Of course, the festival with a full moon in the sky is a good day for people to get together.
Foreign customs
Korean peninsula
Korean is called "(Autumn Festival)" "(Mid-Autumn Festival)" "(Mid-Autumn Festival)" "(Mid-Autumn Festival)". It is a day to sweep graves and offer sacrifices to ancestors with newly harvested grains and fruits. Returning home to visit relatives and giving gifts to relatives and friends is also the custom of celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival. Therefore, the Mid-Autumn Festival on the Korean Peninsula is also called "Korean Thanksgiving Day" in English.
Viet Nam
Mid-Autumn Festival is also a festival for Vietnamese children. That night, the children listened to the legend about Agui, went to see the lion dance, and some even got their father to buy him a lion to dance with and play with their friends. Vietnamese children have to carry carp lanterns to travel and play in the mid-autumn night, which also indicates the meaning of "jumping the dragon gate" when they grow up. [ 15]
Japan
The traditional Mid-Autumn Festival in Japan is called Fifteen Nights, which is also called the Moon of Mid-Autumn Festival. Japanese people eat glutinous rice dumplings while enjoying the moon, which is called "seeing dumplings on the moon". Because this period is the harvest season of various crops, in order to express gratitude to nature, the Japanese will hold various celebrations. Japanese people will also enjoy the moon, which is called "See the Moon". Moon-watching dumplings, Miscanthus, taro and so on will be displayed in the house.
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In addition to offering sacrifices to their ancestors and Yue Bai, Ryukyu people will also offer sacrifices to stoves during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Thank you, Kitchen God, for keeping your home safe within one year. In addition to eating moon cakes, they will eat a kind of food called blown cake, which is a kind of rice cake covered with red beans. In addition, there are tug-of-war and lion dance customs.
The Mid-Autumn Festival is also a family reunion day. People will go home to have dinner and get together, and they will worship their ancestors and thank them for their protection. They also eat certain foods, many of which are related to the moon and reunion. These foods are also sacrifices to the moon. For example, Chinese (Han nationality), Vietnamese (Jing nationality) and Ryukyu people all have the custom of eating moon cakes. Some people in Guangdong and Hong Kong will replace moon cakes with moon cakes. Japanese (Yamato) will eat moon dumplings, and some areas will fry sunny-side-up. Moon cakes, moon cakes, moon dumplings and sunny-side-up are all round, representing the full moon. What Koreans eat is a half-moon shaped pine piece, which symbolizes that the moon turns from deficit to surplus. Ryukyu people eat mooncakes as well as blown cakes. In addition, seasonal fruits and other crops, such as carambola, grapefruit, taro, chestnut, water chestnut, pear and persimmon, are farmers' harvest in autumn in farming society, and they are also food and sacrifices for Mid-Autumn Festival.
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