the custom of Mid-Autumn Festival-appreciating the moon
China has had the custom of appreciating the moon in the Mid-Autumn Festival since ancient times. In the Book of Rites, it is recorded that there is "autumn dusk and evening moon", and the evening moon is to worship the moon god. People put moon cakes, watermelons, apples, plums, grapes and other seasonal fruits on the big incense table, and when the moon hangs in the air, they begin to worship. In the Tang Dynasty, it was quite popular to enjoy and play with the moon in the Mid-Autumn Festival.
In the Song Dynasty, the Mid-Autumn Festival was more popular. "Dream of Tokyo" records: "On the Mid-Autumn Night, your family decorated the terrace, and the people competed for the restaurant to play with the moon." On this day, all shops and restaurants in Beijing have to redecorate their facades, tie silk ornaments on archways, sell fresh fruits and refined food, and the night market is very lively, and most people board the balcony. Some rich families enjoy the moon in their own pavilions, and arrange food or family dinners to reunite their children and talk with them.
Mid-Autumn Festival custom-eating moon cakes
Eating moon cakes is the custom of Mid-Autumn Festival. The autumn is crisp, the moon is the roundest, and the whole family is reunited-"the moon is * * *". It is this desire for reunion that forms the custom of eating moon cakes in the Mid-Autumn Festival. "A Brief Introduction to the Scenery of the Imperial Capital" records: "On August 15th, the cake will be round ... Those who have a wife who will return to Ning will return to their husband's house in time, which is also a reunion festival." Tian Rucheng, a Ming Dynasty man, directly linked the Mid-Autumn Festival with moon cakes in his Notes on the Tour of the West Lake: "August 15th is called the Mid-Autumn Festival, and people give moon cakes as a gift to show their reunion." Moon cakes symbolize reunion, and they are a must-have for Mid-Autumn Festival.
who invented the mid-autumn moon cake? In ancient China, emperors had rituals of offering sacrifices to the sun in spring and the moon in autumn. During the Mid-Autumn Festival in August, there are also customs that influence Yue Bai. Moon cakes are sacrifices to worship the moon god in ancient Mid-Autumn Festival. According to historical records, as early as 3, years ago in the Yin and Zhou Dynasties, there was a kind of "Taishi cake" in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces to commemorate Taishi Wen Zhong, which was the ancestor of moon cakes in China. After Zhang Qian went to the Western Regions in the Han Dynasty, he introduced sesame seeds and walnuts, which added auxiliary materials to the production of moon cakes. At this time, a round cake filled with Hu (nuclear) peach kernels appeared, named "Hu cake". In the Tang Dynasty, there were bakers engaged in production among the people, and pastry shops began to appear in Chang 'an, the capital. It is said that one year in the Mid-Autumn Festival, when Tang Minghuang and Yang Guifei enjoyed the moon and ate Hu Bing, Tang Minghuang thought the name of Hu Bing was not nice. Yang Guifei looked up at the bright moon and blurted out, "Moon cake." Since then, the name of "moon cake" has gradually spread.
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" and "moon group" among the people. Su Dongpo, a poet in the Song Dynasty, wrote: "A small cake is like chewing the moon, with crispness and satiety in it." (Crisp is ghee, and stir-fried is caramel), which shows that moon cakes were already well-made, sweet and crisp, fragrant and delicious. In the Yuan Dynasty, ethnic conflicts intensified unprecedentedly. According to folklore, at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, in order to consolidate its dominant position, the court forbade the private possession of ironware, and stipulated that ten families should share a kitchen knife. Zhang Shicheng, a Gaoyou native, secretly connected in series, with a small note in the moon cake, agreed on the time of the uprising: "Kill the Yuan soldiers on August 15, and every household will start work together." Send people to pass it around in secret, so as to deceive the searching Yuan army, the uprising was successful, and finally the Yuan Dynasty was overthrown.
Little moon cakes also record the glorious course of ancient people's struggle against national oppression. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, eating moon cakes in the Mid-Autumn Festival was widely circulated among the people. Yang Guangfu, a poet of the Qing Dynasty, wrote: "Moon cakes are filled with peach stuffing, and ice cream is made of sugar cream." It can be seen that the moon cakes at this time are quite similar to those now. The moon cakes have been refurbished, the varieties have increased and the quality has been greatly improved. During the Republic of China, Cantonese mooncakes were the most famous. In the 32nd issue of Folk Custom Weekly published in 1927, more than 8 kinds of moon cakes were exhibited in Mid-Autumn Festival, mostly in Cantonese style. The most precious ones are Tang Huang Yan Yue, Seven Stars Accompanied Moon, and Xi Shi Su Yue.
