? There are many names for the Mid-Autumn Festival, besides "Mid-Autumn Festival" and "August and a half", it is also called Moon Festival, Autumn Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, August Festival, Moon Festival, Moon Festival, Daughter's Day, Reunion Festival and so on. ?

1. The origin of Mid-Autumn Festival

? There are two main theories about the origin of Mid-Autumn Festival.

? First, it originated from the sacrificial activities of ancient emperors. According to the Book of Rites, "The son of heaven is in the spring and the sun is shining, and the moon is in the autumn." This sentence means that emperors should worship the sun in spring and the moon in autumn. The so-called evening moon is a sacrifice to the moon. This shows that, as early as the Spring and Autumn Period, emperors began to offer sacrifices to the moon and Yue Bai. Later, aristocratic bureaucrats and scholars followed suit and gradually spread to the people.

? Second, the Mid-Autumn Festival comes from agricultural production. Autumn is the harvest season, and the word "autumn" means "the crops are ripe". During the Mid-Autumn Festival in August of the lunar calendar, crops and all kinds of fruits are maturing one after another. In order to celebrate the bumper harvest and express their joy, farmers take the middle day of autumn three months, that is, August 15th of the lunar calendar as a festival.

? The Mid-Autumn Festival originated earlier, but it was not officially designated as a festival until the early years of the Tang Dynasty. It prevailed in the Song Dynasty, Taoism, Ming and Qing Dynasties, and became one of the major festivals in China along with New Year's Day.

? On May 2, 26, the festival was approved by the State Council to be included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list. Since 28, Mid-Autumn Festival has been listed as a national legal holiday. Second, the alias of Mid-Autumn Festival

? Mid-Autumn Festival is a traditional festival with a wide range, great influence and many customs in China, and it is also a festival with many names.

? One is to name it according to time:

? According to the ancient Chinese calendar, the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month is in the middle of autumn, so it is called the Mid-Autumn Festival.

? There are four seasons in a year, and each season is divided into three parts: Meng, Zhong and Ji. August is the second month of autumn and it is in autumn, so it is called "Mid-Autumn Festival".

? Because this festival is in August in autumn, it is also called "Autumn Festival", "August Festival" and "August Meeting".

? The second is to name it according to the beautiful meaning of the festival:

? Mid-Autumn Festival is a festival for family reunion. The moon on this day is particularly bright, full and round, symbolizing reunion. On such a night, people look up at the full moon and naturally look forward to reuniting with their families. Wanderers who are far away from home also rely on the moon to pin their thoughts on their hometown and relatives. Therefore, the Mid-Autumn Festival is also called "Reunion Festival", which means family reunion.

? The third is to name it according to the "month":

? Because the main activities of the Mid-Autumn Festival are all around the moon, it is also commonly known as the Moon Festival, the Moon Festival, the Moon Festival, the Moon Festival and the Moon Festival. In the Tang Dynasty, Mid-Autumn Festival was also called "Correcting the Moon".

? In ancient times, Yue Bai was an important activity of Mid-Autumn Festival. Many women hope to pray for "Chang 'e looks like a moon" through Yue Bai. Generally speaking, the Yue Bai ceremony is presided over by a woman, and there is a folk saying that "men don't Yue Bai, and women don't sacrifice stoves". Because only women can worship the moon, it is also called "Daughter's Day". In Ci Yuan, it is recorded that Mid-Autumn Festival is also called Daughter's Day.

? The ancients took February 15th in midsummer as the "Flower Dynasty", and correspondingly, they also called August 15th as the "Moon", so the Mid-Autumn Festival was also called "Moon". Third, Mid-Autumn Festival customs

? From the above nicknames, we can also see the relevant customs of Mid-Autumn Festival. To sum up here, I will explain the origin of eating moon cakes.

? There are many customs of Mid-Autumn Festival, mainly national customs such as offering sacrifices to the moon, enjoying the moon, Yue Bai and eating moon cakes. In addition, there are some unique customs in various places. For example, in addition to enjoying the moon in the Mid-Autumn Festival in Zhejiang, tide watching is also a great event. There is a custom of making lanterns in Jiangnan, while there is a custom of burning lanterns in Huguang.

? The biggest custom of Mid-Autumn Festival should be eating moon cakes. Do you know the origin of eating moon cakes?

? The custom of eating moon cakes on Mid-Autumn Festival is said to have been handed down from the Yuan Dynasty. According to legend, the broad masses of people in the Central Plains lived a very miserable life under the cruel rule of the Yuan people. Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to unite the resistance forces to hold an uprising. However, the officers and men searched closely and the news could not be passed on.

? Liu Bowen, his adviser, came up with a plan to make a cake, hide the note of "August 15th Uprising" in the cake, and then let people spread it to the insurgents around the country separately, informing them to revolt on the night of August 15th.

? After overthrowing the Yuan Dynasty, people ate moon cakes on August 15th to commemorate this achievement, and this custom was handed down.