How did the Mid-Autumn Festival evolve?

According to ancient records, Mid-Autumn Festival evolved from festivals held by ancient people. This song is a sacrificial ceremony for the Moon God at the Mid-Autumn Equinox in the 24 solar terms, and it is an ancient "Moon Festival". By the Han Dynasty, the Mid-Autumn Festival had become popular, and the court in the Tang Dynasty also recognized it as a national festival. The Book of Emperor Taizong recorded the Mid-Autumn Festival on August 15.

The custom of Mid-Autumn Festival has been popular in China, especially in the Chang 'an generation in the Tang Dynasty. Many famous poets have famous poems about chanting the moon, such as the Goddess Chang'e flying to the moon, Wu Gang cutting Guangxi, Jade Rabbit smashing medicine and other fairy tales. The Mid-Autumn Festival is full of myth and romance, and the wind of enjoying the moon and playing with it on August 15th is on the rise.

On the night of Mid-Autumn Festival, different dynasties, different generations, north and south have different customs and habits. The following three customs are the most common, which have lasted for a long time and become necessary customs for people.

(1) enjoy the moon

Mid-Autumn Festival, the autumn is crisp, the clouds are light and the wind is light, and the moonlight is bright. There were also activities in Yue Bai in ancient times, but now it is rare. The ancients attached great importance to offering sacrifices to the moon. The Book of Changes says that "the sun is the master of Yang and the moon is the master of Yin". In the eyes of the ancients, the sun and the moon represent yin and yang, and the balance of yin and yang is the starting point of everything.

In order to let the gods see people's sincerity, the Mid-Autumn Festival party held a grand ceremony to worship the moon. People will thank the gods for the fruitful harvest and pray for good weather and good luck in the coming year. According to Records of the Historian, the imperial court held a ceremony of offering sacrifices to the moon, in which "cows offered sacrifices to the sun and sheep offered sacrifices to the moon", that is, cows and sheep offered sacrifices to the sun and commemorated the moon. After the ceremony, a banquet was held to entertain the civil and military officials.

When people are in Yue Bai, they will put sacrificial tables and offerings in the yard, say some words of thanks to the gods and thank them for their ample food and clothing. Therefore, there is a hierarchy for offering sacrifices to the moon.

(2) Eat moon cakes

Moon cakes are sacrifices derived from the worship of the moon. They are round cakes made of flour in the activities of offering sacrifices to the moon, and they are sacrifices to the moon god. At the end of the sacrifice, people think that there is the blessing and aura of the moon god on the moon cake, and they are scrambling to enjoy the moon cake, hoping to get the blessing and blessing of the moon god.

At that time, the ancients were not called moon cakes, but called "Hu cakes" or "moon groups". There is another legend about the evolution of moon cakes: in the prosperous Tang Dynasty, because culture, economy and national strength all reached a highly developed stage, all countries came to Chang 'an for exchanges. During the period of Emperor Taizong, Li Jing went to Turkey and returned to his hometown. In order to reward him, Emperor Taizong held a banquet in the palace and invited many foreigners to congratulate him, taking this opportunity to carry forward the national prestige of the Tang Dynasty.

A businessman in Turpan presented Hu cake to the emperor, and Emperor Taizong was very happy. Pointing to the moon in the sky, he said, "You should invite toads to eat Hu cakes" and give them to ministers to taste. During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, Emperor Xuanzong and Yang Guifei enjoyed the moon on the Mid-Autumn Festival on August 15th and ate Hu Bing while tasting wine. Xuanzong thought the name Hu Bing was indecent and inappropriate. The imperial concubine looked at the moon in the sky and said, Let's call it moon cake. So far, the name of moon cakes has been passed down through the ages.

It is said that the emperor of the Tang Dynasty loved moon cakes and tied them up with red silk to give them to new Jinshi. At this point, moon cakes are not only offerings to the moon in the court, but also cakes that people like to eat. There are also many pastry shops run by the people. The taste of moon cakes is more and more varied under the careful production of chefs. It has become an indispensable delicacy when enjoying the moon in the Mid-Autumn Festival.

(3) Playing with lanterns

Besides enjoying the moon, eating moon cakes and reuniting with family members, the Mid-Autumn Festival also has the custom of playing with lanterns. Lanterns are mainly popular in the south. As early as the Northern Song Dynasty, there was a custom of playing lanterns on the Mid-Autumn Festival night. Among them, there is the game of "Little Red". Light a lamp and let it drift in the river, just like playing with a drift bottle. In autumn in Foshan, there are all kinds of colorful lanterns, such as eggshell lanterns, straw lanterns, sesame lanterns, melon seeds lanterns, flower tree lanterns and so on, which are amazing.

The most popular among children is the Kongming Lantern, which is called the sky lantern, as if it were a star in the sky, shining with the moon, causing people to stop and watch, laughing and laughing constantly. Of course, there are many local customs all over the country, which add fun to the Mid-Autumn Festival.

The night of Mid-Autumn Festival is also a time for wanderers to feel homesick. Since ancient times, literati have gathered in the Mid-Autumn Festival to enjoy wine tasting and the moon, expressing their homesickness and writing countless poems about the moon. Li Bai wrote "Drinking the Bright Moon Alone": from a pot of wine among the flowers, I drink alone. No one is with me. Until, holding up my cup, I asked the bright moon to bring me my shadow and let the three of us; Zhang Jiuling wrote "The full moon is now at sea, and the horizon is at this time", and the poet Du Fu wrote "He knows that the dew will be frost tonight, and the moonlight at home is so bright!" And so on.

Judging from the description of poetry, appreciating the moon is an indispensable Mid-Autumn Festival custom for poets. How pleasant it is to be reunited with family, eat moon cakes, make homemade chrysanthemum wine, sing poems and paint, and talk and laugh under the moon!