The Mid-Autumn Festival originated in the ancient times, popularized in the Han Dynasty, stereotyped in the early years of the Tang Dynasty, and flourished after the Song Dynasty. The Mid-Autumn Festival is a remnant of the ancient celestial worship - the custom of honoring the moon. At the time of the autumnal equinox, it is an ancient "moon festival". The Mid-Autumn Festival is derived from the traditional "Moon Festival".
Moon festival is a very ancient custom in our country, which is actually a worship activity of some ancient people in some places of our country to the "moon god" in ancient times. Mooncake is the ancient Mid-Autumn Festival to worship the moon god offerings, passed down, then formed the custom of Mid-Autumn Festival to eat mooncakes. In ancient times, every Mid-Autumn Festival, people would put round fruits and vegetables on the incense table to symbolize a good harvest, and kneel down to worship the moon to pray for the safety of their families and good luck.
Ancient maidens used to worship the moon to pray that Chang'e, the celestial fairy who lived in the moon palace, would bless them with a face like the moon and a face like a flower. Mooncakes have a long history in China. According to historical records, as early as the Yin and Zhou periods, Jiangsu and Zhejiang have a commemorative master Wen Zhong's thin side of the heart of the "master cake", which is said to be the "ancestor" of China's moon cakes.
Expanded Information
Mooncakes (pinyin: yuè bǐng), also known as mooncakes, small cakes, harvest cakes, reunion cakes, etc., are the seasonal food of the Mid-Autumn Festival. Mooncakes were initially used as offerings to worship the moon god. Moon worship is a very ancient custom in China, which is actually a kind of worship activity of the ancient people to the "moon god".
To this day, the Mid-Autumn Festival and eating mooncakes and enjoying the moon is a necessary custom of the Mid-Autumn Festival in all parts of China, north and south. Mooncakes symbolize reunion, and people use them as festival food, offering them to the moon and giving them to friends and relatives.
The origin of mooncakes as offerings to the moon god has a long history. The term "mooncake", in the existing literature, was first included in Wu Zimu's "Meng Liang Lu" of the Southern Song Dynasty.
Moon cakes have been fused with dietary customs from various regions, and have developed Cantonese, Jin, Beijing, Suzhou, Chao, and Dian styles of moon cakes, which are loved by people from all over North and South China.
On December 1, 2017, the "Norms for Translating and Writings in English in the Field of Public ****services" officially came into effect, stipulating that the standard English name for moon cakes is Moon Cake.
Baidu Encyclopedia-Moon Cake