Folk customs of Mid-Autumn Festival

The Mid-Autumn Festival began in the early years of the Tang Dynasty and prevailed in the Song Dynasty. As one of the folk festivals in China, it has formed its unique cultural characteristics after thousands of years of cultural precipitation. Besides enjoying the moon and eating moon cakes, there are many folk customs:

1- enjoy osmanthus

Osmanthus fragrans enjoys flowers in the Mid-Autumn Festival, not only because Osmanthus fragrans blooms in the Mid-Autumn Festival, but also because Osmanthus fragrans entrusts people with the pursuit and praise of life, which is sweet. In ancient times, the eighth month of the lunar calendar was called Gui Yue, and this month is the best time to enjoy Guangxi. Osmanthus fragrans in China and the bright moon in Mid-Autumn Festival have been linked with the cultural life of our people since ancient times. Many poets describe it, praise it and even deify it. It is osmanthus that connects them.

Osmanthus fragrans, known as "Murraya", is a kind of traditional precious flowers and trees that our people love very much. Since ancient times, people have regarded osmanthus fragrans and its fruits as "spiritual reality from heaven" and as a symbol of loftiness, beauty and auspiciousness. Therefore, people praise good children and grandchildren as "Gui Zi Lan Sun"; "Jinshi Ji" or being admitted to the top scholar is called "Deng Ke"; Call the Moon Palace "Ghost Palace" and use "Ghost Woman" as a metaphor for the moon. The working people in our country have also created many beautiful fairy tales with osmanthus and the moon as their themes. In Mid-Autumn Festival, it is more delicious to enjoy osmanthus, because osmanthus is entrusted with people's pursuit and praises that life is sweet.

2- Drink osmanthus wine

After autumn, osmanthus flowers are in full bloom, and when the Mid-Autumn Festival comes, flowers begin to fall. People will pick osmanthus and brew osmanthus wine. Osmanthus fragrans wine brewed with Osmanthus fragrans is mellow, sweet and sour. After drinking, the lingering fragrance will last for a long time. Eating moon cakes and drinking osmanthus wine can relieve boredom, and osmanthus wine helps sleep.

Besides, drinking osmanthus wine on Mid-Autumn Festival is actually meaningful. Osmanthus fragrans is a symbol of wealth and good luck. "Gui" and "Gui" are homophonic, which is a symbol of wealth. So osmanthus wine is very popular with people.

3- Eat moon cakes

Eating moon cakes on Mid-Autumn Festival is a traditional folk custom in China, just like eating zongzi on Dragon Boat Festival and glutinous rice balls on Lantern Festival. It is said that there was a custom of eating moon cakes in the Mid-Autumn Festival in the Tang Dynasty, but as a food name, moon cakes were associated with the Mid-Autumn Festival in the Song Dynasty. The royal family in the Northern Song Dynasty likes to eat a kind of "palace cake" in the Mid-Autumn Festival, which is commonly known as "small cake" among the people. Su Dongpo said in a poem: "A small cake is like chewing the moon, and there is pulp in it." Zhou Mi, a writer in the Southern Song Dynasty, first mentioned the name "moon cake" in Old Wulin. According to legend, at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, people also used moon cakes to convey anti-meta information, indicating that moon cakes had entered the homes of ordinary people at that time and became a necessary food for the Mid-Autumn Festival. For a long time, China people have accumulated rich experience in making moon cakes. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, bakers printed fairy tales such as the Goddess Chang'e flying to the moon on moon cakes as food art paintings. A scholar in the Qing dynasty described it as "peach-stuffed moon cakes, icing ice cream", which seems quite similar to the present moon cakes. In modern times, with workshops specializing in making moon cakes, moon cakes are made more finely, with exquisite fillings and beautiful appearance, and are also divided into flat, Soviet, Guangdong and desktop flavors. As a symbol of auspiciousness and reunion, moon cakes are entrusted with people's good wishes. The custom of eating and sending moon cakes has continued to this day.

