Mid-Autumn Festival and Mooncakes

The Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival, the Autumn Festival, the Mid-Autumn Festival, the August Festival, the August Meeting, the Moon Chasing Festival, the Moon Playing Festival, the Moon Worshipping Festival, the Daughter's Festival, or the Festival of Reunion, is a traditional cultural festival that has been popular among many ethnic groups throughout the country and is celebrated on the fifteenth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar; the name is given to the festival because it falls on the halfway point of the three autumns. 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 16th day of the 8th month, such as Ningbo, Taizhou and Zhoushan, which is related to the fact that when Fang Guozhen occupied Wen, Taizhou and Mingzhou, he changed "the 14th day of the first month for the Lantern Festival and the 16th day of the 8th month for the Mid-Autumn Festival" to prevent 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 "chase the moon".

Origin of the Mid-Autumn Festival

The Mid-Autumn Festival is the ancient celestial worship - the traces of the custom of honoring the moon. According to the Zhou Rites? Chun Guan" records, the Zhou Dynasty, there have been "Mid-Autumn night to welcome the cold", "Mid-Autumn offer good fur", "Autumn Equinox Eve Moon (moon worship)" activities; Han Dynasty, and in the Mid-Autumn or Autumn Day to honor the old, the old age, give Xiong rough cake. Giving 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 Moon Festival and storage E, Wu Gang fell laurel, the Jade Rabbit pounding medicine, Yang Guifei change 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 Drunken Weng Talk Records" describes the custom of moon worship: "the children of people in the city are not rich or poor to twelve or thirteen on their own, all decorated with adult eyes, climbed the stairs or the atrium to burn incense to worship the moon, each with a dynasty; men would like to step on the Toad Palace early, climb the immortal laurel. The female 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 should set up a "moonlight place", and "worship 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 evening, people have a moonlight feast, or with the Park Lake boat, along the tour through the dawn. 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 moon cakes, before the door to the beauty of the Zhimai for the first in Kyoto, 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 the 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 cakes, 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 let young people go on outings 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 to enjoy the moon.

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. See the ancient moon cakes from the content to the form has been blossomed.