Customs, Legends, Ancient Poems about Mid-Autumn Festival

Introduction to the Mid-Autumn Festival

The traditional Mid-Autumn Festival is celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar every year. This is the middle of the fall season of the year, so it is called the Mid-Autumn Festival. In the Chinese lunar calendar, the year is divided into four seasons, each of which is further divided into three parts: the Meng, the Midsummer, and the Quarter, hence the Mid-Autumn Festival is also known as the Mid-Autumn Festival. The moon on the 15th day of the 8th month is fuller and brighter than the full moons of other months, which is why it is also called "Moon Festival" and "August Festival". On this night, people look up at the bright moon in the sky like a jade disk and naturally look forward to family reunions. People who are far away from their hometowns also take this opportunity to express their nostalgia for their hometowns and loved ones. Therefore, the Mid-Autumn Festival is also known as the "reunion festival".

China's people in ancient times, there is "autumn sunset" custom. The moon, that is, to worship the moon god. To the Zhou Dynasty, every Mid-Autumn Night will be held to welcome the cold and moon festival. A large incense burner was set up, and mooncakes, watermelons, apples, jujubes, plums, grapes and other offerings were placed on the table, of which mooncakes and watermelons were absolutely indispensable. The watermelon should also be cut in the shape of a lotus flower. Under the moon, the statue of the moon god is placed in the direction of the moon, red candles are lit high, the whole family worships the moon in turn, and then the housewife in charge cuts the mooncakes for reunion. Cutting people counted in advance how many people in the family ***, at home, in the field, should be counted together, can not cut more or less, the size should be the same.

According to legend, the ancient Qi ugly girl without salt, young, had devoutly worship the moon, grew up, to the superb character into the palace, but was not favored. One year, on the 15th day of the 8th month to enjoy the moon, the son of heaven saw her under the moonlight, thought she was beautiful and outstanding, and later set her up as the queen, the mid-autumn festival to worship the moon thus came to be. Chang'e in the moon, known for her beauty, so young girls worship the moon, wishing "look like Chang'e, face like the moon".

In the Tang Dynasty, Mid-Autumn Moon Festival, playing with the moon is quite popular. In the Northern Song Dynasty. On the night of August 15, people all over the city, rich or poor, old or young, have to put on adult clothes, burn incense and worship the moon to say their wishes and pray for the blessing of the moon god. In the Southern Song Dynasty, people gave moon cakes to each other, taking the meaning of reunion. In some places, there are also dancing grass dragon, building pagodas and other activities. Since the Ming and Qing dynasties, the custom of Mid-Autumn Festival has become more prevalent; many places have formed special customs such as burning douxiang, tree mid-autumn, pointing pagoda lamps, releasing sky lanterns, walking on the moon, and dancing with fire dragons.

Today, the custom of playing under the moon is far less popular than in the old days. However, it is still very popular to hold banquets to enjoy the moon, people drink wine and ask about the moon, to celebrate a better life, or to wish the health and happiness of distant relatives, and family members "thousands of miles of *** Canyuanjuan".

The Mid-Autumn Festival has many customs, and the forms are different, but they are all based on people's infinite love of life and the desire for a better life.

The origin and legend of the Mid-Autumn Festival

The Mid-Autumn Festival has a long history, and other traditional festivals, is also the slow development of the formation of the ancient emperors had a spring festival of the sun, the fall festival of the moon ritual system, as early as in the book of the "Zhou Rites", the word "Mid-Autumn Festival" has been recorded. Later, the aristocrats and scholars also followed suit, in the mid-autumn festival, to the sky and bright and round round moon, ornamental worship, to send feelings, this custom is so spread to the people, forming a traditional activity, until the Tang Dynasty, the custom of the moon festival more people attach importance to, the Mid-Autumn Festival has become a fixed festival, "the Book of the Tang Dynasty - record of the Emperor Taizong," recorded in the "15th of August, the Mid-Autumn Festival "

The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the major festivals in China, and it was celebrated in the Song Dynasty, and has become one of the major festivals in China, along with the New Year's Day.

The legend of the Mid-Autumn Festival is very rich, Chang'e Runs to the Moon, Wu Gang Falters the Cinnamon, the Jade Rabbit Pounds Medicine, and other mythological stories have been widely circulated.

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

Legend has it that, in ancient times, there were ten suns in the sky at the same time, sunburned the crops withered and died, and the people were not enough to live on, and a hero named Houyi, a hero, with infinite strength, he sympathized with the suffering people, climbed to the top of the Kunlun Mountains, and carried all the divine power, and pulled open the divine bow, and shot down the sun in one breath nine more, and strictly ordered the last one to be on time, and the last one to be 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 Peng Meng, who had a bad heart, also came to learn from him.

