During the Mid-Autumn Festival, people's main activities are enjoying the moon and eating moon cakes.

Appreciating the Moon

On the Mid-Autumn Festival, China has had the custom of appreciating the Moon since ancient times. 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. Watermelon has to be cut into lotus shapes.

In the Tang Dynasty, it was quite popular to enjoy and play with the moon in the Mid-Autumn Festival. In the Song Dynasty, the Mid-Autumn Festival was more popular to enjoy the moon. According to "Dream of Tokyo", "On the Mid-Autumn Night, your family decorated the Taiwan Pavilion, and the people competed for the restaurant to play with the moon". On this day, all the shops and restaurants in Beijing have to redecorate their facades, tie silk on the archway, sell fresh fruits and refined food, and the night market is very lively. Many people board the balcony, and some rich families enjoy the moon on their own pavilions, and arrange food or family banquets to reunite their children.

After the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the custom of enjoying the moon in the Mid-Autumn Festival remained the same. In many places, special customs such as burning incense, planting Mid-Autumn Festival trees, lighting tower lanterns, putting sky lanterns, walking on the moon and dancing dragon were formed.

Eating moon cakes

People in urban and rural areas in China have the custom of eating moon cakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival. As the saying goes, "August 15th is full, and the Mid-Autumn Festival 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.

moon cakes were originally made at home, and Yuan Mei in Qing Dynasty recorded the practice of moon cakes in the Sui Garden Food List. In modern times, with workshops specializing in making moon cakes, the production of moon cakes has become more and more elaborate, with exquisite fillings and beautiful appearance. There are also various exquisite patterns printed on the outside of moon cakes, such as "the Goddess Chang'e flying to the moon", "jathyapple on the Milky Way" and "Moon on Three Tans". It has become the wish of people all over the world to show people's reunion with the full moon, to show people's eternal life with the full moon cake, to pin their thoughts on their hometown and their loved ones, and to pray for a bumper harvest and happiness. Mooncakes are also used as gifts to send relatives and friends and to connect feelings.

Other Mid-Autumn Festival customs

China has a vast geographical area, a large population and different customs, and the Mid-Autumn Festival customs are also varied with strong local characteristics.

In Pucheng, Fujian, women have to cross Nanpu Bridge during the Mid-Autumn Festival to live longer. In Jianning, hanging lanterns in mid-autumn night is a good omen for asking for children from the moon palace. People in Shanghang County celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival, and most of their children are invited to visit their parents when they are in Yue Bai. When Longyan people eat moon cakes, parents will dig out round cakes with a diameter of two or three inches in the center for their elders to eat, which means that the secret can't be told to the younger generation. This custom stems from the legend that moon cakes contain anti-yuan killing messages. Before the Mid-Autumn Festival in Jinmen, Yue Bai should pay homage to God.

There is a custom of Yue Bai in the Mid-Autumn Festival in Chaoshan, Guangdong Province, mainly for women and children. There is a common saying that "men don't have a full moon, and women don't sacrifice stoves". In the evening, when the bright moon rises, women set up a case in the yard and on the balcony to pray. Silver candles are burning high, cigarettes are lingering, and the table is filled with good fruits and cakes as a sacrifice. There is also the custom of eating taro in the Mid-Autumn Festival in the local area. There is a common saying in Chaoshan: "The river is opposite to the mouth, and the taro is eaten." In August, it is the harvest season of taro, and farmers are used to worshipping their ancestors with taro. This is certainly related to farming, but there is also a popular folk legend: in 1279, Mongolian nobles destroyed the Southern Song Dynasty and established the Yuan Dynasty, which brutally ruled the Han people. Ma Fa defended Chaozhou against Yuan Dynasty. After the city was broken, the people were massacred. In order not to forget the suffering of Hu people's rule, later generations took taro as a homonym with "Hu tou" and it looked like a human head, so as to pay homage to their ancestors, which has been passed down from generation to generation and still exists today.

burning towers in mid-autumn night is also popular in some places. Towers vary in height from 1 to 3 meters, and are made of broken tiles. Large towers are made of bricks, accounting for about 1/4 of the tower height, and then stacked with tiles, leaving a tower mouth at the top for fuel delivery. In the Mid-Autumn Festival night, it will be ignited and burned. The fuel is wood, bamboo, chaff, etc. When the fire is prosperous, rosin powder will be poured to cheer, which is very spectacular. There are also folk regulations for burning pagodas. Whoever burns the pagodas to a full house will win, and those who fail or collapse during the burning process will lose. The winner will be awarded colorful flags, bonuses or prizes by the host. It is said that burning the tower was also the origin of the Han people's rebellion against the cruel rulers at the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the Mid-Autumn Uprising.

The folk customs in the south of the Yangtze River are also varied during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Nanjing people love to eat moon cakes in the Mid-Autumn Festival, and they must eat osmanthus duck, a famous Jinling dish. "Sweet-scented osmanthus duck" should be in the market when cinnamon is fragrant, fat but not greasy, and delicious. After drinking, you must eat a small piece of sugar taro and pour it with cinnamon pulp. The beauty goes without saying. "Cinnamon pulp" was named after Qu Yuan's "Songs of Chu, Shaosi Ming" and "Helping the North to close its doors and drink cinnamon pulp". Cinnamomum cassia pulp, a sweet osmanthus, was picked around the Mid-Autumn Festival and pickled with sugar and sour plum. Women in the south of the Yangtze River are skillful in turning the chanting in poems into delicacies on the table. Nanjing people enjoy the moon with their families, which is called "celebrating reunion", group sitting and drinking is called "full moon", and traveling in the market is called "walking on the moon".