4- Sacrifice to the Moon

In ancient China, there was a custom of "Autumn Evening and Twilight Moon", that is, to worship the moon god. On the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month, every household will set up a fragrant table to offer sacrifices such as moon cakes, apples, peanuts, watermelons and pomegranates. Among them, all kinds of moon cakes and watermelons are absolutely indispensable. Watermelon needs to be cut into lotus shapes. Under the moon, the moon statue is placed in the direction where the moon comes out, and then red candles and high incense are lit. Under the leadership of the elders, the whole family will worship the moon god in turn, and then the housewife will cut up the reunion moon cake.

Housewives must cut moon cakes according to the number of families in advance. Those at home and those who are not at home should be counted together. When cutting, you can't cut more and less, and the size and shape should be the same. After that, the housewife will distribute it to the family present, first the elders and then the younger generation, and those who go out will keep a copy. This symbolizes family reunion and happiness.

5- Eat Osmanthus Jelly

There are many reasons to eat Osmanthus Jelly in Mid-Autumn Festival. The first and most important reason is that the Mid-Autumn Festival is mostly in October of the lunar calendar, which is the season of sweet-scented osmanthus fragrance. At this time, osmanthus fragrance is rich, which is very suitable for brewing sweet and soft Osmanthus Jelly. Some people will also brew some osmanthus wine with unique osmanthus fragrance.

Secondly, when osmanthus is in full bloom, it is also the time of autumn harvest. At this time, people like to pick some sweet-scented osmanthus to make cakes and taste Osmanthus Jelly to express their gratitude for the autumn harvest and share the joy and beauty of the harvest. Moreover, the petals of osmanthus fragrans are very small and elegant, which symbolizes harvest and beauty, so eating Osmanthus Jelly in Mid-Autumn Festival also symbolizes the pursuit of a better life.

Generally speaking, there are two reasons for eating Osmanthus Jelly in Mid-Autumn Festival. First, at this time, osmanthus fragrance is flourishing, which makes Osmanthus Jelly taste good; Secondly, osmanthus symbolizes harvest and beauty, so people will eat Osmanthus Jelly at this time to express their pursuit.

6- Combustion Tower

Burn the tower on Mid-Autumn Night. The height of the tower varies from 1-3 meters, mostly made of broken tiles. The tower is also made of bricks, accounting for about 1/4 of the tower height, and then stacked with tiles, leaving a tower mouth at the top for fuel transportation. On the night of Mid-Autumn Festival, it will be lit and burned. The fuel is wood, bamboo, chaff, etc. When the fire is booming, rosin powder will be poured to cheer, which is very spectacular.

There are also folk rules for burning stupas. Whoever burns the stupa to the whole house wins, and those who fail or collapse in the burning process lose. The winner will be presented with colorful flags, bonuses or prizes by the host. It is said that burning towers is also the origin of Han people's resistance to cruel rulers and Mid-Autumn Uprising at the end of Yuan Dynasty.

Modern people use "burning towers" to pray for a full meal, a prosperous home and the safety of relatives and friends. Jiangxi, Guangzhou and other places still follow this custom.

7-color lantern

Since ancient times, people in China have had the custom of celebrating the Lantern Festival in the Mid-Autumn Festival. In the Northern Song Dynasty, "Old Wulin Story" recorded that during the Mid-Autumn Festival, the "Little Red" lantern was put into the river to drift and play. Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the custom of Mid-Autumn Festival has become more popular, and many places have formed customs such as planting Mid-Autumn Festival trees and putting lanterns.

Lantern Festival is not only a variety, but also often decorated with paper-cuts, calligraphy and painting, poetry and so on, which is a display of traditional folk handicrafts in China. In Guangzhou, Hong Kong and other places, the activity of "Tree Mid-Autumn Festival" means putting up colored lights. Bright colored lights not only enrich the festive atmosphere, but also become a unique landscape of the city. In Nanning, Guangxi, in addition to all kinds of lanterns tied with paper and bamboo for children to play with, there are also simple lanterns, pumpkin lanterns and orange lanterns. The so-called "sky lantern", that is, Kongming lantern, is a kind of paper lamp. Light a candle under a lamp. The hot air can make the lamp fly into the air and make people smile.

Lights symbolize hope. Lantern viewing is very popular in traditional festivals in China, which shows that the Chinese nation is optimistic about life and full of expectations for the future.

Although the customs of the Mid-Autumn Festival are varied, China people's desire to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival and their hope for family reunion and a better life are always the same.