August 15th is the Mid-Autumn Festival. The Mid-Autumn Festival falls on the 15th day of August in the lunar calendar, so it is also called the 15th day of August. There are many nicknames for the Mid-Autumn Festival, such as Moon Festival, Autumn Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, August Festival, August Festival, Moon Chasing Festival, Moon-playing Festival, Moon Worship Festival, Daughter's Day or Reunion Festival. It is a traditional cultural festival popular in many ethnic groups in China and countries with Chinese characters.
What is the custom of August 15th?
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.
3. Sacrifice the moon
Under the moon, put the moon statue in the direction of the moon, and the red candle burns high. The whole family worships the moon in turn, and then the housewife cuts up the reunion moon cake. Cut the people in advance to calculate the number of people in the whole family, at home and in the field, all together, can not cut more or less, the size should be the same.
4. Burn the lamp
The internal combustion candle of Mid-Autumn Night Lantern is tied to a bamboo pole with a rope, hung high on the tile eaves or terrace, or hung in a zigzag or various shapes with small lights at the height of the house, commonly known as "Mid-Autumn Festival on a tree" or "Mid-Autumn Festival vertically".
5. Watch the tide
In addition to enjoying the moon in the Mid-Autumn Festival in Zhejiang, tide watching is another Mid-Autumn Festival event. The custom of watching tide in Mid-Autumn Festival has a long history, which was described in detail in Mei Cheng's Fu of Seven Hair in Han Dynasty. After the Han Dynasty, the Mid-Autumn Festival tide watching became more popular. There are also records of watching the tide in Zhu Tinghuan's Supplementing the Past Events of Wulin in Ming Dynasty and Meng Liang Lu by Zi Mu in Song and Wu Dynasties.
6. Go to the moon
In the bright moonlight, people wear gorgeous clothes, travel in groups of three or five, or wander the streets, or lack boats on the Qinhuai River, or go upstairs to watch the Yuet Moon, talking and laughing. In the old days, there was a special prayer for Nanjing people to "walk on the moon": any married woman who had no son would go to the Confucius Temple and then cross a bridge, according to legend, there would be "the joy of a dream bear" (meaning to have a boy).
7. Play with lanterns
Playing lanterns in the Mid-Autumn Festival is mostly concentrated in the south. For example, at the aforementioned Foshan Autumn Festival, there were all kinds of colorful lights: sesame lights, eggshell lights, wood shavings lights, straw lights, fish scales lights, chaff lights, melon seeds lights and flowers and trees lights of birds and animals, which were amazing.
How did the Mid-Autumn Festival come about?
The word "Mid-Autumn Festival" was first seen in the book Zhou Li, but it was in the Tang Dynasty that the national festival really formed. The Book of Tang Taizong recorded "Mid-Autumn Festival on August 15th". This is also the second largest traditional festival in China after the Spring Festival.
In ancient times, 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 has to be cut into lotus shapes. Under the moon, put the moon statue in the direction of the moon, and the red candle burns high. The whole family worships the moon in turn, and then the housewife cuts up the reunion moon cake. Cut the people in advance to calculate the number of people in the whole family, at home and in the field, all together, can not cut more or less, the size should be the same.
The Mid-Autumn Festival in the Tang Dynasty was very popular for enjoying and playing with the moon. On the night of August 15th in the Northern Song Dynasty, people all over the country, rich and poor, old and young, put on adult clothes, burn incense, express their wishes and pray for the blessing of the moon god. In the Southern Song Dynasty, people gave each other mooncakes as a token of reunion. In some places, there are activities such as dancing grass dragons and building pagodas. Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the custom of Mid-Autumn Festival has become more popular, and many places have formed special customs such as burning incense, planting Mid-Autumn Festival trees, lighting tower lanterns, putting sky lanterns, walking on the moon and dancing dragon.
Today, the custom of playing under the moon is rare, but feasting and enjoying the moon is still very popular. People drink asking for the moon to celebrate a better life, or wish their distant relatives health and happiness, and "spend thousands of miles with their families", pinning people's infinite love and yearning for life.