What are the customs about Mid-Autumn Festival?

August 15th of the lunar calendar is the traditional Mid-Autumn Festival. This is the middle of autumn, so it is called Mid-Autumn Festival. In China's lunar calendar, a year is divided into four seasons, and each season is divided into three parts: Meng, Zhong and Ji, so the Mid-Autumn Festival is also called the Mid-Autumn Festival. The moon on August 15 is rounder and brighter than the full moon in other months, so it is also called "moonlit night" and "August Festival".

"Mid-Autumn Festival" means the middle of autumn. August in the lunar calendar is a month in autumn, and the 15th is a day in this month. Therefore, the Mid-Autumn Festival may be a custom passed down from the ancient Autumn Newspaper. The common customs of Mid-Autumn Festival include offering sacrifices to the moon, enjoying the moon, Yue Bai, burning lanterns, guessing, eating moon cakes, enjoying osmanthus, drinking osmanthus wine, playing with lanterns and so on. I think there are four customs worth mentioning in Mid-Autumn Festival. Let's take a look:

? One of the customs of Mid-Autumn Festival: Eating moon cakes?

Moon cakes, also known as moon cakes, harvest cakes and reunion cakes, are one of the traditional delicacies of Han nationality in China. Moon cakes were originally used as offerings to worship the moon god and have a long history. The word "moon cake" was first seen in Liang Lumeng by Wu in the Southern Song Dynasty. Watching the moon and eating moon cakes is an essential custom in 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". ?

Dietary customs of the Mid-Autumn Festival on the 15th day of August in the Han Chinese calendar. Su Dongpo, a great poet in the Song Dynasty, once praised moon cakes with a poem, "A small cake is like chewing the moon, with crisp inside and stuffing inside", which shows that moon cakes in the Song Dynasty already have ghee and sugar stuffing.

In the Ming Dynasty, the custom of eating moon cakes on Mid-Autumn Festival became more common. Ming Shenbang's "Wan Bu Miscellaneous Notes" contains: "The furniture of ordinary people's homes is a kind of moon cake with different sizes, which is called moon cake." "Proceedings" said: "In August, Haitang and Hosta flowers were enjoyed in the palace. From the first day of the first lunar month, mooncakes have been sold, and by the fifteenth, every household has provided mooncakes and melons. If there are still moon cakes left, they should be stored in a dry and cool place and used separately at the end of the year, called reunion cakes. "

After the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, the custom of giving away mooncakes on Mid-Autumn Festival became increasingly popular, and mooncakes had the symbolic meaning of "reunion". From Qing Dynasty to modern times, new progress has been made in the quality and variety of moon cakes. Different raw materials, production methods and shapes make moon cakes more colorful, forming Beijing flavor, Suzhou flavor, Guangdong style and other unique varieties. Moon cakes are not only unique holiday food, but also exquisite cakes available in all seasons, which are deeply loved by people.

There have been many records about moon cakes since the Ming Dynasty. At this time, the moon cakes are round and only eaten in the Mid-Autumn Festival, which is the main offering of the popular Mid-Autumn Festival in the Ming Dynasty. "A Brief View of the Imperial Capital" says: "On August 15th, the moon is sacrificed, and the fruit cakes are round." "Home moonlight is located on the moon, worshiping the moon, then burning moonlight paper and withdrawing the supply, and the scattered family is over. Moon cakes bear fruit, and relatives feed them back. The cake is two feet in diameter. However, Su Dongpo, a famous scholar in the Northern Song Dynasty, left a poem "Little cakes are like chewing the moon, and there is fullness in the crisp", which may be the origin of the name of moon cakes and the basis of their practice. ?

? The second custom of Mid-Autumn Festival: enjoying osmanthus?

August of the lunar calendar, called Gui Yue in ancient times, is the best time to enjoy Guangxi. During the Mid-Autumn Festival, laurel trees are in full bloom, and Suzhou and Hangzhou, which are as beautiful as nature, are immersed in the fragrance of osmanthus. On a clear full moon night, the family tasted wine, and the fragrance of agarwood was refreshing. ? 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 write poems and lyrics to describe it, praise it and even deify it. In a series of moon palace myths such as the Goddess Chang'e flying to the moon and WU GANG, it is osmanthus that links them together. ?

Han Zicang's poem in the Song Dynasty: "There are guests planting flowers in the moon, and there are no flowers in the world that dare to compete for fragrance", saying that osmanthus trees are "the first among flowers". In modern times, after public selection, osmanthus trees have jumped to the throne of 10 famous flowers. ? Osmanthus fragrans has many names, which are called "Gui" because of its vein shape, "Wood" because of its dense texture and rhinoceros texture, "Rock Osmanthus fragrans" because of its natural distribution among clustered rock ridges, and "Li Qi Xiang" and "Murraya" because of its fragrance when it blooms. ?

Osmanthus fragrans has been closely related to the moon since ancient times, which means auspiciousness. It is said that there is a osmanthus tree on the moon, which is 500 feet high. In the Han Dynasty, there was a man from Hexi, WU GANG, who was punished for cutting laurels in the middle of the month because he didn't obey the rules when learning immortals. However, this tree cannot be cut down. Thousands of years have passed, although WU GANG is hard to cut down trees every day, every Mid-Autumn Festival, osmanthus trees are still full of vitality and fragrance. Only in the Mid-Autumn Festival will Wu Can and his party rest under the tree and reunite with the world. On the Mid-Autumn Festival full moon night, enjoying the moon with osmanthus fragrance under the osmanthus tree has a special taste, because osmanthus is sweet for people's pursuit and praise of life.

