What are the customs of the Mid-Autumn Festival?

The Mid-Autumn Festival (alias: Mid-Autumn Festival, Autumn Eve, August Festival, August Half,) is one of the four major traditional Chinese festivals, which falls on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar. Since ancient times, the Mid-Autumn Festival has been characterized by folk customs such as sacrificing to the moon, enjoying the moon, eating mooncakes, playing with lanterns, enjoying osmanthus flowers, drinking osmanthus wine, etc., which have been passed down to the present day and are still uninterrupted. Later on, people gradually combined moonlight viewing with mooncakes to symbolize family reunion and to send their thoughts. At the same time, mooncakes are also used as a gift for friends during the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Traditional Activities

Moon Sacrifice, Moon Appreciation, Moon Worship

The Book of Rites has long recorded that "the moon is set on the eve of Autumn," meaning that the moon god is worshipped, and that at this time, the moon is welcomed and sacrificed to the moon, and incense is set up. To the Zhou Dynasty, every Mid-Autumn Festival night to be held to welcome the cold and moon festival. A large incense burner was set up, and offerings such as mooncakes, watermelons, apples, jujubes, plums, grapes, etc. were placed on the table, among which mooncakes and watermelons were absolutely indispensable, and the watermelons had to be cut into the shape of a lotus flower. Under the moon, the statue of the moon god is placed in the direction of the moon, red candles are lit high, and the whole family pays homage to the moon in turn, and then the housewife of the family cuts the mooncakes for reunion. The person who cuts it counts in advance how many people in the family ****, at home, out of town, should be counted together, can not cut more or less, the size should be the same. In the ethnic minorities, the same prevalence of moon worship custom.

Legend has it that the ancient Qi ugly girl without salt, when young, used to worship the moon devoutly, and when she grew up, she was admitted to the palace with superb character, but was not favored. One year, on the 15th day of the 8th month to enjoy the moon, the son of heaven saw her under the moonlight, thought she was beautiful and outstanding, and later set her up as the queen, the mid-autumn festival to worship the moon thus came to be. Chang'e in the moon, known for her beauty, so young girls worship the moon, wishing "look like Chang'e, face like the moon". The Yunnan Dai people in the Mid-Autumn Festival night, the same prevalence of "moon worship" custom.

The custom of moon worship on Mid-Autumn Day was very popular in the Tang Dynasty, and many poets wrote poems about the moon in their masterpieces. To the Song Dynasty, the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival style is more prevalent, every day, "the noble family decorative platforms and pavilions, the people compete to take over the restaurant to play the moon". Ming and Qing court and folk moon worship and moon viewing activities on a larger scale, China has survived a lot of "moon worship altar", "moon worship pavilions", "moon watch building" and other monuments. Literati and scholars are even more fascinated by the moon, or they climbed the building to catch the moon or canoeing to invite the moon, drinking and writing poems, leaving a lot of popular songs of the past. For example, Du Fu "August 15 night moon" symbolizes the reunion of the fifteenth moon to reflect their own wandering in a foreign land of the sadness of the detainees; Song Dynasty literary hero Su Shi, Mid-Autumn Festival drinking up to the day, drunkenness, and made the "Song of Water," the roundness of the moon as a metaphor for the separation of the human being. Until today, sitting together as a family and enjoying the beauty of the moon in the sky is still one of the indispensable activities of the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Tide-watching

In ancient times, in addition to the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival, tide-watching was another Mid-Autumn event in Zhejiang. Mid-autumn tide-watching custom has a long history, as early as the Han Dynasty, Mei multiplied the "seven hair" in the fugue has a fairly detailed account. After the Han Dynasty, the custom of watching the tide in mid-autumn was even more prevalent. Ming Zhu Tinghuan "Additions to the Old Story of Wulin" and Song Wu Zimu "Dream Liang Records" also have tide watching records.

Lighting

On the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, it was customary to light lamps to help the moon shine. Nowadays, there are still tiles stacked on the tower in the tower of the festival custom of burning lamps. In the south of the Yangtze River, there is the custom of making lantern boats. In recent times, the custom of burning lamps in the Mid-Autumn Festival is more prevalent. Zhou Yunjin and He Xiangfei, "Idle thoughts on the festival", said: "Guangdong, the most prevalent lanterns, each family in the festival ten days before the bamboo strips tied lanterns. The lanterns were made in the shape of fruits, birds, animals, fishes and worms, and the words 'Celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival' were painted on colored paper in various colors. Mid-Autumn Festival night lights burning candles with a rope tied to a bamboo pole, erected on the eaves or terrace, or with a small lamp built into a character or various shapes, hanging in the house high, commonly known as 'tree Mid-Autumn Festival' or 'vertical Mid-Autumn Festival'. The lights hung by the rich and noble families, up to several feet high, the family gathered under the lights to drink for fun, the ordinary people are erected a flagpole, two lanterns, but also to take their own fun. City full of lights is like a glazed world." It seems that from ancient times to the Mid-Autumn Festival lighting custom of its scale seems to be second only to the Lantern Festival.

