The autumnal equinox used to be the traditional "Moon Festival", so what exactly is the "Moon Festival"?

In the past, the autumnal equinox was the traditional "Moon Festival". Later, Mid-Autumn Festival was changed to Mid-Autumn Festival. Because the Mid-Autumn Festival is dedicated to the moon, the date of the autumnal equinox is not very fixed, and there is not necessarily a moon, so it is changed to the Mid-Autumn Festival.

At the autumnal equinox, the time between day and night is similar. After the autumnal equinox, the nights will get shorter and shorter, and the days will get shorter and shorter. Generally, the autumnal equinox is from September 22nd to 24th every year, which is the16th solar term among the 24 solar terms. In ancient times, there was a saying that spring offered sacrifices to the sun and autumn offered sacrifices to the moon. The autumnal equinox was the previous festival of offering sacrifices to the moon.

At first, the Mid-Autumn Festival was set on the day of the autumnal equinox. Later, because the date of the autumnal equinox was not fixed, although it was not always a full moon, it would be ruined without the moon, so it was later changed from the autumnal equinox to the Mid-Autumn Festival. So now the Mid-Autumn Festival is the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Since the Zhou Dynasty, there have been customs and habits of offering sacrifices to the sun in spring, to places in summer, to the moon in autumn and to heaven in winter. There are also fixed places of offering sacrifices, such as altars, moon altars, temples of heaven and earth altars, which are distributed in four directions: east, west, north and south. Up to now, there are still many historical sites left, such as the Yue Bai Altar and the Moon Tower, and due to regional reasons, the customs and ceremonies of offering sacrifices to the moon are different in each place.

There is a moon altar in Beijing, which was built by the royal family during Jiajing period of Ming Dynasty. The autumnal equinox is the best time to fly kites. Both adults and children can fly kites and even hold some kite competitions. Some places will eat glutinous rice balls or autumn vegetables on this day. Different places have different customs and habits.