What to eat for Mid-Autumn Festival on July 15?

Eat ducks in the Mid-Autumn Festival on July 15th.

Many places in the country will choose to eat ducks in July and a half, because ducks swim in the water, taking the meaning of their river lanterns to pray. There is also a saying that "duck" means "pressure", which is homophonic. Eating duck is to suppress the "soul", which is a bit far-fetched, because "duck" and "pressure" are different in many places. People in Dongguan usually eat duck stuffed with lotus root.

Mid-Autumn Festival is the name of Taoism, which is called July and a half in folklore, and it is called Arahara Festival in Buddhism. Festival customs mainly include offering sacrifices to ancestors, setting off river lanterns, offering sacrifices to the dead, burning paper ingots and offering sacrifices to the ground. Its birth can be traced back to ancestor worship and related festivals in ancient times. July is auspicious month and filial month, and July 30 is a festival for people to celebrate the harvest and repay the earth in early autumn. Some crops are ripe, so people should worship their ancestors according to the law and report Qiu Cheng to them with new rice and other sacrifices.

The Historical Development of Mid-Autumn Festival

According to historical documents, autumn ancestor worship activities existed in the pre-Qin period. The custom of ancestor worship in July and a half is the product of local culture, and inclusive festivals are more complicated. It is not only an autumn festival for ancestor worship, but also the Mid-Autumn Festival of Taoism and the Bonin Festival of Buddhism. The folk, Taoism and monks are integrated.

In the seventh month of the lunar calendar, the crops are ripe, and some places in China have a tradition of holding ancestor worship ceremonies at this time since ancient times. The ancients offered sacrifices to their ancestors in spring, summer, autumn and winter. In July, they will provide newly harvested fruits, vegetables, millet and other grains, which is called "autumn tasting", also known as "recommending new things" and "tasting new things", that is, let ancestors taste new things in autumn.

In the 1920s and 1940s, July 30 was a grand and lively festival. People inherit the custom of ancestor worship in the family unit, and the ancient custom of ancestor worship first and food recommendation at the right time was still the primary content of the rural July 14th custom until the Republic of China. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, temples also increased their prayers for the spirit of "soldiers killed in the Anti-Japanese War".

In the 1950s, ancestor worship in July and a half was quite lively. However, it was later regarded as advocating feudal superstition and gradually marginalized. Traditionally, ancestor worship activities in July and a half were carried out by businesses with official assistance, but by the end of 1950s, most businesses had transformed, unable to undertake and without official assistance, and naturally disappeared.

In the contemporary era, although the revival of traditional culture has been mentioned again, the cultural meaning of "July 30" is largely related to Tomb-Sweeping Day. In addition, the Mid-Autumn Festival, which evolved in the later period, is closely related to the superstition of ghosts and gods, so it is not prominent in the existing festival system. Nowadays, the original meaning of the "July and a half" sacrificial activities is mostly held spontaneously and sporadically in the family, which no longer has the traditional propaganda.

Reference to the above content: Baidu Encyclopedia-Zhongyuan Festival