Riddle

Mid-Autumn Moon Festival night in the public **** place hanging a lot of lanterns, people are gathered together, guessing the riddles written on the lantern body, because it is most young men and women favorite activities, at the same time in the activities also rumors of love story, so Mid-Autumn Riddle Guessing is also derived from a man and woman in love with each other in the form of riddles.

Eating mooncakes

Mid-Autumn Festival moon viewing and eating mooncakes are essential customs for Mid-Autumn Festival across China, as the saying goes, "The moon is full on the 15th day of the 8th month, and Mid-Autumn mooncakes are fragrant and sweet." The word "mooncake" originated from Wu Zimu's "Mengliang Records" in the Southern Song Dynasty, and it was only a kind of snack food at that time. Later on, people gradually combined moonlight appreciation with mooncakes to symbolize family reunion and to send their thoughts. At the same time, mooncakes are also an important gift for friends to get in touch with each other during the Mid-Autumn Festival.

In Xiamen, Fujian Province, there is also the custom of mooncakes, and mooncakes have been listed as a national intangible cultural heritage program.

Appreciating osmanthus flowers and drinking osmanthus wine

People often eat mooncakes to appreciate osmanthus flowers and consume a variety of foods made from osmanthus flowers during the Mid-Autumn Festival, with pastries and candies being the most common.

On the night of Mid-Autumn Festival, looking up at the laurel in the moon, smelling the fragrance of osmanthus, drinking a cup of osmanthus wine, celebrating the sweetness of the family, has become a kind of enjoyment of the festival. In modern times, people mostly take red wine instead.

Playing with lanterns

The Mid-Autumn Festival does not have a large lantern festival like the Lantern Festival, and playing with lanterns is mainly carried out only among families and children. As early as in the Northern Song Dynasty, "Wulin Old Story", recorded in the Mid-Autumn Festival night custom, there will be 'a little red' lights into the river drift play activities. Mid-autumn play lanterns, mostly concentrated in the south. Such as the Foshan Autumn Colors, there are all kinds of colored lanterns: sesame lamps, eggshell lamps, shavings lamps, straw lamps, fish scale lamps, cereal lamps, melon seed lamps, and birds and animals, flowers and trees lamps, and so on.

In Guangzhou, Hong Kong and other places, the Mid-Autumn Festival night to carry out tree Mid-Autumn Festival activities, the tree is also used as a vertical, that is, the meaning of the lamps and lanterns up high. Children in the parents with the assistance of bamboo paper tied into a rabbit lamp, Yang Peach lamp or square lamps, hung horizontally in the short pole, and then erected on a high pole, high technology up, colorful light shining, for the Mid-Autumn Festival to add a scene. The children compete with each other to see who can put up the highest and most exquisite lanterns. In addition, there are sky lanterns, that is, the Kongming lanterns, with paper tied into a large-shaped lights, lights under the candle, hot air upward, so that the lights flying in the air, attracting laughter and chasing. In addition, there are children's hand-held lanterns in the moonlight play play.

In the Nanning area of Guangxi, in addition to the paper and bamboo tied all kinds of lanterns for children to play, there are also very simple pomelo lamps, pumpkin lamps, orange lamps. The so-called pomelo lamp, is the pomelo hollowed out, carved out a simple pattern, put on the rope, inside the candle into, light elegant. Pumpkin lanterns and tangerine lanterns are also made by hollowing out the flesh. Although simple, but easy to make, very popular, some children also float pomelo lamps into the water of the river as a game.

Guangxi has a simple household autumn lanterns, is to six bamboo gabion circles tied into a lamp, outside the paste white gauze paper, inserted inside the candle that is made. It is hung next to the moon festival table for the moon festival, and it can also be played by children. Burning Pagoda

The game of Burning Wazi Lantern (or Burning Flower Pagoda, Burning Pagoda, Burning Pagoda) is widely practiced in the south. Such as "Chinese national customs" Volume V: Jiangxi "Mid-Autumn Festival night, the general children in the field to pick up tiles, piled into a round tower shape, there are many holes. At dusk under the bright moon in the firewood tower burned. Once the tile burns red, and then splashed with kerosene, oil on fire, and then the four fields are red, shining like day. Until the end of the night, no one to watch, and then splash rest, is the name of the burning tile lights. Chaozhou, Guangdong, burning tile tower, also made of brick and tile hollow tower, filled with twigs burning fire. At the same time also burning smoke pile, that is, the grass and firewood piled into a heap, burned at the end of the moon worship. The burning of the pagoda in the Guangxi border area is also similar to this activity, but folklore says that it is to commemorate the heroic battle of Liu Yongfu, a famous general in the Qing Dynasty, who fled into the pagoda and burned to death the ghosts (French invaders) of the Fenghui (French invaders). In Fujian Jinjiang, there is also the activity of "burning pagodas".

Legend has it that this custom is related to the righteous act of resistance against the Yuan soldiers. After the establishment of the Yuan Dynasty, the bloody rule of the Han people, so the Han people will be unyielding resistance, all over the Mid-Autumn Festival to meet the uprising, in the top of the pagoda fire as a signal. Similar to the Peak Fire Terrace fire uprising, this resistance was suppressed, but survived the custom of burning pagodas.