Understand the legend of Mid-Autumn Festival and the life of solar terms.

Every culture has legends related to the moon, and the moon in the eyes of orientals is particularly romantic and mysterious, so many related legends have developed. The moon in Mid-Autumn Festival is the largest and roundest, symbolizing the day of family reunion. On this day, every family inherits the customs related to the Mid-Autumn Festival, worships gods, enjoys the moon, eats seasonal food, tells stories related to the moon and has a good time together.

Solar life

Moon worshipper

The Book of Rites records that the son of heaven worships the sun in spring and the moon in autumn, meaning that the son of heaven worships the moon in autumn. The ancients sacrificed the moon to represent the moon and symbolize the autumn harvest, which is also the "autumn newspaper". So especially in the Mid-Autumn Festival, prepare plenty of food to thank the moon.

reclaim wasteland

Legend has it that the Mid-Autumn Festival is also the day when the earth god becomes immortal. In order to thank the land god for blessing this year's bumper harvest, every Mid-Autumn Festival, farmers will prepare rich food to worship the land god. In addition to food, we should also make a "land turn", open bamboo in gold paper (land gong Jin) and three sticks of incense, and give it to very old land for public use. Ask him to help patrol the end of Tiantouyuan, indicating that there are still crops in the country that have not been harvested. Please take care of the land and bless the crops to grow well.

To the moon.

In ancient times, every Mid-Autumn Festival, girls who seldom went out at night would dress up beautifully, travel with their sisters, visit friends, enjoy the beautiful moon while singing, or go to temples to pray for a good marriage. This is the so-called "walking on the moon". In modern times, it is a family reunion, enjoying the moon outdoors together.

Eat reunion cakes

Round moon cakes correspond to the round moon in the sky, symbolizing reunion. On the Mid-Autumn Festival, people who study or work in other places will rush home for the New Year, and the family will sit around and share moon cakes, so moon cakes are also called "reunion cakes". If someone can't go home on this day, his family should help him keep a moon cake for him to eat when he comes back.

Eat grapefruit

Grapefruit is homophonic with "Duan Liyang", meaning to bless peace. Before and after the Mid-Autumn Festival, grapefruit is in full bloom, so grapefruit has become a holiday food. Cut off the stem of a grapefruit and then divide the skin into several petals. After peeling off the pulp, the grapefruit skin becomes a grapefruit hat. Children wearing grapefruit hats play in the moonlight, adding a lot of laughter to the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Mid-autumn legend

Yu Tu Daoyao

In addition to the legends and stories in this book, there are different versions of Mid-Autumn Festival legends. Legend has it that after Chang 'e stole the elixir of life, the Emperor of Heaven was very angry, so he punished Chang 'e to become a jade rabbit. When the full moon came, he took the jade pestle to help the immortals to make the elixir of life. In the Qing Dynasty, the Mid-Autumn Festival had the custom of "worshipping male prostitutes". Male prostitute refers to the Jade Rabbit in the Moon Palace.

Wugang cut laurel

According to legend, WU GANG was a woodcutter. He wants to live forever, but refuses to study hard. So the Emperor of Heaven left him in the Moon Palace, stipulating that he must cut down the laurel tree to gain eternal life. However, this osmanthus tree has magical healing power. No matter how many knives are cut, osmanthus trees will recover immediately without any gaps. So WU GANG had to cut down the laurel tree that could never be cut down day after day, and it is still in the Moon Palace.

This article is excerpted from the publication "Shooting the Sun and Running to the Moon: The Story of Mid-Autumn Festival". Please do not reprint without authorization.