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 house 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. Because Chang'e attached to her husband, they flew down to the closest to the earth on the moon 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 could not bear the cruelty of the ruling class of the Yuan Dynasty and rose up against the Yuan. 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 message "Rise on the 15th of August" 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 the 15th of August 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 mooncakes has spread among the people.

Customs of Mid-Autumn Festival

Mid-Autumn Festival, people's main activity is to enjoy the moon and eat moon cakes.

Moon Appreciation

On the Mid-Autumn Festival, China has had the custom of enjoying the moon since ancient times, as recorded in the Book of Rites, which states that "the moon is set in the autumn sunset," i.e., the moon god is worshipped. By the Zhou Dynasty, every Mid-Autumn Festival night is held to welcome the cold and moon sacrifice. A large incense burner was set up and seasonal fruits such as mooncakes, watermelons, apples, plums, grapes, etc. were placed on the table, among which mooncakes and watermelons were absolutely indispensable. The watermelon is also cut into lotus shapes.

During the Tang Dynasty, it was quite popular to enjoy and play with the moon during the Mid-Autumn Festival. In the Song Dynasty, the mid-autumn moon festival is even more prevalent, according to the "Tokyo Dreaming Records" records: "Mid-autumn night, the noble family decorative platforms and pavilions, the folk compete to occupy the restaurant to play the moon". Every this day, the capital of all the stores, restaurants are to redecorate the facade, the pai Lou Zha silk hanging color, selling fresh fruit and refined food, the night market is bustling, the people more than on the platform, some rich families in their own pavilions on the platform to enjoy the moon, and set up food or arrange a feast, reunion of the children, *** with the moon to talk.

After the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the Mid-Autumn Festival Moon Festival customs remain the same, many places have formed a burning incense, tree Mid-Autumn Festival, point tower lamps, sky lanterns, walk the moon, dance fire dragon and other special customs.

Eating moon cakes

China's urban and rural masses over the Mid-Autumn Festival have the custom of eating moon cakes, as the saying goes: "August 15, the moon is round, Mid-Autumn Festival moon cakes fragrant and sweet". Mooncake is initially used to worship the moon god's offerings, "mooncake" word, first seen in the Southern Song Dynasty Wu Zimu's "Dream Liang Records", at that time, it is just like the diamond flower cake like cake-shaped food. Later, people gradually combined the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival with mooncakes, a symbol of family reunion.

Mooncakes were initially made at home, and Yuan Mei of the Qing Dynasty recorded the practice of mooncakes in his "Sui Yuan Food List". In modern times, there are workshops specializing in the production of moon cakes, moon cake production more and more fine, the filling is exquisite, beautiful appearance, in the moon cake is also printed on the outside of a variety of exquisite patterns, such as "Chang'e Moon", "Galaxy Night Moon", "Three Pools of the Moon" and so on. To the moon's round omen people's reunion, to the cake of the round omen people's life, with the moon cakes to send thoughts of home, missing their loved ones, praying for a good harvest, happiness, have become the world's people's wish, the moon cakes are also used as gifts to send friends and relatives, contact feelings.

Other Mid-Autumn Festival customs

China's geography is vast, the population is large, customs are different, the Mid-Autumn Festival is also a variety of ways, and with a strong local characteristics.

In Pucheng, Fujian Province, women spend the Mid-Autumn Festival walking across the Nanpu Bridge for longevity. In Jianning, the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, hanging lanterns as an auspicious omen to the Moon Palace to seek children. When people in Shanghang County celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival, their children mostly invite the Moon Aunt when they worship the moon. When Longyan people eat mooncakes, parents will dig out round cakes two or three inches in diameter in the center for the elders to eat, meaning that secret things should not be known to the younger generation. This custom stems from the legend that the mooncake hides a message against the Yuan and kills the enemy. In Kinmen, before worshipping the moon in the Mid-Autumn Festival, one has to pay homage to the God of Heaven.

All over Chaoshan, Guangdong Province, there is a custom to worship the moon in the Mid-Autumn Festival, mainly women and children, and there is a proverb that says, "Men don't worship the full moon, women don't worship the stove". At night, when the moon rises, women will set up a case in the yard, on the balcony to pray in the air. Silver candles burning high, smoke, the table is also full of good fruit and cakes as a gift. There is also a local custom of eating taro in the Mid-Autumn Festival, Chaoshan has a proverb: "Hexi to the mouth, taro food to". August, is the taro harvest, farmers are accustomed to taro to worship ancestors. This is certainly related to farming, but there is also a widely circulated folk legend: in 1279, the Mongolian nobles destroyed the Southern Song Dynasty and established the Yuan Dynasty, which ruled the Han Chinese brutally. Ma Fa defended Chaozhou against the Yuan, and when the city was destroyed, the people were massacred. In order not to forget the suffering of the Hu people rule, the descendants of taro and "Hu head" resonance, and the shape of the human head, as a tribute to ancestors, passed down through the generations, still exists.

