The word moon cake was first seen in Liang Lumeng by Wu in the Southern Song Dynasty, when it was just a snack. Later, people gradually associated moon viewing with moon cakes, symbolizing family reunion and bearing their thoughts. At the same time, moon cakes are also an important gift for friends to contact their feelings during the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Moon cakes symbolize reunion, which should have been recorded in writing since the Ming Dynasty. If we look at the information about moon cakes and Mid-Autumn Festival folk customs in the Ming Dynasty, we should be able to see the historical track of the reunion of moon cakes: after the Mid-Autumn Festival, the whole family will sit together and share moon cakes and fruits (offerings of the moon).

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Moon cake "ancestor"

The Mid-Autumn Festival originated in ancient times, popularized in the Han Dynasty, shaped in the early Tang Dynasty and prevailed after the Song Dynasty. Mid-Autumn Festival is a relic of ancient celestial worship-the custom of worshipping the moon. At the autumnal equinox, it is an ancient "Moon Festival". Mid-Autumn Festival comes from the traditional Mid-Autumn Festival.

According to research, "Mid-Autumn Festival" was originally set on the day of "Autumn Equinox" in the 24 solar terms of the Ganzhi calendar. However, because the August day of the lunar calendar is different every year, there may not be a full moon. Later, the Mid-Autumn Festival moved from the autumnal equinox to the fifteenth day of the lunar calendar. Sacrificing to the moon is a very old custom in China. In fact, it is a ritual activity of the ancients in some places in ancient China to "Moon God".

Moon cakes are offerings to worship the moon god in ancient Mid-Autumn Festival. Since they were handed down, the custom of eating moon cakes has been formed. In ancient times, every Mid-Autumn Festival, people would put round fruits and vegetables symbolizing bumper harvest on incense tables, bow to the moon and pray for family peace and good luck. In ancient times, girls wanted Yue Bai, and prayed that Chang 'e, a fairy who lived in the Moon Palace, could bless herself, looking like a bright moon and as beautiful as a flower. ? Moon cakes have a long history in China. According to historical records, as early as the Yin and Zhou Dynasties, there was a kind of "Taishi cake" to commemorate Taishi Wenzhong, which was said to be the "ancestor" of China moon cakes.

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