The word "Mid-Autumn Festival" was first seen in Zhou Li. According to the ancient Chinese calendar, the 15th day of the eighth lunar month is in the middle of August in autumn, so it is called "Mid-Autumn Festival". There are four seasons in a year, and each season is divided into three parts: Meng, Zhong and Ji. Because the second month in autumn is called Mid-Autumn, the Mid-Autumn Festival is also called "Mid-Autumn". By the Wei and Jin Dynasties, there was a record of "telling Shangshu Town that cattle were confused, and mid-autumn evening and the left and right traveling incognito across the river". It was not until the early years of the Tang Dynasty that the Mid-Autumn Festival became a fixed festival. The Book of Tang Taizong records the Mid-Autumn Festival on August 15th. The prevalence of Mid-Autumn Festival began in the Song Dynasty, and by the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it was as famous as New Year's Day and became one of the major festivals in China. This is also the second largest traditional festival in China after the Spring Festival.

According to legend, the ugly woman of the ancient State of Qi had no salt. When she was young, she was devout to Yue Bai. When she grew up, she entered the palace with superior moral character, but she was not favored. Seeing the moon on August 15th, the son of heaven saw her in the moonlight and thought she was beautiful and outstanding. Later, he made her the queen, from which the Mid-Autumn Festival Yue Bai came. In the middle of the moon, Chang 'e is famous for her beauty, so Yue Bai, a young girl, wishes to be "like Chang 'e, and her face is like a bright moon".

With the continuous development of society, the ancients endowed the moon with many legends, from the toad in the moon to the jade rabbit, from Wu Gang to the Goddess Chang'e flying to the moon, and the rich imagination painted a beautiful scene of many-hued for the moon palace world. From the Han Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty, poets and poets chanted about the moon and its events, and the full moon on August 15th became an excellent moment to express their feelings. During the reign of Emperor Taizong of the Northern Song Dynasty, the official officially designated August 15th as the Mid-Autumn Festival, which was intended to be in the middle of Sanqiu, and all the people would celebrate it at that time. On the night of Mid-Autumn Festival, the bright moon is in the sky, and the brightness is scattered all over the earth. People regard the full moon as a symbol of reunion and August 15th as the day for family reunion. Therefore, the Mid-Autumn Festival is also called "Reunion Festival".

Mid-Autumn Festival has become an important festival in a year, and it has a very subtle relationship with the imperial examination. In feudal society of our country, it has always been a major event that the rulers attach great importance to. And the once-every-three-year autumn competition is just scheduled to be held in August. When the scenery is combined with passion, people will regard those who take the exam in senior high school as those who win the laurels in the middle of the month. Every Mid-Autumn Festival, it must be celebrated solemnly, which has become an important custom of the people of the whole society. It has been popular for generations, and the Mid-Autumn Festival has gradually become one of the four major festivals in China (Spring Festival, Qingming Festival, Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival). Thejoyous Mid-Autumn Festival, the third and last festival for the living, was celebrated on the fifteenth day of the eighth moon, around the time of the autumn equinox. Many referred to it simply as the "Fifteenth of the Eighth Moon". In the Western calendar, the day of the festival usually occurred sometime between the second week of September and the second week ofOctober.

This day was also considered a harvest festival since fruits, vegetables and grain had been harvested by this time and food was abundant. With delinquent accounts settled prior to the festival , it was a time for relaxation and celebration. Food offerings were placed on an altar set up in the courtyard. Apples, pears, peaches, grapes, pomegranates , melons, oranges and pomelos might be seen. Special foods for the festival included moon cakes, cooked taro, edible snails from the taro patches or rice paddies cooked with sweet basil, and water caltrope, a type of water chestnut resembling black buffalo horns. Some people insisted that cooked taro be included because at the time of creation, taro was the first food discovered at night in the moonlight. Of all these foods, it could not be omitted from the Mid-Autumn Festival.

The round moon cakes, measuring about three inches in diameter and one and a half inches in thickness, resembled Western fruitcakes in taste and consistency. These cakes were made with melon seeds, lotus seeds, almonds, minced meats, bean paste, orange peels and lard. A golden yolk from a salted duck egg was placed at the center of each cake, and the golden brown crust was decorated with symbols of the festival. Traditionally, thirteen moon cakes were piled in a pyramid to symbolize the thirteen moons of a "complete year," that is, twelve moons plus one intercalary moon.

Origin

The Mid-Autumn Festival is a traditional festivity for both the Han and minority nationalities. The custom of worshipping the moon (called xi yue in Ch inese) can be traced back as far as the ancient Xia and Shang Dynasties (2000 B.C.- 1066 B.C.). In the Zhou Dynasty( 1066 B.C.-22 / kloc-0/ B.C.), people hold ceremonies to greet winter and worship the moon whenever the Mid-Autumn Festival sets in. It becomes very prevalent in the Tang Dynasty(6 18-907 A.D.) that people enjoy and worship the full moon. In the Southern Song Dynasty ( 1 127- 1279 A.D.), however, people send round moon cakes to their relatives as gifts in expression of their best wishes of family reunion. When it becomes dark, they look up at the full silver moon or go sightseeing on lakes to celebrate the festival. Since the Ming ( 1368- 1644 A.D. ) and Qing Dynasties ( 1644- 19 1 1A.D.), the custom of Mid-Autumn Festival celebration becomes unprecedented popular. Together with the celebration there appear some special customs in differ ent parts of the country, such as burning incense, planting Mid-Autumn trees, lighting lanterns on towers and fire dragon dances. However, the custom of playing under the moon is not so popular as it used to be nowadays, but it is not less popular to enjoy the bright silver moon. Whenever the festival sets in, people will look up at the full silver moon, drinking wine to celebrate their happy life or thinking of their relatives and friends far from home, and extending all of their best wishes to them.