The origin of the Mid-Autumn festival
Mid-Autumn Festival originated from the custom of autumn worship and Yue Bai in ancient China. "The Book of Rites" contains "The son of heaven is in the spring, the sun is shining, and the moon is in the autumn. Asahi is facing the DPRK, and the evening is in the evening. " "Evening Moon" here means Yue Bai. It took shape in the Han Dynasty. In the Tang Dynasty, the custom of enjoying the moon in the Mid-Autumn Festival became popular and was designated as the Mid-Autumn Festival. Ouyang Zhan (AD 785-about 827) said in "Preface to Poems about Playing with the Moon in Chang 'an": "August is in autumn. The season begins and ends; The fifteenth day is in the night, and the moon is in the clouds. If you take it from heaven, it will be cold and hot, and if you take it from the number of months, it will be round, so it is called Mid-Autumn Festival. " ? On the night of Mid-Autumn Festival, the moonlight is bright. The ancients regarded the full moon as a symbol of reunion, so it was also called the "Reunion Festival". Throughout the ages, people often used "full moon" and "lack of moon" to describe "joys and sorrows". Wanderers who live in other places rely on the moon to express their deep feelings. Poems such as "lifting myself to look, I found that it was moonlight, sinking back again, I thought suddenly of home" by Li Bai, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, "he knows that the dews tonight will be frost, how much brighter the moonlight is at home!" by Du Fu, and "The spring breeze is green in Jiang Nanan, when will the bright moon shine on me" by Wang Anshi in the Song Dynasty are all timeless.
Legend of Mid-Autumn Festival
1, Jade Rabbit?
There is a rabbit in the moon, which is as white as jade, so people call it "Jade Rabbit". It is said that Jade Rabbit kneels on the ground and makes toad pills. If ordinary people take toad pills, they can live forever. ?
There is a beautiful legend about the origin of the Jade Rabbit. In ancient times, there were three immortals who became three poor old people and begged for food from foxes, monkeys and rabbits. Neither the fox nor the monkey wants to give them their own food, but the rabbit has no food, but it tells the old man, "Come and eat me if you are hungry." Say that finish, jump into the fire. The three immortals were deeply moved, so they sent the rabbit's soul to the Guanghan Palace and became the Jade Rabbit. Later, Jade Rabbit accompanied Chang 'e in Guanghan Palace, and pounded the elixir for the people. ?
It is also said that a long time ago, there was a pair of rabbits who practiced for thousands of years and became immortal. They had four lovely daughters, all of whom were pure white and clever. ?
One day, the Jade Emperor summoned the male rabbit, who flew to the Heavenly Palace on auspicious clouds. When it entered the worse gate, it suddenly saw the Taibai Venus leading the heavenly soldiers and holding Chang 'e from the side. The male rabbit expressed deep sympathy for Chang 'e's innocent suffering. He thought, Chang 'e must be very lonely and sad when she is alone in the moon palace. If only she had someone to accompany her, so he thought of his four daughters and ran home at once. ?
When the male rabbit came home, he told the female rabbit about Chang 'e's misfortune and said that he wanted to send a daughter to accompany Chang 'e. The female rabbit can't bear to part with her baby daughter, and the daughter can't bear to leave her parents, and she burst into tears one by one. The male rabbit said earnestly, "if I am locked up alone, will you accompany me?" Chang 'e was tied up in order to save the people. Can we bear her loneliness all the year round? Children, we can't just think of ourselves! " ?
The daughters understood their father's heart and expressed their willingness to go. The male rabbit discussed with the female rabbit, so the youngest daughter was sent to the Moon Palace to accompany Chang 'e!
2. Zhu Yuanzhang and the moon cake uprising?
It is said that eating moon cakes in Mid-Autumn Festival began in Yuan Dynasty. At that time, the broad masses of people in the Central Plains could not bear the cruel rule of the ruling class in the Yuan Dynasty and rebelled against the Yuan Dynasty. Zhu Yuanzhang joined forces with various resistance forces to prepare for the uprising. However, the officers and men of the court searched very closely and it was very difficult to pass on the news. Strategist Liu Bowen came up with a plan and ordered his subordinates to hide the note containing the "August 15th night uprising" into the cake, and then sent someone to send it to the uprising troops in various places separately to inform them to respond to the uprising on August 15th night. On the day of the uprising, all the rebels responded together, such as single spark can start a prairie fire. ?
Soon, Xu Da captured the Yuan Dynasty and the uprising was successful. When the news came, Zhu Yuanzhang was so happy that he quickly gave a message that all the soldiers would have fun with the people in the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival, and he would give the "moon cakes" that were sent in secret when he started fighting that year as seasonal cakes to his ministers. Since then, the production of "moon cakes" has become more and more elaborate, with more varieties, such as discs, and has become a good gift. After the Mid-Autumn Festival, the custom of eating moon cakes spread among the people.
3. the Goddess Chang'e flying to the moon?
According to legend, in ancient times, there were ten days in the sky at the same time, and the crops died in the sun, and the people were in poverty. A hero named Hou Yi was of infinite strength. He sympathized with the suffering people, climbed to the top of Kunlun Mountain, took full advantage of his divine power, opened his bow, shot down more than nine suns in one breath, and ordered the last sun to rise and fall on time for the benefit of the people. ?
Hou Yi was respected and loved by the people, and he 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. ?
Many people with lofty ideals came here to study as a teacher, and pang meng, who had ulterior motives, joined in. ?
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 instantly 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 the villain pang meng, who wanted to steal the elixir and become immortal himself. ?
Three days later, Hou Yi led his followers out to hunt, and pang meng, who had ulterior motives, pretended to be ill and stayed. Soon after Hou Yi led the crowd away, pang 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 pang 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. pang meng fled early. Hou Yi was so angry and heartbroken that he 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 was exceptionally bright and bright, and there was a swaying figure resembling Chang 'e. He chased after the moon desperately, but he chased three steps, the moon retreated three steps, he retreated three steps, and the moon advanced three steps, but he couldn't catch up with him anyway. ?
Hou Yi had no choice but to miss his wife, so he had to send someone to Chang 'e's favorite back garden, put on a table sweetmeats, put on her favorite honey and fresh fruits, and pay a distant sacrifice to Chang 'e who was attached to him 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.