Ancient moon cakes were eaten as sacrifices in the Mid-Autumn Festival. It is said that the custom of eating moon cakes in Mid-Autumn Festival began in the Tang Dynasty. It was popular in the court in the Northern Song Dynasty, and later spread to the people. At that time, it was commonly known as Xiao Bing and Yue Tuan. In the Ming Dynasty, it became a common dietary custom of the whole people. Mooncakes are integrated with local food customs, and they have developed into Cantonese, Beijing, Suzhou, Chaozhou and Yunnan mooncakes, which are loved by people all over China.
Su Dongpo, a great poet in the Song Dynasty, praised moon cakes with a poem, "Little cakes are like chewing the moon, and there are crisps and fillings in them", from which we can see that the moon cakes in the Song Dynasty have been filled with ghee and sugar. In the Yuan Dynasty, it is said that people used the opportunity of giving mooncakes to carry a note in them, agreeing on the night of August 15th and taking actions at the same time to kill and drive away Mongolian Tartars. In the Ming Dynasty, the custom of eating moon cakes on Mid-Autumn Festival became more common. Ming Shen bang's Miscellaneous Notes of Wan Department reads: "The furniture of ordinary people is a kind of moon-made bread, which varies in size and is called moon cake."
The implication of eating moon cakes in Mid-Autumn Festival is well known. The shape of moon cakes is round, which symbolizes reunion and family happiness. Therefore, people will call Mid-Autumn Festival Reunion Festival, because on this day, moon cakes are round, and the full moon in the sky is also the most round on this day. Everything symbolizes fullness and harmony. Therefore, it is precisely because of the beautiful symbolic meaning of moon cakes that people have been developing this traditional custom to this day, and it has been passed down from generation to generation among their children and grandchildren.
Eat moon cakes as a sign of reunion. Moon cakes, also known as Hu cakes, palace cakes, moon groups, harvest cakes, reunion cakes, etc., are offerings to worship the moon god in ancient Mid-Autumn Festival. According to legend, in ancient China, emperors had a ritual system of offering sacrifices to the sun in spring and the moon in autumn. In the folk, every Mid-Autumn Festival in August, there are also customs about Yue Bai or offering sacrifices to the moon. On August 15th, the moon is full, and Mid-Autumn moon cakes are fragrant and sweet. This famous proverb tells the custom of urban and rural people eating moon cakes on Mid-Autumn night. At first, mooncakes were used as sacrifices to the moon god. Later, people gradually regarded the Mid-Autumn Festival as a symbol of family reunion, and gradually, mooncakes became a necessary gift for festivals.