The origin of the Mid-Autumn Festival

The Mid-Autumn Festival originated from the custom of autumn sacrifice and moon worship in ancient my country. "Book of Rites" contains: "The emperor faces the sun in spring and the moon in autumn. The sun is in the morning and the moon is in the evening." The "Xiyue" here means worshiping the moon. It took shape in the Han Dynasty. In the Tang Dynasty, the custom of admiring the moon during the Mid-Autumn Festival became popular and was designated as the Mid-Autumn Festival. Ouyang Zhan (AD 785 - about 827 AD) said in the "Preface to the Poetry of Wan Yue in Chang'an": "The eighth month is in autumn. The season begins and ends in Meng; the fifteenth is in the night, and the moon is in the clouds. According to the way of heaven, the cold and heat will be equal. Depending on the number of months, the soul of the toad is round, so it is called the Mid-Autumn Festival."

Customs of the Mid-Autumn Festival

The Mid-Autumn Festival is an ancient festival, and worshiping the moon and appreciating the moon are important customs of the festival. Ancient emperors had a social system of worshiping the sun in spring and the moon in autumn, and people also had the custom of worshiping the moon in the Mid-Autumn Festival. Later, appreciating the moon became more important than worshiping the moon, and serious sacrifices turned into relaxed entertainment. The custom of appreciating the moon during the Mid-Autumn Festival peaked in the Tang Dynasty. Many poets included poems praising the moon in their famous works. In the Song, Ming and Qing dynasties, the activities of worshiping and appreciating the moon among the court and the people became more extensive. Whenever the moon rises during the Mid-Autumn Festival, a table is set up in the open air, and moon cakes, pomegranates, dates and other fruits are offered on the table. After worshiping the moon, the whole family sits around the table, eats and talks, and enjoys the bright moon. Nowadays, the activities of worshiping and worshiping the moon have been replaced by large-scale and colorful mass moon-viewing recreational activities.

Eating moon cakes is another custom of the festival. Moon cakes symbolize reunion. The production of mooncakes has become more and more sophisticated since the Tang Dynasty. Su Dongpo wrote in a poem: "Small cakes are like chewing the moon, with crispness and sweetness in the middle." Yang Guangfu of the Qing Dynasty wrote: "Moon cakes are filled with peach meat fillings, and ice cream is sweet with cane sugar frosting." It seems that moon cakes at that time are quite different from those now. Close.