Mid-Autumn Festival handwritten newspaper cursive script

The Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as Moon Worship Festival, Moonlight Birthday, Moon Festival, etc., is celebrated on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month every year. Since ancient times, Mid-Autumn Festival has had folk customs such as offering sacrifices to the moon, enjoying the moon, eating moon cakes, playing with lanterns, enjoying osmanthus and drinking osmanthus wine, which have been circulating for a long time. The Mid-Autumn Festival is a colorful and precious cultural heritage, with the full moon as a sign of people's reunion, as the sustenance of missing their hometown and their loved ones, and hoping for a bumper harvest and happiness.

Mid-Autumn Festival originated in ancient times, popularized in Han Dynasty, shaped in the early years of Tang Dynasty, and prevailed after Song Dynasty. ? Mid-Autumn Festival is a traditional cultural festival popular in China and Chinese areas around the world. Mid-Autumn Festival, Spring Festival, Tomb-Sweeping Day and Dragon Boat Festival are called the four traditional festivals in China. Mid-Autumn Festival has been listed as a national legal holiday since 28. On May 2th, 26, the People's Republic of China and the State Council of China listed it in the first national intangible cultural heritage list.

Mid-Autumn Festival custom:

1. Eating moon cakes

Eating moon cakes is the main custom of Mid-Autumn Festival. According to existing records, the custom of eating moon cakes originated in the Tang Dynasty. Tang Xizong ate moon cakes on Mid-Autumn Festival and felt delicious, so he ordered the imperial kitchen to wrap moon cakes in HongLing and give them to the new scholars. In the Song Dynasty, mooncakes were known as "lotus leaf", "golden flower" and "hibiscus", and their production methods were more exquisite. Su Dongpo, a poet, praised it in a poem: "A small cake is like chewing the moon, with crispness and satiety in it." Its delicacy can be imagined.

2. Sacrifice to the Moon

In ancient times, there was a custom of "mooning in autumn", that is, worshipping the moon god. Under the moon, a big incense table is set up, the moon statue is placed in the direction of the moon, red candles are burned high, and moon cakes, watermelons, apples, red dates, plums, grapes and other sacrifices are placed. The whole family worships the moon in turn, and then the housewife cuts the reunion moon cakes into as many pieces as there are people in the whole family.

3. Appreciating the Moon

In addition to offering sacrifices to the Moon, the Mid-Autumn Festival has had the custom of appreciating the Moon since ancient times. In the Zhou Dynasty, every Mid-Autumn Night, a big incense table was held to welcome the cold and offer sacrifices to the Moon, and a group of people gathered together to drink and enjoy the Moon.

Origin of festivals

Origin

The origin of the Mid-Autumn Festival is closely related to the moon, which is a vestige of the ancient celestial worship-the custom of worshipping the moon. At the autumnal equinox, it is an ancient "Moon Festival". ? [26]? Offering sacrifices to the moon is a very old custom in China. In fact, it is a worship activity of the ancient people in some places in ancient China to the "Moon God". The Mid-Autumn Festival comes from the traditional "Autumn Equinox Sacrificing the Moon". In traditional culture, the moon and the sun are the same, and these two alternate celestial bodies have become the objects of ancestor worship. The Mid-Autumn Festival originated from ancient people's sacrifice to the moon, which is the legacy and derivative of the Chinese custom of offering sacrifices to the moon.

festival names

according to the Chinese calendar, August in the summer calendar (lunar calendar) is in the middle of autumn, which is the second month of autumn, and August 15th is in the middle of autumn, so it is called Mid-Autumn Festival. There are many nicknames for Mid-Autumn Festival: it is called "August Festival" and "August and a half" because it falls on August 15th; Because the main activities of the Mid-Autumn Festival are all around the "Moon", it is also commonly known as the "Moon Festival". The Mid-Autumn Festival is also called "Reunion Festival" and "Daughter's Day" because the moon is full, families are reunited and married daughters go home for reunion. Qiuxi worships moonlight for its birthday, so it is called "Moonlight Birthday". In mid-autumn season, all kinds of melons and fruits are mature and listed, which is called "Fruit Festival". ?