In the early Ming Dynasty, there was a Moon Tower and a Moon Bridge in Nanjing. In the Qing Dynasty, a Moon Tower was built under Lion Mountain, all of which were for people to enjoy the moon, especially those who played the Moon Bridge. When the bright moon is hanging high, people go to the moon tower and play the moon bridge together, taking pleasure in seeing the jade rabbit. "Playing Moon Bridge" is located in Qinhuai River, Confucius Temple, next to the famous prostitute Ma Xianglan's mansion. On this night, scholars gathered at the bridge to play flute and sing, reminiscing about Niuzhu's playing with the moon and writing poems to the moon, so it was called Playing Moon Bridge. After the death of the Ming Dynasty, it gradually declined, and later generations had a poem: "The romantic southern song has been sold out, leaving the west wind with a long slab bridge, but I remember sitting on the Jade Man Bridge and teaching the flute in the moonlight." Long Banqiao, the original Moon Bridge. In recent years, the Confucius Temple in Nanjing has been renovated, restored some pavilions in Ming and Qing Dynasties, and dredged rivers. Until the Mid-Autumn Festival, you can enjoy the fun of playing the moon together.

in Wuxi county, Jiangsu province, it is necessary to burn incense in mid-autumn night. There is gauze and silk around the incense bucket, and the scenery in the moon palace is painted. There are also incense sticks woven with thread incense, with paper kuixing and colorful banners inserted on them. Shanghainese Mid-Autumn Festival banquet is accompanied by osmanthus honey wine.

In the evening of Mid-Autumn Festival in Ji 'an County, Jiangxi Province, every village burns crocks with straw. After the crock is red, put the vinegar in it. At this time, there will be a fragrance floating all over the village. During the Mid-Autumn Festival in Xincheng County, grass lanterns are hung from the night of August 11th until August 17th.

Children build a hollow pagoda with bricks during the Mid-Autumn Festival in Wuyuan, Anhui Province. Decorations such as curtains and plaques are hung on the tower, and a table is placed in front of the tower to display all kinds of utensils to worship the "tower god". At night, lights and candles are lit inside and outside. Children in Jixi Mid-Autumn Festival play Mid-Autumn Festival firecrackers. The Mid-Autumn Festival cannon is made of straw tied into a braid, soaked and then picked up to hit the stone, making a loud noise and having the custom of swimming in the dragon. A fire dragon is a dragon made of grass with incense sticks inserted in it. When you visit the dragon, there are gongs and drums teams, which travel around the villages before being sent to the river.

In addition to eating moon cakes, people in Sichuan Province also eat cakes, ducks, sesame cakes, honey cakes and so on. In some places, orange lanterns are also lit and hung at the door to celebrate. There are also children who put incense on grapefruit and dance along the street, which is called "dancing meteor balls". The Mid-Autumn Festival in Jiading County is called "Watching the Meeting" for offering sacrifices to the land gods and performing zaju, vocal music and cultural relics.

in the north, farmers in Qingyun county, Shandong province offer sacrifices to the earth god on August 15th, which is called "Young Miao Society". Zhucheng, Linyi, Jimo and other places have to pay homage to their ancestors in addition to the moon. Landlords in guanxian, Laiyang, Guangrao and Postal City also entertain tenants in the Mid-Autumn Festival. Jimo Mid-Autumn Festival eats a festive food called "Wheat Arrow". Lu 'an, Shanxi Province hosted a banquet for her son-in-law in the Mid-Autumn Festival. Datong county calls moon cakes reunion cakes, and it is the custom to keep vigil in mid-autumn night.

Wanquan county, Hebei province calls the Mid-Autumn Festival "Little New Year's Day", and there are pictures of Taiyin Star Jun and Guandi reading the Spring and Autumn Festival at night on moonlight paper. Hejian county people think that the mid-autumn rain is bitter rain. If it rains on the Mid-Autumn Festival, local people think that vegetables must taste bad.

On mid-autumn night in Xixiang County, Shaanxi Province, men went boating on the cliff, and women arranged a beautiful banquet. No matter rich or poor, you must eat watermelon. In the Mid-Autumn Festival, there are drummers blowing drums along the door to ask for money. In Luochuan County, parents lead students to bring gifts for their husbands, and lunch is more than school dinners.

Many special Mid-Autumn Festival customs have been formed in some places. Besides enjoying the moon, offering sacrifices to the moon and eating moon cakes, there are Hong Kong's dancing dragon, Anhui's piling pagoda, Guangzhou's Mid-Autumn Festival, Jinjiang's burning tower boy, Suzhou Shihu's watching the moon, Dai's Yue Bai, Miao's jumping on the moon, Dong's stealing moon dishes and Gaoshan's holding dance.