The Origin and Customs of Mid-Autumn Festival

The origins and customs of Mid-Autumn Festival are as follows

Mid-Autumn Festival is also called Moon Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, August Festival, Reunion Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, Moon Worship Festival and even Daughter's Day or Reunion Festival. It is one of the important festivals in China traditional culture.

At present, scholars agree that the Mid-Autumn Festival was popular from the Song Dynasty to the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and has become a traditional festival in China with the same reputation as the Spring Festival. Influenced by China culture, Mid-Autumn Festival is also a traditional festival for Japanese, Korean and some countries and regions in Southeast Asia, especially for local Chinese and overseas Chinese.

There are different opinions about the origin of Mid-Autumn Festival, but because it is in the pre-Qin period, there is little controversy. The Mid-Autumn Festival originated from the worship of the moon god in ancient times, which is the legacy and derivative of the custom of offering sacrifices to the moon by the Han people. Sacrificing the moon is one of the important ceremonies in ancient China. As early as the Zhou Dynasty, Emperor Tiandi had the custom of offering sacrifices to the sun at the vernal equinox, to the earth at the summer solstice, to the moon at the autumnal equinox and to heaven at the winter solstice. The Book of Rites records: "The son of heaven is sunny in spring and autumn is in the evening. The Asahi is facing the DPRK, and the evening is in the evening. "

The traditional calendar in China is related to the worship of the moon in ancient times. The ancients divided a year into four seasons, and each season was divided into three months: Meng, Zhong and Ji. August in the lunar calendar is the second month of autumn, which is called "Mid-Autumn Festival". August 15 falls on the Mid-Autumn Festival, so it is called the Mid-Autumn Festival. The Mid-Autumn Festival has gradually developed from the ancient emperors to the people, becoming an important festival of the Chinese nation.

Of course, there is also a saying that the Mid-Autumn Festival does not come from the worship of the moon in ancient times, but a folk festival to celebrate the harvest. The word "autumn" is interpreted as "autumn when crops are ripe" In agricultural society, autumn is a harvest day every year. In order to celebrate the grain harvest, express happy mood and expect a good harvest in the coming year, people hold various activities on the full moon night on August 15. These customs have been handed down and become the Mid-Autumn Festival.

In addition, it is also recorded in the Book of Rites and the Moon Order: "Mid-autumn moon breeds aging and eats porridge." This is not only the earliest record of the word "Mid-Autumn Festival", but also shows that in the Zhou Dynasty, the government would give porridge to the elderly on August 15 to strengthen their physique and prevent aging.