With the development of moon cakes, there are more varieties and different flavors in different places. It has bid farewell to the single function of food on Mid-Autumn Festival and gradually evolved into a delicious cake that can be eaten in all seasons. Among them, Beijing-style, Soviet-style, Guangdong-style, Nanjing-style and Chaozhou-style moon cakes are widely loved by people everywhere. In recent years, the media has constantly disclosed that some moon cake manufacturers have specially produced a batch of "super moon cakes" and "sky-high moon cakes" with unique shapes, and the packaging is extremely exquisite, with the price ranging from several thousand yuan to ten thousand yuan. This is not tasting moon cakes, but eating "style". The inherent cultural meaning of moon cakes has been distorted and alienated and turned into a deformed consumption form, which is very abnormal.
Since ancient times, people have regarded moon cakes as a symbol of good luck and reunion. Every Mid-Autumn Festival, when the bright moon is in the sky, the family will get together, enjoy cakes and enjoy the moon, and enjoy family happiness.
moon cakes, also known as Hu cakes, palace cakes, small cakes, moon cakes and reunion cakes, are offerings to worship the moon god in the ancient Mid-Autumn Festival, and the custom of eating moon cakes has been formed since it was handed down. The legend of moon cakes originated in the early Tang Dynasty. When Tang Gaozu Li Yuan and his ministers celebrated the Mid-Autumn Festival, they happily held the richly decorated round cakes presented by Tufan merchants, pointed to the bright full moon in the sky, and laughed loudly: "You should invite toads to pay for the round cakes." Immediately, the round cakes were distributed to the ministers to celebrate the joy.
moon cakes were called round cakes in the Tang dynasty, and there were records of moon cakes in Zhou Mi's Old Stories of Wulin and Wu Zimu's Dream of Liang Lu in the Southern Song Dynasty. At that time, it was very common to eat moon cakes on the fifteenth day of the month, and there were superb techniques for making moon cakes. The variety and quality of moon cakes in the Qing Dynasty have made new progress, with good stuffing, delicious taste and beautiful shape. The cakes are printed with "the Goddess Chang'e flying to the moon", "Three Tans for the Moon" and the patterns of happiness, luck, longevity and happiness. At present, different styles of varieties are formed in different parts of the country due to different regions and differences in materials, seasonings and shapes. The main varieties are Beijing style, Soviet style, Guangdong style, Chaozhou style and Yunnan style. There are many kinds of fillings, such as sweet, salty, meat and vegetarian, which have their own characteristics and are good in color, smell and taste.
Mid-Autumn Festival custom-Ciba
Similar to eating moon cakes, Ciba is also the custom of Mid-Autumn Festival.
Moon cakes are round, symbolizing reunion; Ciba is also round, which means reunion and reunion. Because it is made of sticky glutinous rice, it symbolizes sticking everyone together and never separating. Moon cakes are good gifts, and Ciba is also a gift.
The difference is that eating moon cakes is nationwide, while the custom of making Ciba is mainly distributed in rice-growing areas in the Yangtze River valley, especially in Sichuan, Chongqing, Hubei and Hunan. There is a folk saying: "If you don't snoring in the Mid-Autumn Festival, your wife and children won't go home."
(Wulong County Records) Ciba, that is, Ciba and Zhaba, is not complicated to make. According to "Dianjiang County Records", on the Mid-Autumn Festival, "every household in the folk steamed glutinous rice in the morning, melted it with a wooden stick in the nest, made it into Zanba, and mixed it with sugar or soybean pasta." Its specific procedures are: soaking glutinous rice-steaming glutinous rice-pouring a stone hammer and mashing it fine-making a cake (throwing fried soybean powder on it).
Ciba is the climax of Mid-Autumn Festival. It is often the festive delicacies and wines that are put on the table, just waiting for this last Ciba feast. Just as the whole family was "watching the fun" around the stone mound nest, the eldest sister-in-law brought the steamed and hot glutinous rice and poured it into the stone mound. Two Hercules, who had already been holding a cricket stick, came and went, and began to make a rhythm. Hey! " For a moment, Hercules was sweating profusely, and onlookers continued to encourage him, sometimes playing a few times. With the enthusiastic care of the whole family, Ciba was finally put on the table and had a Mid-Autumn Festival reunion dinner. In the rural areas of Fuling in the Three Gorges reservoir area, there are such nursery rhymes:
A crow's tail and sand (open) are happy to be in the host's house; Brown sugar soaked in rice (popcorn), white sugar dipped in Ciba.
