The Mid-Autumn Festival originated from the worship of celestial phenomena and evolved from the worship of the moon in autumn in ancient times. Offering sacrifices to the moon has a long history, and it is an activity of worshipping the "Moon God" in some places in ancient China. The "Autumn Equinox" of the 24 solar terms is an ancient "Festival of Offering Sacrifices to the Moon".

The Mid-Autumn Festival is popular in the Han Dynasty, which is a period of economic and cultural exchanges and integration between the north and the south of China, and cultural exchanges between different places spread together. The word "Mid-Autumn Festival" was first recorded in the documents of the Han Dynasty. According to Zhou Li, there were activities in the pre-Qin period, such as "welcoming the cold in the Mid-Autumn Night", "offering a good autumn gown in the Mid-Autumn Festival" and "Yue Bai at the Autumn Equinox".

The custom of Mid-Autumn festival

In terms of food, there are many local folk customs in the north and south. Guangdong has the habit of eating yunpian cake and taro. Nanjing people will eat the famous Jinling dish "osmanthus duck" and drink osmanthus wine during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Sichuan can beat rice, kill ducks, eat sesame cakes and honey cakes.

In the rural areas of Guizhou, children in the village gather together to cook "Moon Rice". On the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, everyone took out all kinds of cooking utensils and ingredients from home, sat around, built a stove by themselves, and some people handled the ingredients. After the preparations were completed, they began to cook together.