Mid-Autumn Festival already existed in China in Han Dynasty. But not on August 15th, but on the day of beginning of autumn. On this day, princes and nobles went out hunting and took their prey to the ancestral temple; In Tang Dynasty, there are no records of Mid-Autumn Festival stories in various books; In the Song Dynasty, there were more records about the Mid-Autumn Festival. Since then, the Mid-Autumn Festival has become the second largest festival in China after the Spring Festival.
The Mid-Autumn Festival is a traditional folk festival of the Han nationality. Besides the Han nationality, it is also celebrated by Xu Zhan, Hui, Su, Zhuang, Buyi and North Korea.
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Myths and legends
1, WU GANG laurel
According to legend, there was a man named WU GANG in the Moon Palace, who was a native of Xihe in Han Dynasty. He once followed the immortal to the heaven, but he made a mistake. The immortal relegated him to the Moon Palace and cut down the laurel trees in front of the Moon Palace every day as a punishment. This osmanthus tree grows luxuriantly, with a height of more than 500 feet. Every time it is cut down, the cut place will be closed immediately.
2. Jade rabbit pounded medicine
There is a jade rabbit beside Chang 'e. It is said that Chang 'e became lighter, and when she started to take off, she picked up the white rabbit that she had been feeding in fear. The white rabbit went to the moon with her. Yutu has a pestle in the Moon Palace, which pounded the elixir of immortality in the mortar at night. After this myth spread to Japan, it turned into a jade rabbit pounding rice cakes.
There are many ballads and nursery rhymes about the Mid-Autumn Festival, such as "Mother Worship the Moon", "Aunt Chair", "Mid-Autumn Festival Yue Bai Song", "Yue Bai E", "Family Yue Bai", "Mid-Autumn Night", "Sister Moon", "Moonlight" and "Moon Cake". Taiwanese folk songs such as Mid-Autumn Festival Travel Thoughts, Homesickness on a Moonlit Night, and Suffering.