Mid-Autumn Festival custom:
? 1, eat Osmanthus Jelly?
There are many reasons for eating Osmanthus Jelly in Mid-Autumn Festival. The first and most important reason is that the Mid-Autumn Festival is mostly in October of the lunar calendar, and October is the season when osmanthus fragrance is fragrant. At this time, osmanthus fragrance is rich, which is very suitable for making sweet and soft Osmanthus Jelly, and some people will brew some osmanthus wine with unique osmanthus fragrance.
Secondly, when osmanthus flowers are blooming, it is also the time of autumn harvest. At this time, people like to pick some osmanthus flowers to make cakes, and taste Osmanthus Jelly to express their gratitude for the autumn harvest and share the joy and beauty of the harvest. Moreover, the petals of osmanthus fragrans are very compact and elegant, implying harvest and beauty, so eating Osmanthus Jelly in Mid-Autumn Festival also symbolizes the pursuit of a better life.
Generally speaking, there are two reasons for eating Osmanthus Jelly in Mid-Autumn Festival. First, the sweet-scented osmanthus fragrance is flourishing at this time, making Osmanthus Jelly taste good; Second, sweet-scented osmanthus symbolizes harvest and beauty, so people will eat Osmanthus Jelly at this time to express their pursuit.
2. put a sky lantern?
On the occasion of the Mid-Autumn Festival, every household will put a Kongming Lantern, on which friends will personally write down their wishes of blessing, symbolizing the success of the harvest in the coming year and happiness every year.
Kongming lantern is also called sky lantern, commonly known as wishing lantern and praying sky lantern. It is an ancient China handicraft, which was used for military purposes in ancient times. Modern people put lanterns on Kongming lanterns as a blessing. Men, women and children personally write down their wishes for blessings, symbolizing the success of harvest and happiness every year. Generally, it is released on major festivals such as Lantern Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival.
3. Yue Bai?
In ancient times, our people had the custom of "autumn dusk and evening moon". The evening moon is to worship the moon god. In the Zhou dynasty, every mid-autumn night was held to welcome the cold and offer sacrifices to the moon. Set up a big incense table, and put moon cakes, watermelons, apples, red dates, plums, grapes and other sacrifices, among which moon cakes and watermelons are absolutely indispensable. Watermelon has to be cut into lotus shapes. Under the moon, put the moon statue in the direction of the moon, and the red candle burns high. The whole family worships the moon in turn, and then the housewife cuts up the reunion moon cake. Cut the people in advance to calculate the number of people in the whole family, at home and in the field, all together, can not cut more or less, the size should be the same.
4. Eat moon cakes?
Eating moon cakes in Mid-Autumn Festival, like eating zongzi in Dragon Boat Festival and glutinous rice balls in Lantern Festival, is a traditional folk custom in China. It is said that there was a custom of eating moon cakes in the Mid-Autumn Festival in the Tang Dynasty, but it was in the Song Dynasty that moon cakes were associated with the Mid-Autumn Festival as a food name. The royal Mid-Autumn Festival in the Northern Song Dynasty likes to eat a kind of "palace cake", which is commonly known as "small cake" among the people. Su Dongpo has a poem saying: "Small cake is like chewing the moon, with crispness and pulp in it." Zhou Mi, a writer in the Southern Song Dynasty, first mentioned the name of "moon cake" in Old Wulin. Legend has it that at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, people also used moon cakes to convey anti-meta information, indicating that moon cakes had entered the homes of ordinary people at that time and became a necessary food for the Mid-Autumn Festival. For a long time, Chinese people have accumulated rich experience in making moon cakes. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, bakers had printed fairy tales such as the Goddess Chang'e flying to the moon on moon cakes as food art drawings. A scholar in Qing Dynasty described it as "moon cakes filled with peach stuffing and ice cream with sugar cream", which seems quite similar to the present moon cakes. In modern times, with workshops specializing in making moon cakes, the production of moon cakes is more elaborate, with exquisite fillings and beautiful appearance, and it is also divided into different flavors such as flat style, Soviet style, Guangdong style and desktop style. As a symbol of auspiciousness and reunion, moon cakes are entrusted with people's good wishes, and the custom of eating and sending moon cakes has continued to this day.
5. enjoy the moon?
Our country has the custom of offering sacrifices to and appreciating the moon since ancient times. In the Zhou Dynasty, activities of welcoming the cold and offering sacrifices to the moon were held every mid-autumn night. The custom of enjoying the moon in the Mid-Autumn Festival is very popular in the Tang Dynasty, and many poets have poems about the moon in their masterpieces. By the Song Dynasty, the Mid-Autumn Festival was more popular to enjoy the moon. On this day, "your family decorated the pavilions and the people competed for the restaurant to play with the moon". The activities of enjoying the moon in Yue Bai in the Ming and Qing Dynasties were more extensive. So far, there are many monuments such as "Yue Bai Altar", "Moon Pavilion" and "Moon Tower" in various parts of China. Literati and scholars have a special liking for moon viewing. They either go upstairs to get the moon or go boating to invite the moon, drink wine and write poems, leaving many famous poems. For example, Du Fu's "jathyapple on August 15th" uses the bright moon symbolizing reunion to contrast his wandering worries in a foreign land; Su Shi, a literary giant in the Song Dynasty, was drunk in the Mid-Autumn Festival and wrote "Water Tune Song Tou", which is a metaphor for people's clutch by the lack of the moon. To this day, it is still one of the essential activities of the Mid-Autumn Festival for the whole family to sit together and enjoy the beautiful scenery of the bright moon in the sky.