? The third custom of Mid-Autumn Festival: Drink osmanthus wine?

China has had the custom of drinking "osmanthus wine" on Mid-Autumn Festival since ancient times. In the memory of the older generation, a traditional Mid-Autumn Festival night is indispensable to three elements, that is, the bright moon, moon cakes and osmanthus wine.

On the night of Mid-Autumn Festival, people look up at the sweet-scented osmanthus in the middle of the month, smell the bursts of Gui Xiang, drink a glass of sweet-scented osmanthus wine, celebrate the sweetness of the whole family and get together, which has become a wonderful enjoyment of the festival. Osmanthus fragrans is not only ornamental, but also edible. In Qu Yuan's "Nine Songs", there is a poem about "helping Ma Zhang to drink cinnamon pulp" and "drinking cinnamon wine and pepper pulp". It can be seen that China has been drinking osmanthus wine for quite a long time.

During the Mid-Autumn Festival, everyone's first choice is to eat moon cakes, because moon cakes have a sweet and greasy feeling, and if you eat too much, you will feel very tired. So elders like to drink osmanthus wine or osmanthus tea to relieve boredom. Osmanthus fragrans, which has always been called "Murraya", can also be made into many foods. It's fragrant and delicious, and other foods taste good. For example, Osmanthus Jelly and osmanthus tea, which we often hear about, are both finished products of osmanthus. 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. There is a legend about osmanthus wine, which is about WU GANG. Everyone knows WU GANG. He is a fairy who lives on the moon. He was punished by the Emperor of Heaven and cut down the osmanthus tree in the Moon Palace. It is said that once, he almost froze to death in front of Miss Brewmaster, and Miss Brewmaster saved him. So he repaid Ms. Brewmaster with cinnamon. After planting cinnamon, it grows into a osmanthus tree and blooms in Gui Xiang.

Because WU GANG lives in the "Moon Palace", that is, on the moon, and because it is related to the moon, people will naturally think of this osmanthus wine related to him every Mid-Autumn Festival. People celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival. A full moon hangs in the sky. People eat moon cakes and drink osmanthus wine in the yard. This is probably what Mid-Autumn Festival looks like. The reason why people drink osmanthus wine in the Mid-Autumn Festival is because of the above. Osmanthus fragrans has the reputation of "Nine Fragrants", and the custom of enjoying Osmanthus fragrans in Mid-Autumn Festival has a long history.

The fourth custom of Mid-Autumn Festival: Lantern Festival?

On the night of Mid-Autumn Festival, the sky is as clear as water and the moon is as bright as a mirror, which can be described as a beautiful scene. But people are not satisfied with this, so they have the custom of burning lanterns to help the moon. The ancients had the custom of "burning lanterns" to help the moon. On the Mid-Autumn Festival, every household is very lively, and lanterns made of bamboo sticks are hung at the height of the house, commonly known as "Mid-Autumn Festival on the tree" or "Mid-Autumn Festival vertically". ?

The home is brightly lit and the moon is in the sky, so the atmosphere inside and outside the house is warm and happy. Therefore, in order to prevent people from feeling suddenly lost at the end of the party, it is suggested that the small light at home be turned on, even if the party is over, it will not feel particularly empty. ? Moreover, the god of wealth appears in the Mid-Autumn Festival, so it is best to light a lamp at home to guide the god of wealth. This can also bring wealth to the family. ? On the night of Mid-Autumn Festival, the sky is as clear as water and the moon is as bright as a mirror, which can be described as a beautiful scene. However, people are not satisfied with this, so there is a custom of burning lanterns to help the moon. ?

In Huguang area, it is customary to stack tiles on the tower and burn lights on it. In Jiangnan, there is a custom of making lanterns. In the modern Mid-Autumn Festival, the custom of burning lanterns is more popular. Modern people Zhou Yunjin and He Wei said in the article "Talking about the Four Seasons": "Guangdong lanterns are the most prosperous, and every household uses bamboo sticks to tie lanterns ten days before the festival. ? Make words such as fruits, birds and animals, fish and insects and celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival, and paint various colors on the paste paper. Mid-autumn night lights are tied to bamboo poles with ropes, and tall trees are placed on tile eaves or terraces, or small lights are used to spell fonts or various shapes, and hung on the heights of houses, commonly known as Mid-Autumn Festival among trees or Mid-Autumn Festival vertically. ?

Rich people can hang lights as high as tens of feet. Families gather under the lamp to enjoy drinking, and ordinary people erect a flagpole and two lanterns to enjoy themselves. The city is full of lights and glass. "It seems that the custom of burning lanterns in the Mid-Autumn Festival has been second only to the Lantern Festival since ancient times.

Today, eating moon cakes has become an essential custom of Mid-Autumn Festival in northern and southern China. Mooncakes symbolize a happy reunion. People regard them as holiday food, use them to worship the moon and give them to relatives and friends. In addition to moon cakes, all kinds of seasonal fresh fruits and dried fruits are also delicious in the Mid-Autumn Festival. ? During the Mid-Autumn Festival, there are fewer clouds and more fog, and the moonlight is bright and bright. There are a series of festivals, such as enjoying the moon, offering sacrifices to the moon, eating moon cakes, eating sweet potatoes, carrying lanterns, dancing grass dragons, planting trees and building stupas.