Mid-Autumn Night burning tower in some places is also very popular. Tower height ranging from 1-3 meters, mostly made of broken tiles, large towers are also made of bricks, about 1/4 of the tower height, and then stacked with tiles and into the top of the tower to leave a mouth, for the release of fuel. Mid-autumn night will be burning fire, fuel wood, bamboo, husk, etc., when the fire is strong, splash rosin powder, lead flame to help, extremely spectacular. Folk there is a race to burn tower regulations, who burned the whole seat of the tower red through the win, not as good as or in the burning process of the collapse of the negative, the winners by the host to send colorful flags, prizes or prizes. Rumor has it that the burning tower is also the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the Han Chinese people against the brutal rulers, in the Mid-Autumn Uprising for the origin of the fire.

Jiangnan folk in the Mid-Autumn Festival people customs are also diverse. Nanjing people love to eat moon cakes on Mid-Autumn Festival, must eat Jinling famous dish osmanthus duck. "Cinnamon duck" in the cinnamon fragrance when the market, fat but not greasy, delicious flavor. After drinking, we must eat a small sweet taro, poured with osmanthus syrup, the beauty of it goes without saying. The name "osmanthus syrup" is taken from Qu Yuan's "Chu Rhetoric - Shao Shi Ming", "Aid the North closed and drink osmanthus syrup". Osmanthus syrup, a sugar osmanthus, is picked around mid-autumn and pickled with sugar and sour plums. The women of Jiangnan are so skillful that they transformed the aphorisms in the poem into delicacies on the table. In Nanjing, people enjoying the moon as a family are called "celebrating reunion", sitting and drinking together are called "full moon", and going out to the market is called "walking moon".

In the early Ming Dynasty, Nanjing had the Moon Watch Tower and the Moon Bridge, and in the Qing Dynasty, the Moon Tower was built under the Lion Rock, all for people to enjoy the moon, and the Moon Bridge was the most popular one. People in the bright moon hanging high, with the company of the moon tower, play the moon bridge, to **** see the jade rabbit for fun. "Play Moon Bridge" in the Fuzhi Temple Qinhuai River South, next to the bridge for the famous whore Ma Xianglan residence, this night, scholars gathered at the bridge sheng xiao playing and singing, reminiscent of the cattle islets playing the moon, poetry to the moon, so this bridge for the play moon bridge. After the death of the Ming Dynasty, gradually declining, the descendants have a poem to: "the wind flow of the South Qu has been smoke, left the west wind longboard bridge, but remember the jade sitting on the bridge, the moon relative to teach blowjob". Longboard Bridge, that is, the original play moon bridge. In recent years, Nanjing Fuzimiao has been repaired, restored some of the pavilions during the Ming and Qing dynasties, dredging the river, to be the Mid-Autumn Festival, you can come with a group of people to enjoy the fun of playing the moon here.

Wuxi County, Jiangsu Province, the Mid-Autumn Festival night to burn incense. The incense is surrounded by gauze and silk, painted with the scenery of the moon palace. There are also incense pipes made of threaded incense, which are inserted with a paper star and colorful flags. Shanghai Mid-Autumn Banquet with osmanthus honey wine.

Ji'an County, Jiangxi Province, in the evening of the Mid-Autumn Festival, every village burns a tile pot with straw. When the tiles are burned red, then vinegar is put in. At this time there will be a fragrance wafting all over the village. In Xincheng County, when the Mid-Autumn Festival is celebrated, the straw lanterns are hung from the 11th night of August until the 17th day of August.

Anhui province wuyuan mid-autumn festival, children to brick pile a hollow pagoda. Pagoda hanging to tent plaque and other decorations, and set a table in front of the tower, furnished a variety of honor "tower god" apparatus. At night, inside and outside are lit with lights and candles. Jixi Mid-Autumn Festival Children's Mid-Autumn Cannon. The Mid-Autumn Cannon is made of straw tied into a braid, soaked in wet and then picked up to the stone to strike, making a loud noise and the custom of swimming fire dragon. The fire dragon is a dragon made of straw with incense sticks stuck in its body. When the fire dragon swims, there are gongs and drums with the same team, and then sent to the river after traveling all over the village.