The Mid-Autumn Festival and the busy autumn harvest season have passed. Every family buys delicious food and wine, makes rice cakes, pushes tofu pudding and cooks bacon to celebrate the harvest, and has a short rest. The whole family is round and round, harmonious and beautiful, laughing and happy.
on August 15th, Ciba must be made with new glutinous rice, which means enjoying the harvest. In the past, it was only eaten after offering the moon and offering sacrifices to ancestors, so it was called "reporting autumn". When eating, let the elders at the table or the elderly at home taste it first. When men and women are engaged in rural areas, the woman's family must make two big zanba, which is particularly exquisite in workmanship, and two big red happy characters should be affixed to indicate that the new son-in-law is firmly glued together and a pair is perfect.
In addition to Ciba in the Mid-Autumn Festival, rural men and women in the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River and Wujiang River Valley often give Ciba and send it away when their children are engaged and have a full moon.
Mid-Autumn Festival custom-appreciating osmanthus
When the Mid-Autumn Festival is full in August, it is the season when osmanthus blossoms. Therefore, during the Tang and Song Dynasties, in addition to enjoying the moon, there was also the custom of enjoying the laurel as the Mid-Autumn Festival.
As Han Yangmin's "China Ancient Festival Customs" said: "Thinking about the moon in the middle of the month, appreciating the laurel in the world, and associating it with the legend that Wu Gang cut the laurel and the laurel son fell into the world in the middle of the month can stimulate the poet's inspiration and increase the festival interest."
There were many poems in ancient times describing the custom of appreciating laurels under the moon in Mid-Autumn Festival. Just as Song Zhiwen (656-712), a poet in the early Tang Dynasty, wrote, "The osmanthus falls in the sky, and the sweet clouds float outside" (Lingyin Temple); Yu Zhuo, a poet in the Song Dynasty, wrote "Lotus weeping at the head of the slope, cinnamon smelling under the moon" (Brother Huai Han). These poems describe the fragrance of cinnamon and the appreciation of cinnamon under the moon. Li Qiao (644-713), a poet in the Tang Dynasty, wrote in Gui:
"In the silver palace, it is better to move to a secluded jade palace. Branches give birth to infinite months, and flowers are full of natural autumn.
a chivalrous man is a horse, while a fairy leaves a boat. I wish you a Taoist skill and climb to stay for a long time. "
This poem describes the swaying posture of osmanthus fragrans under the moon and its infinite love for osmanthus fragrans.
Mid-Autumn Festival custom-appreciating lanterns
In the Southern Song Dynasty, there was a custom of appreciating lanterns in the Mid-Autumn Festival.
According to "Old Wulin Stories", during the Mid-Autumn Festival, hundreds of thousands of small water lanterns were floating on the water in Zhejiang, just like the bright stars, attracting people to stop and watch, which became a great scenic spot at that time. Lights hung high everywhere in the markets to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Mid-Autumn Festival in Guangzhou and other places should be "Tree Mid-Autumn Festival". Before the festival, families tie lanterns with bamboo sticks and paste colored paper to make fruit lanterns, bird lanterns, fish lanterns and lanterns. It is called "Tree Mid-Autumn Festival" to hang New Year's lanterns on the Gaohan or tree on the tiled terrace on Mid-Autumn Night.
In the South, lanterns must be played on Mid-Autumn Festival. Lantern includes all kinds of colored lights, such as shavings, straw, fish scales, chaff, melon seeds and flowers and trees. In Nanning, Guangxi, besides tying various lanterns with bamboo paper for JL children to play with, there are also simple cypress lanterns, pumpkin lanterns and orange lanterns. The so-called sleeve lamp is to hollow out the sleeve, draw a pattern, put on a rope and light a candle inside. Pumpkin lanterns and orange lanterns are also made by taking out the pulp. These lamps are very popular because of their simple appearance and simple manufacture. Children in Guangzhou and Hong Kong, with the help of their parents, make rabbit lanterns, carambola lanterns or square lanterns out of bamboo paper, hang them horizontally in short poles, and then erect them on high poles, hanging them high and shining with colorful lights, adding beauty to the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Mid-Autumn Festival custom-respect for the elderly
"It's the moon, which nurtures aging, gives a few sticks and eats porridge." Every Mid-Autumn Festival comes, the government will go door-to-door to express condolences to the elderly, and send them benches and walking sticks, as well as some food. The folk custom of respecting the elderly in Mid-Autumn Festival has a long history, and married women should be with their husbands; When I go back to my parents' home to visit my parents, I give them Mid-Autumn Festival gifts to show my gratitude to my parents. The younger generation should give holiday gifts to their elders to show their condolences and respect.
Xiaoqiu Festival is one of the three major festivals (the other two are Spring Festival and Dragon Boat Festival) for Chinese people to give gifts to each other. Most gifts for Mid-Autumn Festival are moon cakes, Ciba and wine. Mid-Autumn Festival banquets vary from place to place. Anhui and other places must eat pond fish and other rivers. -Bring roast duck or salted duck. Hunan folks say that this day is taro's birthday, and they like to steam a pot of "steamed taro meat with powder" as a sumptuous feast. In the evening, the whole family sat around in the moonlight, drinking a cup of nectar and several plates of moon cakes and sweets, enjoying the moon, chrysanthemums and Guixu at home, talking about the knowledge of celestial bodies on the moon, aerospace news, the customs of the Mid-Autumn Festival, and connecting with ancient myths and stories, which has become a new fashion to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival today.
