The traditional "Mid-Autumn Festival" is July 15 of the lunar calendar. Originated from Buddhist classics, it is said that Mulian saw her dead mother being pestered by a hungry ghost in the underworld and unable to eat, so she turned to the Buddha for help. The Buddha felt her filial piety and awarded the "Orchid Sutra", allowing her to hold a vegetarian feast for her mother on July 15 every year, which was later passed down and became the tradition of "Orchid Festival".
After this festival was attacked by Taoism, it became the "local official festival" in the festival of three officials (namely, heaven official, land official and water official). The local official was in charge of hell, so people said: This day the leaders had a holiday, and the hell was unguarded, so the dead in the underworld will return to the world along the light of the Milky Way. Therefore, every household puts on river lanterns in order to continue the road of the Milky Way in the world and welcome the ancestors. Therefore, the Mid-Autumn Festival is also called "Ghost Festival".
Extended data:
In the 1950s, the Mid-Autumn Festival was still lively. However, it was later regarded as advocating feudal superstition and gradually marginalized. Traditionally, the Mid-Autumn Festival was run by businesses with official assistance, but by the end of 1950s, most businesses had been transformed, unable to undertake it, and without official assistance, and naturally disappeared.
In the mid-1960s, Beihai Park also held the last Mid-Autumn Festival. There were river lanterns made of eggplant everywhere in Qionghai, which was very spectacular. Soon the Cultural Revolution began. Except Tomb-Sweeping Day, all traditional festivals were banned, and the Mid-Autumn Festival was not spared.
With the pace of reform and opening up, traditional festivals have gradually returned, but the Mid-Autumn Festival has been neglected, because people have two big misunderstandings about it: first, they regard it as a ghost festival and promote backward and superstitious ideas, so no one dares to call for restoration; Secondly, regard it as a festival to remember the dead.
People's Network-China Traditional Culture Mid-Autumn Festival
People's Network-The Embarrassment of the Traditional "Mid-Autumn Festival"
Baidu encyclopedia-Mid-Autumn Festival