Sichuan province people over the Mid-Autumn Festival in addition to eating moon cakes, but also to hit the poi, kill ducks, eat hemp cake, honey cake. Some places also light orange lanterns and hang them at the door to celebrate. There are also children in the pomelo full of incense, dancing along the street, called "dance meteor incense ball. Jiading County, the Mid-Autumn Festival sacrifices to the land god, play miscellaneous dramas, vocal music, cultural relics, known as the "look at the meeting".

In the north, in Qingyun County, Shandong Province, farming families in the August 15 festival to the God of the Valley, known as "Qingmiao She". Zhucheng, Linyi and Jimo, in addition to the moon festival, also have to go to the grave to worship their ancestors. Landlords in Guanxian, Laiyang, Guangrao and Yucheng also feasted their tenants at the Mid-Autumn Festival. In Jimo, a kind of food called "wheat arrow" is eaten on Mid-Autumn Festival. Lu'an, Shanxi Province, feasted their son-in-laws on the Mid-Autumn Festival. In Datong County, mooncakes are called "reunion cakes", and there is a custom of keeping vigil on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Wanquan County, Hebei Province, said the Mid-Autumn Festival is "a small new year's day", the moonlight paper is painted with Taiyin Xingjun and Guandi night reading the Spring and Autumn statue. The people of Hetao County consider mid-autumn rain to be bitter rain, and if it rains on the Mid-Autumn Festival, the locals believe that the green vegetables must not taste good.

Xixiang County, Shaanxi Province, the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, the men boarded a boat on the cliff, the women arranged a good feast. No matter how rich or poor, they must eat watermelon. Mid-autumn drummers blowing drums along the door to ask for reward money. Luochuan County, the Mid-Autumn Festival parents rate of students with gifts for Mr. worship festival, lunch more than in the school dinner.

Some places have also formed a lot of special mid-autumn customs. In addition to moon viewing, moon worship and eating moon cakes, there are also fire dragon dances in Hong Kong, piling up pagodas in Anhui, tree mid-autumn festival in Guangzhou, burning pagodas in Jinjiang, watching the cascading moon at Shihu in Suzhou, moon worship by the Dai ethnic group, moon jumping by the Miao ethnic group, stealing moon vegetables by the Dong ethnic group, and ball-tossing dance by the Gaoshan ethnic group.

Selected Poems for Mid-Autumn Festival

Mid-Autumn Festival

(Tang) Li Park

Hao Pi is in the sky when the precious mirror rises, and the immortal music among the clouds is silent;

The equal division of the autumn colors is full, and the long companion of the clouds is a thousand miles of brightness;

The cunning rabbit falls from the outside of the strings, and the demonic toad is born to the front of the eyes;

The spiritual hewers intend to make a date to work hand in hand with each other, and to wait for the Milky Way to be thoroughly cleared.

Playing with the Moon on the Fifteenth Night of the August Moon

(Tang) Liu Yuxi

The sky will be the moon tonight, and it will wash the world again.

The summer has retreated from the nine skies, and the autumn is clear.

The stars have given way to brilliance, and the wind and dew have given way to crystal.

The world of the world can be changed, and it is the Jade Palace.

"Song of Water"

(Song) Su Dongpo

Mid-Autumn Festival in the year of the Bichen, I was drinking for a long time. I was very drunk, so I wrote this piece, and I also remembered Ziyu.

When will the bright moon come? I'm not sure when the moon is going to come out.

I don't know what year it is in the heavenly palace.

I want to go back by the wind, but I'm afraid that the jade tower is too high to be cold! I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to do that, but I'm going to be able to do it.

They are the most beautiful and the most beautiful of all, and they are the most beautiful of all.

There should be no hate, what is the reason for this?

There is no such thing as a good time, and there is no such thing as a good time.

But I wish you a long life, a thousand miles of **** Canyuan Juan.

The Mid-Autumn Moon

(Song) Su Shi

The evening clouds are overflowing with cold, and the silver man is turning a jade disk without a sound.

This life and this night are not long, and the bright moon will be seen next year.

Tai Chang Quotation

(Song) Xin Qiji

A round of autumn shadows turn to golden waves, the flying mirror is grinding again.

Ask Hou Yi (姮娥) about her white hair and how she can be deceived!

Ride the wind and go, the sky is ten thousand miles long,

Straight down to see the mountains and rivers. The lady's name is Hou Yi (姮娥) and her name is Hou Yi (姮娥). The human way is clear light more.

