Mid-Autumn Festival History Competition

The Mid-Autumn Festival began in the early years of the Tang Dynasty, flourished in the Song Dynasty, and by the time of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it had become one of the traditional Chinese festivals on a par with the Spring Festival. Influenced by Chinese culture, the Mid-Autumn Festival is also a traditional festival in some East and Southeast Asian countries, especially for local Chinese. The Mid-Autumn Festival has been listed as a national holiday since 2008.

On May 20, 2006, the State Council listed it as one of the first national intangible cultural heritage. Since ancient times, the Mid-Autumn Festival has been characterized by the customs of sacrificing to the moon, enjoying the moon, worshipping the moon, eating mooncakes, enjoying osmanthus flowers and drinking osmanthus wine, which have been passed down to the present day and are still uninterrupted. The Mid-Autumn Festival has become a colorful and precious cultural heritage, with the fullness of the moon as an omen of human reunion, as a way of sending thoughts to the hometown and relatives, and as a way of praying for a good harvest and happiness. The Mid-Autumn Festival, together with the Dragon Boat Festival, Spring Festival and Ching Ming Festival, are known as the four major traditional festivals in China.

On the origin of the Mid-Autumn Festival, there are many different ways of saying it. The term Mid-Autumn Festival, the earliest in the "Zhou Li", "Rituals - Monthly Order" on the said: "the month of mid-autumn to raise the aging, the line of surimi porridge diet." One said that it originated from the ancient emperor's sacrificial activities. The Book of Rites records: "the son of heaven in the spring towards the sun, the moon in the fall", the moon is the moon sacrifice, indicating that as early as in the Spring and Autumn Period, the emperor has begun to sacrifice the moon, worship the moon. Later on, noble officials and literati and scholars also followed suit, and gradually spread to the people.

The second is that the origin of the Mid-Autumn Festival is related to agricultural production. Autumn is the season of harvest. The interpretation of the word "autumn" is: "the crops are ripe in the fall". Mid-Autumn in August, crops and various fruits are ripening one after another, farmers in order to celebrate the harvest, to express the joy, the "Mid-Autumn" day as a holiday. "Mid-Autumn" means the middle of autumn, the lunar calendar, August is the middle of the month of autumn, the 15th is the middle of the month, so the Mid-Autumn Festival may be the ancients "Autumn News" inherited customs. Some historians have pointed out that the origin of the Mid-Autumn Festival should be the end of the Sui Dynasty Tang Dynasty on the 15th day of the 8th month of the 13th year of the Daiye Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty Pei Silence to the full moon as the idea of the success of the invention of the moon cake, and widely distributed to the army as a military pay.

The legend of the Mid-Autumn Festival is very rich, Chang'e runs to the moon, Wu Gang fells the cinnamon, the Jade Rabbit pounded medicine and other myths are widely spread.

One of the Mid-Autumn Festival legends - Chang'e Run to the Moon

According to legend, in ancient times, there were ten days in the sky at the same time, sunburned crops withered, the people do not have enough to live on, a hero named Hou Yi, infinite strength, he sympathized with the suffering people, climbed to the top of the Kunlun Mountains, the transportation of full divine power, pulled open the bow, a gas shot down more than nine suns, and strictly ordered the last one on time, and the last one on time. He also ordered the last sun to rise and set on time for the benefit of the people.

Hou Yi was thus honored and loved by the people, and he married a beautiful and kind wife named Chang'e. In addition to his hunting skills, Hou Yi also had the ability to hunt and hunt with his bow, which he used to shoot more than nine suns. Hou Yi in addition to the art of hunting, all day long and his wife together, people are envious of this couple of love.

Many people came to learn from Hou Yi, and the evil-minded Peng Meng also came in.

