Story 1: Moon Cake Uprising
It is said that eating moon cakes in Mid-Autumn Festival began in Yuan Dynasty. At that time, the broad masses of people in the Central Plains could not bear the cruel rule of the ruling class in the Yuan Dynasty and rebelled against the Yuan Dynasty. Unite various resistance forces to prepare for the uprising. However, the officers and men of the court searched very closely and it was very difficult to pass on the news. Strategist Liu Bowen came up with a plan and ordered his subordinates to hide the note containing the "August 15th night uprising" into the cake, and then sent someone to send it to the uprising troops in various places separately to inform them to respond to the uprising on August 15th night. On the day of the uprising, all the rebels responded together. Soon, Xu Da captured the Yuan Dynasty and the uprising was successful. When the news came, Zhu Yuanzhang was so happy that he quickly gave a message that all the soldiers would have fun with the people in the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival, and he would give the "moon cakes" that were sent in secret when he started fighting that year as seasonal cakes to his ministers. Since then, the production of "moon cakes" has become more sophisticated and more varied. After that, the custom of eating moon cakes on Mid-Autumn Festival spread among the people.
Story 2 the Goddess Chang'e flying to the moon
Houyi shot at the sun and won people's support, but after he became emperor, Houyi became addicted to debauchery and killed people at will and became a tyrant. He wanted to live forever and went to Kunlun Mountain to steal the immortal medicine of the Queen Mother. His wife Chang 'e was afraid that he would live forever and the people would suffer, so she stole the immortal medicine and ate it, so she flew lightly to the Moon Palace herself.
Chang 'e is a moon fairy in China mythology. In Shan Hai Jing, the wife of Hou Yi, a medieval emperor, was called Heng 'e (Heng E) because of her extraordinary beauty. In the Western Han Dynasty, she changed to Chang 'e to avoid the taboo of Liu Heng, a Chinese emperor, and became Chang E. There are also people who call it Chun Hu.
Story 3: Xuanzong travels to the moon
According to legend, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty, Shen Tianshi and Taoist Hongdu all looked at the moon in the Mid-Autumn Festival. Suddenly, Emperor Xuanzong raised the idea of visiting the moon palace, so Tianshi did it, and the three of them started to go to Qingyun and roam the moon palace. However, the palace is heavily guarded, so it is impossible to enter, and you can only overlook the imperial city of Chang 'an. On this occasion, I suddenly heard the sound of fairy tales, beautiful and wonderful, and moving! Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty was always familiar with melody, so he memorized it in his heart. This is precisely "this song should only be in the sky, and how many times can the world hear it!" In the future, Xuanzong recalled the music and singing of Xiane in the Moon Palace, and composed music and choreographed it himself. This is the famous "colorful plumage" in history.
Fourth, Wu Gang cut Guangxi
Legend has it that WU GANG, who is guarding the worse place, is very close to Chang 'e on the moon, because he often goes to meet Chang 'e and neglects his duty. In a rage, the Jade Emperor punished WU GANG for cutting down a tree called laurel in the moon. If he could not cut down the tree, he would never go back to the worse place, let alone meet Chang 'e.
WU GANG cut down the tree for half a year, and finally it was almost cut down, but the Jade Emperor sent a crow to take away WU GANG's clothes hanging on the tree. When WU GANG recovered the clothes, he found that the cut tree had returned to its original appearance.
From then on, whenever WU GANG quickly cut down the tree, the crow would come. As long as WU GANG turned to look at it, the tree would be restored to its original state, and it would never be cut down.
V. Yue Bai, The Story Of Diu Sim
According to legend, The Story Of Diu Sim in the Three Kingdoms period was very beautiful and had the appearance of being truly beautiful. Legend has it that after The Story Of Diu Sim was born, the local peach blossoms and apricot blossoms were all blooming and thanking within three years; When The Story Of Diu Sim worships the moon at night, even Chang 'e feels ashamed and disappears in a hurry, which is also the origin of the idiom "Close the moon and feel ashamed of flowers". It is precisely because of The Story Of Diu Sim's beauty that Lu Bu, who was foolhardy, was puzzled and Wang Yun's serial stratagem was successful.
Among these legends, the Goddess Chang'e flying to the moon is the most famous and has a higher degree of inheritance, so we can't verify that it is the true origin of the Mid-Autumn Festival. But we should know these legends. If you have anything to add or say, please leave a message in the comments below for discussion.