Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as Moon Eve, Autumn Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, August Festival, August Meeting, Moon Chasing Festival, Moon Playing Festival, Moon Worshiping Festival, Daughter's Day or Reunion Festival, is popular among many ethnic groups and Chinese character cultural circles in China.
The traditional cultural festival of various countries falls on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month. Because it happens to be in the middle of the third autumn, hence the name, some places also set the Mid-Autumn Festival on the 16th day of the eighth month.
The Mid-Autumn Festival began in the early Tang Dynasty and became popular in the Song Dynasty. By the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it had become one of the traditional Chinese festivals as famous as the Spring Festival.
Influenced by Chinese culture, the Mid-Autumn Festival is also a traditional festival in some countries in East and Southeast Asia, especially the local Chinese and overseas Chinese.
Since 2008, the Mid-Autumn Festival has been listed as a national statutory holiday.
On May 20, 2006, the State Council included it in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage lists.
Extended information: Traditional activities: moon worship, moon appreciation, and moon worship. "Book of Rites" has long recorded that "Autumn Dusk and Xiyue" means worshiping the moon god. At this time, it is necessary to welcome the cold and worship the moon, and set up incense tables.
[8] In 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 moon cakes, watermelon, apples, dates, plums, grapes and other sacrifices. Among them, moon cakes and watermelon are absolutely indispensable, and the watermelon must 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.
Among ethnic minorities, the custom of worshiping the moon is also popular.
According to legend, Wu Yan, an ugly girl from the ancient state of Qi, worshiped the moon devoutly when she was a child. When she grew up, she entered the palace with outstanding moral character, but she was not favored.
On August 15th of a certain year, the emperor saw her under the moonlight while admiring the moon. He thought she was beautiful and outstanding, so he made her his queen. This is how the Mid-Autumn Festival came to worship the moon.
In the middle of the moon, Chang'e is famous for her beauty, so the girl worships the moon and wishes that she "looks like Chang'e and has a face like the bright moon."
The Dai people of Yunnan also have a popular custom of "moon worship" on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival.
The custom of admiring the moon during the Mid-Autumn Festival was very popular in the Tang Dynasty, and many poets included verses praising the moon in their famous works.
In the Song Dynasty, the custom of admiring the moon during the Mid-Autumn Festival became even more popular. On this day, "families would decorate their pavilions, and people would occupy restaurants to watch the moon."
In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the activities of worshiping and appreciating the moon were more extensive among the court and the people. There are still many historic sites such as "Moon Worship Altar", "Moon Worship Pavilion" and "Moon Watching Tower" in various parts of China.
Literati and officials were particularly fond of admiring the moon. They climbed up buildings to admire the moon or went boating to enjoy it. They drank wine and wrote poems, leaving behind many well-known masterpieces that will last through the ages.
For example, Du Fu's "Moon on the Fifteenth Night of August" uses the fifteen bright moons symbolizing reunion to reflect his thoughts of wandering in a foreign land; Su Shi, a great writer in the Song Dynasty, drank till the end of the Mid-Autumn Festival and got drunk and wrote "Shui Diao Ge Tou", using the roundness and waning of the moon to represent people.
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To this day, sitting together as a family and enjoying the beautiful scenery of the bright moon is still one of the essential activities during the Mid-Autumn Festival.
In ancient times, besides admiring the moon during the Mid-Autumn Festival, watching the tide was another Mid-Autumn event in Zhejiang.
The custom of watching the tide during the Mid-Autumn Festival has a long history. It was described in detail in Meicheng's "Qifa" in the Han Dynasty.
After the Han Dynasty, the custom of watching tides during the Mid-Autumn Festival became even more popular.
There are also records of tide watching in Zhu Tinghuan's "Supplement to the Old Wulin Stories" of the Ming Dynasty and "Mengliang Lu" written by Wu Zimu of the Song Dynasty.
?On the Mid-Autumn Festival night, there is a custom of burning lanterns to help with the moonlight.
Today, there is still a custom in Huguang area of ??stacking tiles on a tower and lighting lanterns on it.
In the Jiangnan area, there is a custom of making light boats.
In modern times, the custom of lighting lanterns during the Mid-Autumn Festival has become more popular.
An article written by Zhou Yunjin and He Xiangfei in "Talking about Seasonal Events in Leisure" said: "Lanterns are the most popular in Guangdong. Every family uses bamboo strips to tie lanterns ten days before the festival. They make lanterns in the shape of fruits, birds, animals, fish and insects.
and "Celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival" and other words, painted on colored paper in various colors. Mid-Autumn night lamps with internal burning candles are tied to bamboo poles and erected high on the eaves or terraces, or small lamps are built into glyphs or various shapes and hung.
The lanterns hung high in the house are commonly known as the "Tree Mid-Autumn Festival" or "Put-up Mid-Autumn Festival". The lanterns hung in wealthy homes can be several feet high. Families gather under the lanterns to drink and have fun. Ordinary people put up a flagpole and two lanterns.
It’s also fun for oneself. The lights all over the city are like a glass world.” It seems that the custom of lighting lanterns during the Mid-Autumn Festival has been second only to the Lantern Festival since ancient times.
?Guessing riddles. Many lanterns are hung in public places on the night of the full moon during the Mid-Autumn Festival. People gather together to guess the riddles written on the lanterns. This is because it is a favorite activity of most young men and women. At the same time, love stories are also spread at these activities.
Therefore, guessing lantern riddles during the Mid-Autumn Festival has also been derived as a form of love between men and women.
?Eating mooncakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Appreciating the moon and eating mooncakes are essential customs for the Mid-Autumn Festival in various parts of China. As the saying goes: "August and fifteenth are full, and Mid-Autumn mooncakes are fragrant and sweet."
The term mooncake originated from "Meng Liang Lu" written by Wu Zimu in the Southern Song Dynasty. At that time, it was just a snack food.