1, WU GANG laurel

According to legend, the osmanthus tree in front of the Guanghan Palace on the moon grows luxuriantly, with a height of more than 500 feet. There is a person who often cuts it down, but after each cut, the cut place is closed immediately.

For thousands of years, this laurel tree can never be cut down. It is said that this tree-chopping man named WU GANG, a native of Xihe, Han Dynasty, once followed the immortal to the heaven, but when he made a mistake, the immortal relegated him to the Moon Palace, and did this kind of futile drudgery every day to show his punishment. In Li Bai's poems, there is a record that "if you want to be in the middle of the moon, you will pay for the cold."

2. Yuan Zhang and the moon cake uprising.

It is said that moon cakes were eaten in the Mid-Autumn Festival in the Yuan Dynasty. At that time, the vast majority of the people in the Central Plains could not stand the cruel rule of the ruling class in the Yuan Dynasty and rebelled against the Yuan Dynasty. Zhu Yuanzhang combined with various resistance forces to prepare for the uprising.

However, officials and soldiers of the North Korean court conducted a very rigorous search and it was difficult to transmit information. Liu Bowen, a military strategist, came up with a plan, ordered his subordinates to hide the note of "Uprising on the night of August 15th" in a cake, and then sent someone to send it to the uprising troops in various places to inform them of the reaction of the uprising on the night of August 15th. On the day of the uprising, various rebel forces responded together, such as single spark can start a prairie fire.

Soon, Xu Da occupied the Yuan Dynasty, and the uprising was successful. When the news came, Zhu Yuanzhang was very happy and hurriedly passed on the information of "moon cakes" to verbal instructions. In the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival, all soldiers and civilians will have a good time together, and moon cakes used to secretly convey information when the troops leave will be given to ministers as holiday cakes. Since then, "moon cakes" have become more exquisite and diverse, and there are big moon cakes like disks, which have become excellent gifts. Since then, the custom of eating moon cakes on Mid-Autumn Festival has spread among people.

Mid-Autumn Festival custom:

1, enjoy the moon

There has been a custom of enjoying the moon in China since ancient times, and it is recorded in the Book of Rites that "the moon falls at dusk in autumn", that is, worshipping the moon god. In the Zhou dynasty, every mid-autumn night was held to welcome the cold and offer sacrifices to the moon. Set up a big incense table and put on seasonal fruits such as moon cakes, watermelons, apples, plums and grapes, among which moon cakes and watermelons are absolutely indispensable.

2. Eat moon cakes

As the saying goes, "August 15th is a full moon, and Mid-Autumn moon cakes are sweet and fragrant". Moon cakes were originally used as sacrifices to the moon god. The word "moon cakes" first appeared in Wu Zimu's Dream of the Liang Lu in the Southern Song Dynasty. At that time, it was just a cake-shaped food like Linghua cake. Later, people gradually combined the Mid-Autumn Festival with mooncake tasting, which symbolizes family reunion.

Extended data

Origin of Mid-Autumn Festival:

It originated from ancient people's worship of the moon and the custom of singing and dancing under the moon to find a spouse. The second is the custom of worshipping the land god in ancient autumn.

As early as thousands of years ago, our people had the custom of "autumn dusk and evening moon". The evening moon is to worship the moon god. In the Zhou dynasty, every mid-autumn night was held to welcome the cold and offer sacrifices to the moon.

Set up a big incense table, and put moon cakes, watermelons, apples, red dates, plums, grapes and other sacrifices, among which moon cakes and watermelons are absolutely indispensable. Watermelon should be cut into lotus shapes. Under the moon, put the moon statue in the direction of the moon, the red candle burns high, and the whole family worships the moon in turn.

Baidu Encyclopedia-Mid-Autumn Festival