Mid-Autumn Festival custom-dancing the fire dragon
Dancing the fire dragon is a custom of the Mid-Autumn Festival in Hong Kong. From the evening of the 14th day of the eighth lunar month, a grand fire dragon dance will be held for three nights in the Tai Hang area of Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. The fire dragon is more than 7 meters long, and it is tied into a 32-section dragon body with pearl grass, which is full of longevity incense. On the night of the grand event, in the streets and alleys, a series of winding and undulating fire dragons danced with joy and excitement in the light and dragon drum music.
the custom of Mid-Autumn Festival-Reunion Luo
In Chang 'an, Shaanxi Province, every family should make reunion Luo in Mid-Autumn Festival. The mold has a top layer and a bottom layer with sesame seeds in the middle. The upper floor uses a big old bowl to extend a circle to symbolize the moon. A stone was carved in the center of the circle, and a naughty little monkey stood on the stone and ate a flat peach. Use thimbles and large needles to make various flower shapes around the moon, and then burn them in a pot. When eating, cut into the shape of many fangs, and give each family a tooth. If someone goes out for a short time, they can stay. If the girl is married, send someone to send it.
the custom of Mid-Autumn Festival-male prostitute
Playing male prostitute is the custom of Mid-Autumn Festival in northern China. Male prostitute is popular in Beijing and Tianjin, also known as "colored rabbit". In the Qing Dynasty, Fucha Dunchong's "The Story of Yanjing Years Old" and "male prostitute Stall" said: "Every Mid-Autumn Festival, the skillful people of the city use loess to carry the image of toad and rabbit for sale, which is called male prostitute. Those who have clothes and a cover, those who have a stomach and a stupid flag, those who ride tigers and those who sit silently. The big one is three feet, and the small one is more than one foot. " People take toads in the middle of the month to pay homage to jade rabbits in order to pray for a smooth and auspicious Mid-Autumn Festival. In the Qing Dynasty, Pan Rongbi's "Ji Sheng at the Age of Emperor Jing" recorded: "The capital used yellow sand as a white jade rabbit, decorated with colorful makeup, and it was all kinds of things, gathering in the sky and under the moon, and the market was easy." Around the Mid-Autumn Festival, many street vendors will sell male prostitute. Residents rushed to buy them, put them in their houses, or offered them as sacrifices to the moon.
the custom of Mid-Autumn Festival-burning the tower
According to the Records of Chinese National Customs, in Jiangxi, "On Mid-Autumn Night, ordinary children pick up tiles in the wild and burn them red, then pour kerosene on the fire, and suddenly the fields are red and shine like day. Until late at night, when no one was watching, it began to pour interest. It was a famous burning tile lamp. " Burning tile lanterns is burning towers, which is one of the customs of Mid-Autumn Festival. Towers are mostly made of broken tiles, and large towers should be made of bricks at the bottom, leaving a tower mouth at the top for fuel. Mid-autumn festival In the evening of the festival, wood, bamboo and chaff fuels are lit, and rosin powder is splashed when the fire is strong, which is very spectacular.
China is vast in territory and abundant in natural resources, with a large population and different customs. The Mid-Autumn Festival is also celebrated in a variety of ways with a strong local flavor. In addition to enjoying the moon and eating moon cakes, there are a series of wonderful celebrations, such as tree-planting, moon-inviting, moon-offering and stealing the moon, which makes the Mid-Autumn Festival one of the most cultural festivals in China.
the custom of Mid-Autumn Festival-reporting to the land god
The spring festival activities of the ancients were to pray for the land god to bless a bumper harvest for one year; Autumn society is the autumn newspaper after a year's bumper harvest, which is similar to the autumn equinox when the crops are ripe or harvested around August 15. This is the Spring Prayer for Autumn. Singing, dancing and drinking at the autumn newspaper ceremony will make people happy and lively, which is not only entertaining the gods, but also entertaining themselves. In the Book of Songs, there are records of celebrating the harvest and offering sacrifices to the landowners. According to legend, his birthday is August 15th. Later, he was painted on cloth, on the wall or sculpted like him. Generally, he was white-haired and bearded, leaning on crutches in one hand and dragging ingots in the other, which made people feel amiable. He has the functions of land management and financial management, so people respect him very much. Some people say that they are "making money from the land Lord" when they make a fortune, which is a festive Mid-Autumn Festival custom.