Besides China, South Korea also has Mid-Autumn Festival. What are the similarities and differences between their Mid-Autumn Festival and China's?

Festivals are the product of a nation's history and civilization, and also a symbol. In the evolution of history, every nation has its own special festivals. These festivals are closely related to history, culture and even the geographical environment of the country. The Mid-Autumn Festival in China is such an important festival with the particularity of China traditional culture.

China culture, as a cultural core of East Asian culture, has a great influence on the cultures of neighboring nationalities, as well as holiday customs, including China, which is particularly close to China. Many traditional Korean festivals are formed by contact with China culture and influenced by China, including the Mid-Autumn Festival mentioned above.

Although South Korea's Mid-Autumn Festival is a festival influenced by China culture, it does not mean that South Korea completely copied China's Mid-Autumn Festival, but consciously merged with its own culture to make it a festival suitable for its own people. So autumn is very different from the Mid-Autumn Festival in China, but there is no denying that autumn is similar to the Mid-Autumn Festival in China. So what are the similarities and differences between the two nationalities in the Mid-Autumn Festival?

First, the time difference of Mid-Autumn Festival.

The origin of Mid-Autumn Festival comes from ancestors' worship of the moon god. There are different opinions about when the Mid-Autumn Festival in China was formed. Among them, three opinions are the most convincing. One is that it was formed in the pre-Qin period, but at that time there was only the habit of offering sacrifices to the moon at the autumnal equinox, and there was no other historical data to support this view. Secondly, it was formed in the Tang Dynasty, because there were many poems about the moon at that time. Thirdly, it is said that the Mid-Autumn Festival didn't become a festival until the Song Dynasty, because it didn't become a national festival until then.

However, the Mid-Autumn Festival in Korea is very different from that in China. In Korea, it is not called Mid-Autumn Festival, but "Autumn Evening". Like China, the Mid-Autumn Festival in Korea is also in autumn, which is the harvest season in Korea, so it is one of the biggest festivals in Korea. Like China, the Mid-Autumn Festival is also on August 15, but the origins of the Mid-Autumn Festival in South Korea and China are different.

There is no record of moon worship in Korea, but it records the Three Kingdoms period, when kings and ministers would get together on August 15 to spend this special day. Later, the Koguryo dynasty even included autumn evening in one of the "Nine Customs Festivals". By the end of the Korean era, Qiuxi had been called its "four famous festivals" together with Spring Festival, Cold Food Festival and Dragon Boat Festival, which was actually very similar to China, because China regarded Mid-Autumn Festival, Spring Festival, Tomb-Sweeping Day and Dragon Boat Festival as four traditional festivals.

The earliest record of the origin of Mid-Autumn Festival in Korea comes from a book called The History of the Three Kingdoms. This book, written on 1 125, records an activity called "Jiaju" held in Silla Palace at that time, which was actually a manifestation of the Korean Mid-Autumn Festival. After that, many Korean books have repeatedly quoted the prosperity of autumn and evening recorded in this book, such as "Dong Guo Sui Ji".

In addition to South Korea's own history to record their Mid-Autumn Festival activities, China also described the Mid-Autumn Festival in South Korea. Silla in Sui Shu depicts the Mid-Autumn Festival in South Korea, which is the earliest record of the autumn night of Silla Dynasty in China at that time, but it can be seen that South Korea was already holding the Mid-Autumn Festival. And we can find that the autumn night in Silla is actually very different from the Mid-Autumn Festival in China.

The Mid-Autumn Festival in China really became a national festival in the Song Dynasty, but as early as Silla period in South Korea, it was already a national festival in South Korea.

Second, the custom of Mid-Autumn Festival.

Although the distance between China and South Korea is very close, due to various factors, the holiday customs of the two countries are quite different. So what are the similarities or differences?

China:

The custom of Mid-Autumn Festival in China is very simple, and the most important thing is to offer sacrifices to heaven. As early as the pre-Qin period, China people began to offer sacrifices to the moon at night. But now Yue Bai is not common, but the custom of enjoying the moon has been well preserved. But in fact, enjoying the moon originated from the custom of offering sacrifices to the moon. Generally speaking, enjoying the moon is very serious, and it is a little playful, so it is more acceptable to people.

In China, the must-eat food for Mid-Autumn Festival must be moon cakes. The moon cake is shaped like a full moon, which reflects people's simple expectation of reunion. In Notes on Traveling to the West Lake, Tian Ru's achievement is to write directly: "People take mooncakes as their business, which means reunion". This in itself is a very ardent expectation. It is this beautiful wish that makes moon cakes a must-have food for the Mid-Autumn Festival in China.

South Korea:

Although South Korea also has sacrificial activities in the Mid-Autumn Festival, it is different from China's offering sacrifices to ancestors. Besides, Korea doesn't eat moon cakes. They eat muffins in the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Koreans are also very particular about their sacrificial activities, as serious as China's ancestor worship. Koreans will prepare all the sacrifices early in the Mid-Autumn Festival, first offering sacrifices to the gods and then offering sacrifices to the ancestors. On the one hand, they pray for the blessing of the gods, on the other hand, they pray for the blessing of their ancestors.

In addition to these two sacrificial activities, which look no different from those in China, Koreans will also tug-of-war in the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Tug of war was not a leisure game in ancient times, but to pray for a bumper harvest. In South Korea, this morality has not decreased, and the rope used for tug-of-war is even made of harvested straw, which further aggravates the desire for a bumper harvest. It's not just to pray for a bumper harvest, but perhaps the straw with a bumper harvest has the meaning of many children and many blessings, so Koreans believe that as long as they cross the tug-of-war rope, infertile women can give birth to sons. This seemingly absurd statement was very popular at that time 1, which was enough to explain the "blind faith" of Koreans at that time.

In addition, the swing that Koreans love is naturally a reserved program above the Mid-Autumn Festival. The girls wear beautiful skirts and look particularly beautiful on the high swing, which is the most beautiful scenery in Korean festivals.

As mentioned above, South Korea's Mid-Autumn Festival cuisine is mainly muffins, so what is muffins? It is called muffin because it needs to be covered with pine needles during steaming to prevent muffins from sticking to the steamer. In South Korea, muffins are no different from moon cakes in China, and they are the most important Mid-Autumn Festival diets in both countries. Moreover, in Korea, making muffins is not "single-handedly", but requires the joint efforts of all family members. In the process of making muffins, it has already had the meaning of reunion.

Besides food, Koreans are also very particular about what to drink. On the Mid-Autumn Festival, they will drink a drink called new rice wine, which is made from the rice of that year, so it is called new rice. This wine just contains what Koreans hope for a bumper harvest in the coming year.

Third, cultural contrast.

Although the Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the four traditional festivals in China, its status is not the highest, far less than that of the Spring Festival in China. But in Korea, the Mid-Autumn Festival has a very high status, which can be said to be the most important traditional festival in a year, much more important than the Spring Festival.

China's Mid-Autumn Festival pays attention to reunion. The full moon on August 15 is a symbol of reunion in the hearts of China people, but it is far less important than the beginning of a year, because the beginning of a year represents a new beginning and a new life. But Koreans are different. Koreans have a devout worship of their ancestors. Mid-Autumn Festival is the most important ancestor worship activity in a year, which naturally has different meanings for Koreans.

China people's Mid-Autumn Festival is more casual, with a feeling of family reunion, and it is a festival with happiness. However, in Korea, this kind of happiness has become a respect for ancestors, which is very serious, which is essentially different in the connotation of festivals.