A Brief Introduction to the Origin and Customs of Mid-Autumn Festival

1. The Mid-Autumn Festival originated from the worship of celestial phenomena and evolved from the worship of the autumn moon in ancient times. At first, the Mid-Autumn Festival was celebrated on the "autumnal equinox" of the twenty-four solar terms of the lunar calendar, and later it was moved to the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month. In some places, the Mid-Autumn Festival is set on August 16th of the lunar calendar. Appreciating the moon and eating moon cakes are essential customs of Mid-Autumn Festival in all parts of China. As the saying goes, "Moon cakes are sweet and fragrant when they are full on August 15th".

2. On the Mid-Autumn Festival night, there is the custom of burning lanterns to help the moon. Nowadays, there is still the custom of piling tiles and burning lamps on towers in Huguang area. There is a custom of making canoes in the south of the Yangtze River. The custom of burning lanterns in modern Mid-Autumn Festival is more prosperous. Common customs of Mid-Autumn Festival include solve riddles on the lanterns, tide watching, osmanthus appreciation and osmanthus wine drinking.

3. In addition, many places also have their own unique Mid-Autumn Festival customs, such as Hong Kong's dragon dance, Anhui's stupa, Shandong's ancestor worship, Guangzhou's tree Mid-Autumn Festival, Jinjiang's tower-burning boy, Suzhou Shihu's moon-watching, Dai's and Miao's moon-jumping, Dong's stealing dishes, Gaoshan's ball-holding dance and so on.