Taiwanese ballad:

"Mid-Autumn Travel Thoughts"

Lone shadows look at the split geese, thousands of gold to read the ill-fated sable; Autumn in the hometown remembers the moon, and the night in a foreign country scares the tide.

The hand has not yet climbed the Dan Gui, to still roll the edge of the banana; climbed the building and sadly wrote, the west look at the sea and the sky is far away.

Moon Night Homesickness

The stars are sparse, the moon is cold, the Milky Way is cold, and the music is silent;

Where is the home of the mountains and the mountains, and the door posts are full of guest sorrows at night.

The Torment

The night is deep, the moon hangs high in the sky, there is no sound; the eyes are hazy,

it is as if in a dream; the life is lying down and wandering in order to be uneasy, the homeland of the old country haunts the brain;

The bitter torment, return to the empty, such as the burning of the king's heart.

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The Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival, the Autumn Festival, the Mid-Autumn Festival, the August Festival, the August Meeting, the Festival of the Chasing Moon, the Festival of the Playing Moon, the Festival of the Worship of the Moon, the Festival of the Daughters, or the Festival of the Reunion, is a traditional cultural festival popular among many ethnic groups throughout the country, on the fifteenth day of the eighth month of the Lunar Calendar; it is worth the halfway point in the third quarter of the Autumn Festival, hence the name. It is said that this night the moon is the closest to the earth, the moon is the largest round and brightest, so from ancient times to the present day there is the custom of drinking and enjoying the moon; back to the mother's family of the daughter-in-law is the day must return to her husband's family, to imply the meaning of success, auspicious celebration. There are also places where the Mid-Autumn Festival is set on the sixteenth day of the eighth month, such as Ningbo, Taizhou and Zhoushan, which is related to the fact that when Fang Guozhen occupied the three states of Wen, Taizhou and Ming, he changed "the fourteenth day of the first month for the Lantern Festival, and the sixteenth day of the eighth month for the Mid-Autumn Festival" to guard against the attacks of the Yuan Dynasty soldiers and Zhu Yuantian. In addition, in Hong Kong, after the Mid-Autumn Festival is not yet finished, but also in the sixteen night carnival again. The name is "chasing the moon".

Origin of the Mid-Autumn Festival

The Mid-Autumn Festival is a remnant of the ancient celestial worship - the custom of honoring the moon. According to the "Zhou Rites - Spring Officials" records, the Zhou Dynasty, there have been "Mid-Autumn night to welcome the cold", "Mid-Autumn offer a good fur", "Autumn equinox sunset (moon worship)" activities; the Han Dynasty, but also in the Mid-Autumn or Autumn Festival Day Han Dynasty, and on the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival or the first day of the Autumn Festival, to honor the old, old age, given to Xiong rough cake. Jin also have the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival, but not too common; until the Tang Dynasty will be the Mid-Autumn Festival and the storage of e moon, Wu Gang fell laurel, Jade Rabbit pounding medicine, Yang Guifei into the moon god, Tang Ming Huang tour of the Moon Palace and other myths combined, so that it is full of romantic colors, play the wind of the moon before the great rise.

In the Northern Song Dynasty, the 15th of August was officially designated as the Mid-Autumn Festival, and there was a festival food of "small cakes like chewing the moon, with crispy and syrupy". Meng Yuanlao "Tokyo Dreaming Records" said: "Mid-Autumn Festival night, the noble family decorative pavilions, the folk fight to take over the restaurant to play the moon"; and "the string heavy boiling, near the residents of Naiyen, late at night when I heard the sound of the sheng yao, like the clouds outside. Between the children, even the night wedding play; night market parallel, to the dawn." Wu Zimu "dream beam record" said: "this time the golden phoenix recommended cool, jade dew cool, Dan Gui fragrance, silver toad full of light. Princes and grandchildren, rich families, all of them climbed the dangerous building, Linxuan play the moon, or open the wide pavilion, tortoise feast lined up, the zither clanging, drinking wine and singing, in order to divine the joy of the night. As for the house of the store, also climbed a small platform, arrange family feasts, the group around the children, to reward the festival. Although the poor basket of people in the ugly alleys, the farmers city wine, reluctantly welcome the joy, and refused to waste time. This night, the sky street selling and buying, until five drums, play the moon tourists, granny in the city, to burn endless." More interestingly, the "new Drunkard's Record" describes the custom of moon worship: "The children of the people of the city are not rich or poor, but can walk on their own to twelve or thirteen, and all of them are decorated with adult's eyes, and they climb up to the building or atrium to burn incense and worship the moon, and each of them has its own direction; the men would like to walk to the Toad Palace and climb up to the Immortal Laurel. ...The women would like to look like Chang'e and be as round as the moon."

