In our impression, eating mooncakes and admiring the moon seem to have always been a Mid-Autumn Festival tradition. So, in addition to moon cakes, what other traditional customs are there during the Mid-Autumn Festival? Why not take a look

? What are the traditional customs during the Mid-Autumn Festival:?

?1. Worshiping the moon

Our people have had the custom of "autumn twilight and evening moon" in ancient times. On the eve of the moon, worship the moon god. By the Zhou Dynasty, every Mid-Autumn Festival night would be held to welcome the cold and worship the moon. Set up a large incense table and place mooncakes, watermelons, apples, dates, plums, grapes and other offerings. Mooncakes and watermelons are absolutely indispensable. The watermelon should also be cut into lotus shapes. Under the moon, the moon statue is placed in the direction of the moon, with red candles burning high. The whole family worships the moon in turn, and then the housewife cuts the reunion moon cakes. The person who cuts the food must calculate in advance how many people are in the family. Those who are at home and those who are out of town must be counted together. They cannot cut more or less, and the sizes must be the same.

?2. Lantern viewing

Since ancient times, Chinese folk have had the custom of holding lantern shows during the Mid-Autumn Festival. It is recorded in "Old Martial Arts" of the Northern Song Dynasty that during the Mid-Autumn Festival, there was an activity of putting "a little red" lantern into the river to float and play. Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the custom of the Mid-Autumn Festival has become more popular. Customs such as planting Mid-Autumn trees and setting off sky lanterns have been formed in many places.

There are not only many kinds of lanterns, but they are also often decorated with paper cutting, calligraphy and painting, poems and other decorations. They are a display of my country's traditional folk handicrafts. In Guangzhou, Hong Kong and other places, the "Tree Mid-Autumn Festival" activity means putting up colored lanterns high. The bright lanterns not only add to the festive atmosphere, but also become a unique landscape of the city. In Nanning, Guangxi, in addition to making various lanterns tied with paper and bamboo for children to play with, there are also very simple sleeve lanterns, pumpkin lanterns, and orange lanterns. The so-called "sky lanterns" are Kongming lanterns, which are lanterns made of paper. A candle is lit under the lantern, and the heat rises to make the lantern fly into the air, attracting people to laugh and chase.

Lamps symbolize hope. Lantern viewing is very popular in traditional Chinese festivals, which shows the Chinese nation’s optimism about life and expectations for the future.

?3. Burning lanterns

On the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, the sky is as clear as water and the moon is as bright as a mirror. It can be said to be a beautiful sight on a good day. However, people are not satisfied with this, so they have burning lanterns. The custom of aiding the moonlight.

The moonlight is bright during the Mid-Autumn Festival, and people will go out. At that time, they held lanterns when traveling, so there was a custom of burning lanterns to help the moonlight. "Randeng" originated from the Taoist "Three Yuan Theory": the fifteenth day of the first lunar month is the Shangyuan Festival, the fifteenth day of July is the Zhongyuan Festival, and the fifteenth day of October is the Xiayuan Festival. The three officials in charge of the upper, middle and lower elements are "Heaven", "Earth" and "Human" respectively. The Heavenly Official is happy, so lanterns must be lit on the Lantern Festival. The practice of lighting lanterns and setting fires during the Lantern Festival has been around since the Han Dynasty. By the Tang Dynasty, it had become a custom. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, people also had the custom of lighting lanterns during the Mid-Autumn Festival.

?4. Appreciate osmanthus? Drink osmanthus wine

Appreciating osmanthus in the Mid-Autumn Festival is a traditional custom that has existed since ancient times. The good meaning behind the osmanthus is not only noble and beautiful, but also related to official career. The economic link is to take the goodwill of "winning the laurels in the toad palace" in order to succeed in the examination. Appreciating sweet-scented osmanthus during the Mid-Autumn Festival heralds people’s pursuit and praise of sweet life. In ancient times, people regarded osmanthus and its fruits as symbols of nobility, beauty, and auspiciousness. Therefore, enjoying osmanthus flowers and drinking osmanthus wine during the Mid-Autumn Festival is also a custom of the Mid-Autumn Festival and a beautiful scenery.

