Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as Moon Festival, Autumn Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, August Festival, August Festival, Moon Chasing Festival, Moon Playing Festival, Daughter's Day or Reunion Festival, is a traditional cultural festival popular among many ethnic groups in China and East Asian countries, which falls on August 15th of the lunar calendar. Because it is just half the value of Sanqiu, hence the name, some places set the Mid-Autumn Festival on August 16th.
The Mid-Autumn Festival began in the early years of the Tang Dynasty and prevailed in the Song Dynasty. By the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it was as famous as New Year's Day and became one of the major festivals in China. Influenced by the Han culture, the Mid-Autumn Festival is also a traditional festival in some countries in Southeast Asia and Northeast Asia, especially for overseas Chinese living there.
Mid-Autumn Festival has been listed as a national legal holiday since 2008. The state attaches great importance to the protection of intangible cultural heritage. On May 20, 2006, the festival was approved by the State Council to be included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage lists.
Second, the Mid-Autumn Festival is another name for handwritten newspaper materials.
According to China's calendar, the eighth month of the lunar calendar is in the middle of autumn, which is the second month of autumn, and it is called "Mid-Autumn Festival", while the fifteenth day of August is in the middle of it, so it is called "Mid-Autumn Festival".
There are many nicknames for Mid-Autumn Festival: it is called "August Festival" and "August and a half" because it falls on August 15th; Because the main activities of Mid-Autumn Festival are all around the "moon", it is also commonly known as "Moon Festival" and "Moon Festival". The full moon in Mid-Autumn Festival symbolizes reunion, so it is also called "Reunion Festival".
In the Tang Dynasty, Mid-Autumn Festival was also called "Correcting the Moon".
The record of "Reunion Festival" was first seen in the Ming Dynasty. "Notes on the Tour of the West Lake" said: "August 15th is the Mid-Autumn Festival, and people send mooncakes as a token of reunion". "A Brief Introduction to the Scenery of Dijing" also said: "On the 15th of August, when the moon is sacrificed, the cakes will be round, the melons will be wrongly divided, and the petals will be carved like lotus flowers. ..... Those who are married to mothering will return to their husband's house one day, which is called the Reunion Festival ".
Third, the myths and legends of the Mid-Autumn Festival handwritten newspaper materials
1, WU GANG laurel
According to legend, there was a man named WU GANG in the Moon Palace, who was a native of Xihe in Han Dynasty. He once followed the immortal to the heaven, but he made a mistake. The immortal relegated him to the Moon Palace and cut down the laurel trees in front of the Moon Palace every day as a punishment. This osmanthus tree grows luxuriantly, with a height of more than 500 feet. Every time it is cut down, the cut place will be closed immediately. Li Bai wrote in the poem "Give Cui Sihu Wen Kun Ji": "If you want to stay in the middle of the moon, you will be paid for the cold."
2. Jade rabbit pounded medicine
There is a jade rabbit beside Chang 'e. It is said that Chang 'e became lighter, and when she started to take off, she picked up the white rabbit that she had been feeding in fear. The white rabbit went to the moon with her. Yutu has a pestle in the Moon Palace, which pounded the elixir of immortality in the mortar at night. After this myth spread to Japan, it turned into a jade rabbit pounding rice cakes.
Fourth, some customs of Mid-Autumn Festival handwritten newspaper materials
1, guessing
On the Mid-Autumn Festival full moon night, there are many lanterns hanging in public places. People gather together to guess the riddles written on the lanterns. Because they are the favorite activities of most young men and women, love stories are also heard at these activities, so solve riddles on the lanterns in the Mid-Autumn Festival has also been derived as a form of love between men and women.
2. Eat moon cakes
Watching the moon and eating moon cakes are the necessary customs for Mid-Autumn Festival in all parts of China. As the saying goes, "August and 15th are full, and the moon cakes are sweet and fragrant". The word moon cake originated from Wu Zimu's "Dream of Liang Lu" in the Southern Song Dynasty, when it was only a snack food. Later, people gradually associate enjoying the full moon together with the mooncakes, symbolizing family reunion and carrying their thoughts. At the same time, moon cakes are also important gifts for friends to contact their feelings during the Mid-Autumn Festival.
There is also the custom of rich cake in Xiamen, Fujian, and rich cake is listed as a national intangible cultural heritage project.
3. Enjoy osmanthus and drink osmanthus wine
People often eat moon cakes and enjoy osmanthus in the Mid-Autumn Festival, and eat all kinds of foods made by osmanthus, among which cakes and sweets are the most common.
On the night of Mid-Autumn Festival, looking up at the osmanthus in the middle of the month, smelling the Gui Xiang, drinking a cup of osmanthus wine and celebrating the sweetness of the family have become a beautiful enjoyment of the festival. In modern times, people mostly take red wine instead.
4. Play with lanterns
There is no large lantern festival in Mid-Autumn Festival, and playing with lanterns is mainly between families and children. As early as the Northern Song Dynasty, in the Old Wulin Story, it was recorded that the Mid-Autumn Festival was a custom, and there was an activity of "putting a little red lamp into the river to drift and play". Playing lanterns in the Mid-Autumn Festival is mostly concentrated in the south. For example, at the autumn festival in Foshan, there are all kinds of colored lights: sesame lights, eggshell lights, wood shavings lights, straw lights, fish scales lights, chaff lights, melon seeds lights, birds, animals, flowers and trees lights, etc.