The Origin and Customs of the Mid-Autumn Festival in English

The origin and customs of the Mid-Autumn Festival (in Chinese and English) are as follows:

"ZhongQiuJie",whichisalsoknownastheMid-AutumnFestival. iscelebratedonthe15thdayofthe8thmonthofthelunarcalendar.Itisatimeforfamilymembersandlovedonestocongregateandenjoythefullmoon- Itisatimeforfamilymembersandlovedonestocongregateandenjoythefullmoon- anauspicioussymbolofabundance,harmonyandluck. AdultswillusuallyindulgeinfragrantmooncakesofmanyvarietieswithagoodcupofpipinghotChinesetea, whilethelittleonesrununoffwiththe whilethelittleonesrunaroundwiththeirbrightly-litlanterns.

The fifteenth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar is the traditional Chinese festival, the Mid-Autumn Festival. On this day, every family is reunited and the family **** together to view the full moon, which symbolizes abundance, harmony and luck. At this time, adults eat delicious mooncakes and sip hot fragrant tea, while children have fun pulling rabbit lamps.

"ZhongQiuJie "probablybeganasaharvestfestival.ThefestivalwaslatergivenamythologicalflavourwithlegendsofChang-E, thebeautifulladyinthe thebeautifulladyinthemoon.

The Mid-Autumn Festival was probably first a festival to celebrate the harvest. Later, the mythological story of Chang-E, the beautiful fairy in the Moon Palace, gave it a mythical color.

AccordingtoChinesemythology,theearthoncehad10sunscirclingoverit.Oneday,all10sunsappearedtogether,scorchingtheearthwiththeirth. scorchingtheearthwiththeirheat.Theearthwassavedwhenastrongarcher,HouYi,succeededinshootingdown9ofthesuns. Yistoletheelixiroflifetosavethepeoplefromhistyrannicalrule,buthiswife,Chang-Edrankit. ThusstartedthelegendoftheladyinthemoontowhomyoungChinesegirlswouldprayattheMid-AutumnFestival.

Legend has it that in ancient times, there were once 10 suns in the sky. One day, these 10 suns appeared at the same time and the heat was unbearable. The archer Hou Yi shot down 9 of these suns and saved the living beings on earth. He stole the elixir of immortality, but his wife Chang'e secretly drank it. Since then, the legend that every year when the moon is full in the Mid-Autumn Festival, young girls have to pray to Chang'e, a fairy in the Moon Palace, for blessings has spread.

Inthe14thcentury,theeatingofmooncakesat "ZhongQiuJie "wasgivenanewsignificance. ThestorygoesthatwhenZhuYuanZhangwasplottingtooverthrowtheYuanDynastystartedbytheMongolians,therebelshidtheirmessagesintheMid- Autumnmooncakes.ZhongQiuJieishencealsoacommemorationoftheoverthrowoftheMongoliansbytheHanpeople.

Inthe14thcentury,eatingmooncakesonMidAutumnDaywasgivenanotherlayerofspecialmeaning. Legend has it that when Zhu Yuanzhang led an uprising to overthrow the Yuan Dynasty, the generals used to hide their contact letters in mooncakes. As a result, the Mid-Autumn Festival later became the anniversary of the overthrow of the Mongols by the Han Chinese.?

DuringtheYuanDynasty(A.D.1206-1368)ChinawasruledbytheMongolianpeople.LeadersfromtheprecedingSungDynasty(A.D.960-1279) wereunhappyatsubmittingtoforeignrule,andsethowtocoordinatetherebellionwithoutitbeingdiscovered.Theleadersoftherebellion,knowingthattheMoonFestival knowingthattheMoonFestivalwasdrawingnear,orderedthemakingofspecialcakes.Packedintoeachmooncakewasamessagewiththeoutlineoftheattack OnthenightoftheMoonFestival,therebelssuccessfullyattackedandoverthrewthegovernment. WhatfollowedwastheestablishmentoftheMingDynasty(A.D.1368-1644).Today,mooncakesareeatentocommemoratethisevent.

DuringtheYuanDynasty,theMongols ruled China. Unwilling to let the regime fall into foreign hands, the former rulers conspired to plan a joint uprising. When the Mid-Autumn Festival was approaching, the leader of the uprising ordered his men to make a special kind of mooncake and hide the plan for the uprising in each mooncake. On the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival, the rebels won the victory and overthrew the Yuan Dynasty and established the Ming Dynasty. Today, people eat mooncakes to commemorate this event.