One day, Hou Yi went to the Kunlun Mountains to visit friends and seek Taoism, and coincidentally met the Queen Mother passing by, so he asked the Queen Mother for a packet of immortality medicine. It was said that by taking this medicine, one could instantly ascend to heaven and become immortal. However, Hou Yi could not leave his wife behind, so he temporarily gave the immortality pill to Chang'e to treasure. Chang'e hid the medicine in the treasure box of the dresser, but was unexpectedly seen by the villain Peng Meng, who wanted to steal the medicine to become immortal himself.

Three days later, Houyi led a group of disciples to go out hunting, and Peng Meng pretended to be sick and stayed behind. Shortly after Hou Yi left, Peng Meng broke into the backyard of the mansion with a sword in his hand and forced Chang E to hand over the immortality pill. Chang'e knew that she was no match for Peng Meng, and in a moment of crisis, she made a snap decision, turned around, opened the treasure box, and took out the Pill of Immortality and swallowed it in one gulp. Chang'e swallowed the medicine, her body immediately floated away from the ground, rushed out of the window, and flew to the sky. As Chang'e was attached to her husband, she flew down to the closest to the earth on the moon and became immortal.

In the evening, Hou Yi returned home, and his maids cried about what happened during the day. Houyi both shocked and angry, drew the sword to kill the villains, Peng Meng early escape, Houyi angry chest thumping, grief, looking up at the night sky calling his wife's name, then he was surprised to find that today's moon is exceptionally bright and bright, and there is a swaying figure resembles Chang'e. He desperately chased towards the moon, and the moon is the closest to the earth. He desperately chased the moon, but he chased three steps, the moon back three steps, he retreated three steps, the moon into three steps, no matter how can not catch up with the front.

Hou Yi had no choice but to send someone to Chang'e's favorite garden, set up incense, put on her favorite fruit and honey, and sacrificed to Chang'e, who was fond of her in the Moon Palace. When the people heard the news of Chang'e's journey to the moon, they set up incense under the moon and prayed to the kind Chang'e for good luck and peace.

Since then, the custom of worshipping the moon on the Mid-Autumn Festival has spread among the people.

Mid-Autumn Festival Legend No. 2 - Wu Gang folded the laurel

On the Mid-Autumn Festival, there is another legend: According to legend, the laurel tree in front of the Guanghan Palace on the moon grows luxuriantly, with a height of more than 500 zhang, and there is a man who often cuts it down, but every time he cuts it down, the cut place immediately closes up again. For thousands of years, it was cut down and closed up in this way, and the laurel tree could never be cut down. It is said that the man who chopped down the tree was named Wu Gang, a man from Xihe in Han Dynasty, who had followed the immortals to the heavenly realm, but he made a mistake, and the immortals relegated him to the Moon Palace, where he was punished by doing this kind of futile and hard work day after day. Li Bai's poem, "I want to carve the laurel in the moon, and hold it as a salary for the cold".

Mid-Autumn Legend No. 3 - Zhu Yuanzhang and mooncake uprising

Mid-Autumn Festival eating mooncakes is said to have begun in the Yuan Dynasty. At that time, the people of the Central Plains were unable to endure the cruel rule of the Yuan Dynasty ruling class, and they revolted against the Yuan Dynasty. Zhu Yuanzhang united various resistance forces to prepare for the uprising. However, the imperial court officials and soldiers searched very closely, and it was very difficult to pass the news. Liu Bowen, the military advisor, came up with a plan to order his subordinates to hide the note with the words "Rise on August 15" inside a cake, and then sent people to deliver it to the rebel armies around the world, informing them to rise on the night of August 15 to respond to the revolt. On the day of the uprising, all the rebel armies responded together, and the rebel army was like a prairie fire.

Soon, Xu Da captured the Yuan capital and the uprising was successful. The news came, Zhu Yuanzhang was so happy that he hurriedly sent down an order, in the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival, so that all the generals and soldiers with the people to have fun, and will be the year when the army to secretly transmit information "moon cake", as a holiday pastry reward for the ministers. Since then, the "moon cake" production more and more fine, more varieties, as large as a disk, become a gift of goodies. After the Mid-Autumn Festival, the custom of eating moon cakes will be spread in folklore.