What are the celebrations, ways, habits and customs of the Mid-Autumn Festival?

1, eat moon cakes

Mid-Autumn Festival food is the first moon cake, the origin of which is said to be various. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, Zhang Shicheng, the leader of the anti-Yuan uprising in Taizhou, Jiangsu Province, took advantage of the Mid-Autumn Festival when the people gave each other round cakes, in the cake with a "August 15 night to kill the Tartars," the note, everyone saw the note in the cake, one by one, one by one, one by one, such as the appointment of the night together with the blade of the "Tartars" who are not evil, after which every family ate the cake, and then the moon cake. ", after the family ate cakes to celebrate the victory of the uprising, and officially called the Mid-Autumn Festival round cake for the moon cake.

2, walk the moon

Mid-Autumn Festival night there is also a major feature of the moon activities called "walk the moon".

Bright moonlight, people dressed in fine clothes, three or five companions, or touring the city, or lack of boat Qinhuai River, or climbed to watch the moonlight, talk and laugh. Nanjing built in the Ming Dynasty, the moon tower, play the moon bridge, the Qing Dynasty, under the Lion Rock Tower, are travelers "walk the moon" when the moon viewing resort; and after the liberation of the Mochou Lake Park built by holding the moon building, has become a new attraction for the public to enjoy the moon.

Old Nanjing people "walk the moon" there is a special move: all married women who did not give birth to a son, to tour the Fuzi Temple, and then cross a bridge, rumor has it that there can be "dream bear's happiness" (meaning that the birth of a boy). China outside the door of the pier on the Yaowan Street, there is a Jianzi Bridge, Mid-Autumn Festival night, has not yet given birth to the male head of the family came here to the bridge to wrestle tile pots, is said to be able to make his wife pregnant. Over time, this bridge is also blackmail called see son bridge.

3, Mid-Autumn Festival moon festival

Moon festival, in China is a very ancient custom. According to historical records, as early as the Zhou Dynasty, the ancient emperors had the spring equinox sacrifice of the sun, the summer solstice sacrifice of the earth, the autumn equinox sacrifice of the moon, the winter solstice sacrifice of the custom of the sky. The place of worship is called the altar of the sun, the altar of the earth, the altar of the moon, the altar of heaven. They are located in the four directions of southeast, northwest and north.

Beijing's Altar of the Moon is the place where the Ming and Qing emperors sacrificed the moon. According to the Book of Rites, "The Son of Heaven will face the sun in the spring and the moon in the fall. The morning of the sun, the evening of the moon." Here, the evening of the moon of the evening, refers to the night sacrifice to the moon. This custom was not only practiced by the court and the upper nobility, but also gradually affected the people as the society developed.

4, play lanterns

Mid-Autumn Festival, there are many game activities, the first is to play lanterns. Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the three major lantern festivals in China, and you have to play with lanterns for the festival. Of course, the Mid-Autumn Festival does not have a large lantern festival like the Lantern Festival, and playing with lanterns is mainly only carried out among families and children.

As early as in the Northern Song Dynasty, "Old Story of Wulin", recorded in the Mid-Autumn Festival, there will be 'a little red' lamps into the river to float and play activities. Mid-autumn play lanterns, mostly concentrated in the south. Such as the aforementioned Foshan Autumn Colors, there are all kinds of colorful 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, etc., is amazing.

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 vertical, that is, the meaning of the 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 high, put up more, the most exquisite lanterns. In addition, there are sky lanterns, that is, the Kongming lanterns, with paper tied into a large-shaped lamp, candle burning under the lamp, hot air upward, so that the lamps flying in the air, attracting laughter and chasing. In addition, there are children's hand-held lanterns in the moonlight play and enjoy.

5. Fire Dragon Dance

The Fire Dragon Dance is the most traditional custom of the Mid-Autumn Festival in Hong Kong. From the night of the 14th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar every year, a grand fire dragon dance is held for three nights in a row in the Tai Hang area of Causeway Bay. This fire dragon is more than 70 meters long, with pearl grass tied into 32 sections of the dragon body, inserted with longevity incense. On the night of the grand event, the streets and alleys of this district were bustling with a winding and undulating fire dragon dancing joyfully under the lights and dragon drum music.

There is a legend about the origin of the Mid-Autumn Fire Dragon Dance in Hong Kong: a long time ago, a python appeared in Tai Hang District after a windstorm struck the area, making mischief all around, and the villagers searched for it and finally killed it. Unexpectedly, the python disappeared the next day.

A few days later, a plague broke out in Dakeng. At this time, the village elders suddenly got a dream from the Bodhisattva, saying that as long as the fire dragon dance on the Mid-Autumn Festival, the plague can be driven away. Coincidentally, it worked. Since then, the fire dragon dance has been passed down to this day.

Baidu Encyclopedia - Mid-Autumn Festival