Ming and Qing dynasties of the moon activities, prevalent. "The fruit and cakes of the festival must be round"; every family must set up a "moonlight place" and "pay homage to the moon" in the direction of the moonrise. Lu Qihong, "Beijing Years of Chinese Records", "Mid-Autumn Festival night, the family set the Moon Palace Fu image, Fu on the free as a person standing; Chen fruits and melons in the court, the cake surface painted Moon Palace toad free; men and women worship burn incense, Dan and burned." Tian Rucheng "West Lake Tourism Zhiyu" cloud: "is the night, people have a moonlight feast, or with the Park Lake boat, along the tour all day. Above the Su Causeway, the joint song, no different from the day"; "folk invited to the moon cake, take the meaning of reunion". Fuchsia Dun Chong "Yanjing times" said: "mid-autumn mooncake, before the door to the beauty of the Zhimai for the first in Kyoto, and other places are not enough to eat. Presented to the moon moon cake everywhere. Bigger than a foot, painted on the moon palace wax rabbit shape." "every Mid-Autumn Festival, the House of Jumon all to moon cakes and fruit gifts. When the moon is full on the fifteenth day of the month, fruits and melons are displayed in the courtroom for the moon, and the beans and chickpeas are sacrificed. At that time, the white spirit is in the sky, the colorful clouds are dispersed, the cups are passed and the children are noisy, it is really the so-called festive season. The only thing is that men do not bow to the moon when it is offered." At the same time, in the past five hundred years, there were also "burning incense", "walking on the moon", "releasing lanterns", "tree mid-autumn festival", "lighting pagoda lanterns", "burning incense", "walking on the moon", "releasing lanterns", "tree mid-autumn festival", and "lighting pagoda lanterns". The festival activities include "Moon Walking", "Release of Sky Lanterns", "Tree Mid-Autumn Festival", "Lighting of Pagoda Lanterns", "Dance of the Fire Dragon", "Trailing of Stones", and "Selling of Rabbits". moonlight viewing, eating mooncakes, reunion dinners and other customs have been passed down to the present day.

Mid-Autumn Food Customs

Ancient Han Chinese mid-autumn feast customs, the most refined and elegant court. Such as the Ming Dynasty court fashionable eating crabs. After the crab steamed in a bag, the crowd sat around and tasted, accompanied by wine and vinegar. After eating, drink Su Ye soup, and wash their hands with. Banquet table area around, full of flowers, pomegranates and other seasonal food, the performance of the Mid-Autumn Festival mythological opera. Qing Palace in a courtyard to the east to put a screen, screen on both sides of the shelves of the cockles of the flowers, beans technology, taro, peanuts, radish, fresh lotus root. Screen set up a table in front of the Eight Immortals, on the top of a large moon cake, surrounded by pastries and fruits. Offerings completed, according to the Royal population will be cut into several pieces of moon cake, each person symbolically taste a mouthful, called "eating reunion cake". Qing dynasty moon cake is large, unimaginable. Like the last emperor Puyi rewarded the Minister of Internal Affairs Shao Ying, a moon cake, is "about two feet in diameter, weighing about 20 pounds.

China has more than 20 ethnic minorities have also been the Mid-Autumn Festival, but the festival customs are different. Zhuang used to worship the moon in the river on the bamboo row house with rice cakes, young girls in the water lanterns, in order to measure the happiness of a lifetime, and sing the beautiful "please moon aunt" folk songs. The Koreans use wooden poles and pine boughs to build a "Moon Watching Stand" and first ask the old man to go up to explore the moon, and then light up the Moon Watching Stand, play long drums and Dongxiao, and dance the "Nongjiale Dance" together. The Gelao people slaughter a bull on the Tiger Day before the festival, and save the heart of the bull for the Mid-Autumn Festival night to offer sacrifices to their ancestors and welcome the new valley, which is called the "August Festival". The Dong ethnic group also allows young people to go on excursions and gatherings at this time, which is called the "Catch Ping Festival". On the first day, there is a Lusheng meeting, and on the second day, there are songs. The young people will put on make-up and express their love to their sweethearts. The Dai are firing muskets into the air, then sitting around drinking, tasting dog meat soup pots, pork jerky, pickled eggs and dried eels, laughing and looking at the moon. The Li people call the Mid-Autumn Festival the "August Meeting" or "Tuning Festival". At that time, the towns held songs and dances, each village by a "sound head" (i.e., the leader) led the male and female youth to participate. After the people have gathered, they give each other mooncakes, fragrant cakes, sweet pandas, flower scarves, colorful fans and undershirts, and then gather in groups in a continuous stream. At night, they gather around the fire, roast game, drink rice wine, and sing in a grand tune, with unmarried young people taking the opportunity to find their future partners.

