The significance of Mid-Autumn Festival

Mid-Autumn Festival means the second month of autumn.

Mid-Autumn Festival is the second month of autumn, which is the August of the lunar calendar. According to the China lunar calendar, August is the second month of autumn, which was called the Mid-Autumn Festival in ancient times, so it was called the Mid-Autumn Festival by the people. Looking at the sun in August (that is, the fifteenth day of the first month), also known as autumn evening, August festival, August and a half, full moon and full moon festival, is also called reunion festival because of the full moon on this day. There are many customs in the folk Mid-Autumn Festival, such as eating moon cakes, enjoying the moon, enjoying osmanthus and solve riddles on the lanterns.

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I. beginning of autumn

Beginning of autumn is the thirteenth of the twenty-four solar terms, and it is the beginning of autumn. The bucket refers to the southwest, and the sun reaches the longitude of 135, and it is celebrated on August 7 or 8 of the Gregorian calendar every year. "Reason" means the beginning; "Autumn" means that the grain is ripe. The change of the whole nature is a step-by-step process, and beginning of autumn is a turning point in which the Yang gradually closes, the Yin gradually grows, and the Yang gradually gets cloudy. In nature, everything begins to mature from luxuriance.

Second, the division of seasons.

1, solar terms method: The traditional method of dividing the four seasons takes "Li Si" in the 24 solar terms as the starting point of the four seasons, so beginning of autumn is the starting point of autumn. Bucket refers to beginning of autumn in southwest China. When the sun reaches longitude 135, it starts in the beginning of autumn and ends before beginning of winter in autumn. Beginning of autumn means that the sun be the spirit gradually closes, the yin be the spirit gradually grows, everything begins to move from luxuriant to mature, and the harvest season has arrived.

2. Temperature method: At present, the four seasons are often divided according to the temperature change, and the "average weather temperature" of modern scholar Zhang Baokun is used to divide them. According to the weather average temperature method, the average daily temperature for five consecutive days is between 10℃ and 22℃, which is regarded as autumn. Autumn divided by temperature means cool weather.

Third, traditional customs.

Beginning of autumn, beginning of spring, long summer and beginning of winter, also known as the "Four Estates", are also one of the "Four Seasons and Eight Festivals" in ancient times. In early autumn, there is a custom of offering sacrifices to the land gods and celebrating the harvest. In ancient times, after the autumn harvest, people would choose the auspicious day of the zodiac, on the one hand, to worship and thank God and ancestors for their blessings, on the other hand, to taste the newly harvested rice grains and celebrate the hard-won harvest.

In addition, there are some folk customs such as "pasting autumn fertilizer", "biting autumn" and "gnawing autumn" on beginning of autumn.