Drinking osmanthus wine. On the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, people look up at the osmanthus in the middle of the moon, smell the fragrance of osmanthus, drink a cup of osmanthus honey wine, and celebrate the sweetness of the family and gather together, which has become a symbol of the festival. A beautiful enjoyment. Osmanthus is not only for viewing, but also has food value. In Qu Yuan's "Nine Songs", there are poems such as "In support of Ji's fight, drink cinnamon pulp" and "Lay osmanthus wine and drink pepper pulp". It can be seen that the age of drinking osmanthus and making wine in our country is quite long ago.

5. Tasting crabs

This is a custom in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. The Mid-Autumn Festival is the season when "crab paste is fat and rice flowers are fragrant". A full moon, a pot of sake, a few old friends, and a plate of hairy crabs, the taste of which is fascinating. Back to the secular life: But today's hairy crabs must be expensive enough, you might as well save them for tomorrow on the fifteenth day of the moon and sixteen yuan.

6. Eating snails

In the "Shunde County Chronicle" during the Xianfeng period of the Qing Dynasty, there is a record: "Looking at the sun in August, people eat taro and snails." Many people in Guangdong eat snails during the Mid-Autumn Festival. The final food of the Mid-Autumn Festival. Firstly, people believe that eating snails can improve eyesight. It is said that eating snails on August 15th can make the eyes "as bright as the autumn moon". Secondly, the fatness of the snails also means beauty. Thirdly, the snails have shells. Peeling the shell and eating meat is a sign of "food heart (new) transit", in order to remove evil spirits and bad luck.

On the other hand, the word "snail" has the same pronunciation as the Cantonese word "Luo", and snail means "to eat in the field". As the saying goes, "If you don't have food, ask for snail (Luo)". Eating snails on the Mid-Autumn Festival night, It means a good harvest and represents a good harvest.

7. Burning the pagoda

Burning the pagoda on the Mid-Autumn Festival night. The tower height ranges from 1 to 3 meters, and is mostly built with broken tiles. Large towers are also built with bricks, accounting for about 1/4 of the tower height, and then stacked tiles, leaving a The tower mouth is used for putting fuel. On the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, fires are lit, and the fuel includes wood, bamboo, chaff, etc. When the fire is strong, rosin powder is poured on it to ignite the flames, which is very spectacular.

There are also folk rules for burning pagodas. Whoever burns the pagoda until the whole house is red will win. The one who fails to do so or collapses during the burning process will lose. The winner will be given colorful flags and bonuses by the host. or prizes.

It is said that the burning of pagodas was also the origin of the Mid-Autumn Festival uprising when the Han people resisted the brutal rulers in the late Yuan Dynasty and used fire as a signal.

Modern people use "burning pagodas" to pray for abundant rice, a prosperous home, and the safety of relatives and friends. Jiangxi, Guangzhou and other places still follow this custom.

?8. Watching the Tide

The custom of watching the tide in the Mid-Autumn Festival has been around for a long time. Su Shi’s "Watching the Tide on August 15th": "We must know that the Jade Rabbit is very round and has been frosted The wind is cold in September. Please close the door and watch the night tide. "In ancient times, in Zhejiang, in addition to enjoying the moon during the Mid-Autumn Festival, watching the tide was another Mid-Autumn event. To this day, tide watching in Qiantang is still the most distinctive folk activity during the Mid-Autumn Festival in Zhejiang.

In addition, many special Mid-Autumn Festival customs have been formed in some places. In addition to appreciating the moon, offering sacrifices to the moon, and eating moon cakes, there are also fire dragon dances in Hong Kong, pagodas in Anhui, tree Mid-Autumn Festival in Guangzhou, burning pagodas in Jinjiang, watching the moon at Shihu Lake in Suzhou, moon worship by the Dai people, and moon dancing by the Miao people. , Dong people’s moon-stealing vegetables, Gaoshan people’s ball dance, etc.