Mid-Autumn and Mooncakes

Mid-Autumn is the time to eat mooncakes. It was first mentioned in Su Dongpo's poem, "A small cake is like chewing on the moon, with crispy and syrupy flavors in it. In the Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, the only food for enjoying the moon was "playing with the moon soup" and so on, but not the moon cake. Mooncake as a food name and with the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival linked together, was first seen in the Southern Song Dynasty, "Old Story of Wulin". Since the Ming Dynasty, about the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival to eat moon cakes on the account of more. Wan Department of Miscellany" said that every Mid-Autumn Festival, the people are making cakes to give each other,: the size varies, called "mooncake". Market stores sell moon cakes, more fruit for the filling, clever name, some moon cakes are worth hundreds of dollars. The Xichao music "also said that the 15th of August known as the Mid-Autumn Festival, folk mooncakes as gifts to each other, take the meaning of reunion. On this night, every family holds a feast to enjoy the moon, or brings the food box and wine pot with mooncakes to the lake to enjoy all night. On the Su Causeway of West Lake, people sing and dance in groups. There is no difference with the daytime. From these records, you can see the people of Hangzhou Mid-Autumn Festival night moonlight spectacle.

Over the long term our people have accumulated a wealth of experience in the production of mooncakes, mooncakes are more and more varieties, more and more elaborate process. Salty, sweet, meat, vegetarian each with a different flavor; glossy, lace, each with its own characteristics. The end of the Ming Dynasty Peng Yunzhang in the "Youzhou soil customs" wrote: "Moon Palace cake, the system on the silver toad purple House shadow, a pair of Zhan rabbit full of people. A pair of rabbits filled the earth. I regretted that I had to steal medicine. I can't return to Guanghan, but I have to work on the mortar and pestle to keep my face." This shows that the skilled chef has Chang'e beautiful legend of running to the moon, as a food art pattern image reproduced in the moon cake. Qing dynasty rich tsun chung "yanjing yearly record & gt; also has "to for moon cake, everywhere, the big one more than a foot, painted on the moon palace toad wedding rabbit shape" description. It is clear that the ancient moon cake from the content to the form has been blossomed.

Origin of Mid-Autumn Festival

Mid-Autumn Festival is a traditional festival in China. According to historical records, the term "Mid-Autumn Festival" first appeared in the book "Zhou Li". By the time of the Wei and Jin Dynasties, there was a record of "Oracle Shangshu town cattle confusion, Mid-Autumn Festival Eve with the left and right micro-suits pan river". It was not until the early Tang Dynasty that the Mid-Autumn Festival became a regular festival. The Book of Tang - Taizong records that "August 15 Mid-Autumn Festival". The popularity of the Mid-Autumn Festival began in the Song Dynasty, and by the time of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it had become one of the major festivals in China, on a par with New Year's Day. It is also the second largest traditional festival in China after the Spring Festival.

According to China's calendar, the eighth month of the lunar calendar is in the middle of autumn, the second month of autumn, known as "mid-autumn", and the fifteenth day of the eighth month is in "mid-autumn", so it is called "Mid-Autumn". "The Mid-Autumn Festival has many aliases. The Mid-Autumn Festival has many aliases: because the festival is held on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, it is called the "August Festival" and "Half of August"; because the main activities of the Mid-Autumn Festival revolve around the "moon", it is also commonly known as the "Moon Festival" and "Moon Festival". "Moon Festival" "Moon Festival"; Mid-Autumn Festival moon is complete, symbolizing reunion, and therefore also called "reunion festival". In the Tang Dynasty, the Mid-Autumn Festival was also known as the "Duanzheng Moon". The earliest record of the "Reunion Festival" can be found in the Ming Dynasty. West Lake Tourism Zhiyu" said: "August 15 is called the Mid-Autumn Festival, the folk with moon cakes to send each other, take the meaning of reunion. The Imperial Capital Scenic Spectacle" also said: "August 15 moon festival, the cake must be round, the melon must be wrong teeth, petals carved like a lotus flower. ...... whose women return to the Ning, is the day will return to the husband's home, said reunion festival?quot;. Mid-Autumn Festival night, most areas of China and branding "reunion" custom, that is, branding a symbol of reunion, similar to the moon cake small cakes, cakes wrapped in sugar, sesame, cinnamon and vegetables, etc., outside the pressure of the moon, cinnamon trees, rabbits and other patterns. After the moon festival, the elders of the family will cut the cake into pieces according to the number of people, and each person will have a piece of cake, and if someone is not at home, they will leave a piece of cake for them, which symbolizes the reunion of the whole family.

