Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as "Moon Festival", "Autumn Festival", "Mid-Autumn Festival", "August Festival", "Moon Festival", "Moon Festival", "Daughter's Day" and "Reunion Festival", is a traditional cultural festival popular among many ethnic groups in China. Because it is just half the value of Sanqiu, it is named. It is said that the moon is the biggest, roundest and brightest this night.
Since ancient times, people have the custom of drinking and enjoying the moon on Mid-Autumn Festival night, and the daughter-in-law who returns to her mother's house will return to her husband's house every day to show her perfection and auspicious celebration. It originated in ancient times, popularized in the Han Dynasty, shaped in the early years of the Tang Dynasty, prevailed after the Song Dynasty, and was called the four traditional festivals in China together with the Spring Festival, Tomb-Sweeping Day and Dragon Boat Festival. The Mid-Autumn Festival originated from the worship of celestial phenomena and evolved from the worship of the moon in autumn and evening in ancient times.
Customs of Mid-Autumn Festival:
1, enjoy the moon
There has been a custom of enjoying the moon in China since ancient times, and it is recorded in the Book of Rites that "the moon falls at dusk in autumn", that is, worshipping 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 on seasonal fruits such as moon cakes, watermelons, apples, plums and grapes, among which moon cakes and watermelons are absolutely indispensable.
2. Eat moon cakes
As the saying goes, "August 15th is a full moon, and Mid-Autumn moon cakes are sweet and fragrant". Moon cakes were originally used as sacrifices to the moon god. The word "moon cakes" first appeared in Wu Zimu's Dream of the Liang Lu in the Southern Song Dynasty. At that time, it was just a cake-shaped food like Linghua cake. Later, people gradually combined the Mid-Autumn Festival with mooncake tasting, which symbolizes family reunion.
3. Sacrifice the moon
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. Burn the lamp
The internal combustion candle of Mid-Autumn Night Lantern is tied to a bamboo pole with a rope, hung high on the tile eaves or terrace, or hung in a zigzag or various shapes with small lights at the height of the house, commonly known as "Mid-Autumn Festival on a tree" or "Mid-Autumn Festival vertically".
5. Watch the tide
In addition to enjoying the moon in the Mid-Autumn Festival in Zhejiang, tide watching is another Mid-Autumn Festival event. The custom of watching tide in Mid-Autumn Festival has a long history, which was described in detail in Mei Cheng's Fu of Seven Hair in Han Dynasty. After the Han Dynasty, the Mid-Autumn Festival tide watching became more popular. There are also records of watching the tide in Zhu Tinghuan's Supplementing the Past Events of Wulin in Ming Dynasty and Meng Liang Lu by Zi Mu in Song and Wu Dynasties.