Mid-Autumn Festival, clouds and fog less, the moonlight bright and bright, in addition to the folk to be held in the moon, moon festival, eat moon cakes to bless the reunion of a series of activities, some places there are also dancing grass dragons, laying pagodas and other activities. In addition to moon cakes, a variety of seasonal fresh and dried fruits are also Mid-Autumn Festival night food.

Another theory for the origin of the Mid-Autumn Festival is that the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar coincided with the time when rice was ripening, and families worshipped the God of Land. The Mid-Autumn Festival may be a remnant of the Autumn Report.

History of Lantern Riddles

Lantern riddles are an art form of folklore in China; they are the wisdom and crystallization of people's long-term labor practice, which originates from life and is used in life; they are also a kind of intellectual activity game that people enjoy. It attracts enthusiasts from all walks of life in the south and north of the world, so that people in the growth of knowledge, enlightenment and wisdom at the same time, but also to obtain a wonderful enjoyment.

China's lantern riddles have a long history, so far there are more than three thousand years of history. During the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods, "concealed words" and "cryptic words" appeared, which were the prototypes of lantern riddles. In the Han Dynasty, the "hidden words" began to be divided into two directions. One type of riddles was based on the characterization of things; the other type of riddles was based on the form and meaning of words. In the Wei Dynasty, it was called "riddles". During the Sui and Tang dynasties, poetry riddles appeared in large numbers and became the mainstream. From the Song Dynasty onwards, some literati and scholars used to post riddles on various lanterns on the night of the Lantern Festival to attract pedestrians to guess and shoot, and this is how "lantern riddles" came into being. After the middle of the Qing Dynasty, riddles flourished and many riddlers emerged. After the Xinhai Revolution, the riddles formed two styles of southern and northern schools, to the old society, because most of the riddlers are the scholarly class, some literati pretend to be noble, one-sided emphasis on elegance and exclusion of folk riddles. After the liberation, under the guidance of the Party's "let a hundred flowers blossom" policy of literature and art, lantern riddle activities have become more prosperous, and the riddle materials have become more and more perfect and rich, making great contributions to the construction of socialist spiritual civilization and the activation of the cultural life of the masses. At present, there are lantern riddle activities and lantern riddle academic exchanges in Chinese overseas Chinese all over the world.

Eating moon cakes

Idle Qin Zaisi "Luozhong ji wen" said, Tang Xi Zong in the Mid-Autumn Festival day to eat moon cakes, the taste is very beautiful, he heard the new scribes of the Qujiang set to open a happy feast, so he ordered the Imperial Kitchen to use red damask wrapped in moon cakes rewarded to the new scribes. This is the earliest record we can see about the moon cake. By the Song Dynasty, mooncakes had elegant names such as "lotus leaf", "golden flower", "hibiscus" and so on, and their production methods were even more elegant. The poet Su Dongpo praised in a poem, "small cakes such as chewing the moon, there are crispy and syrup", crispy is shortening, syrup is sugar, the flavor of its sweet and crispy and beautiful can be imagined. After the Song Dynasty, the production of moon cakes not only pay attention to the flavor, but also in the surface of the cake designed a variety of patterns related to the legend of the Moon Palace. Patterns on the surface of the cake, at first probably first drawn on paper and then pasted on the surface of the cake, after the industry simply use the surface mold pressed on top of the moon cake. The full-moon shaped mooncake also symbolizes reunion with the full moon on the fifteenth day of the month, and people treat it as a festive food, offer it to the moon, and give it to friends and relatives. This is undoubtedly a reflection of the national psychology of the Han people. Legend has it that in the early years of the Yuan Dynasty, the Yuan-Mongolian rulers were afraid of the people to rise up in revolt, to take every ten families to send a soldier to monitor, ten only allowed to use a chopper of the high-pressure policy, the people could not stand it, they took the opportunity to give each other mooncakes on the fifteenth day of the Mid-Autumn Festival of the eighth month, in the mooncake to put a wax pellet, wrapped in wax pellets in the paper, paper, paper, written on the oath, the cake bottom is also attached to a piece of paper to do the implied, so that each other to call for the restoration of the country against the Mongolian. Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, said this moon cake quot;three brocade", according to the local dialect of the harmonic is "kill tight". This is probably the origin of today's mooncakes outside often attached to a piece of paper.