Customs of the Mid-Moon Festival

The customs of the Mid-Moon Festival are mainly ancestor and ancestor worship, praying and worshipping.

The Mid-Moon Festival, also known as the Mid-Yuan Festival, is an important time for ancestor worship, in which people go to the graves of their ancestors or in front of the ancestral tablets in their homes to burn paper money, incense, make offerings, and pay homage to their ancestors to express their respect and remembrance for them.

On the Mid-Moon Festival, people light paper lanterns or floating lanterns at night to welcome the return of the dead, as well as to ward off evil spirits and bless families with peace. In addition, there is a custom of releasing water, where people will release lanterns and floating objects in rivers or reservoirs as a gesture of consolation to the departed spirits.

On the Mid-Moon Festival, people will also pray to many deities, such as Mazu, Shing Wong and the God of Wealth. People will prepare offerings such as incense and candles, fruits, pastries, rice, etc., place them on the offering table, and then sincerely pray to the deities to protect themselves and their families.

These customs and traditions are all about expressing respect and prayers to ancestors and gods, as well as wishing for the peace, health and happiness of the family through rituals and prayers. Meanwhile, the Mid-Moon Festival is also an important part of traditional Chinese culture, reflecting people's reverence for and exploration of supernatural forces such as life, death, ghosts and gods.

The Customary Stories of the Mid-Moon Festival

Legend has it that on the moon there was a moon fairy, Meng, who would pour her palm every night to boil a pot of forgetfulness water, which is the water of reincarnation. One of the days, Mona saved a woman who drowned because she couldn't make a sound with her crow's voice, and sent her back to the Yang world. As a token of gratitude, the woman prayed to the moon on every full moon night after her return to the Yang world, and invited her friends and relatives*** to dinner, thus creating the custom of the Half Moon Festival.

Legend has it that there was a longevity star on the moon who had an only son who died suddenly in an accident when he was in his prime. The longevity star was heartbroken and asked the Jade Emperor for a favor in order to bring his son back to life. The Jade Emperor allowed the son to return to earth every year on the fifteenth day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar to be reunited with his father. To celebrate this day, people pay homage to their ancestors, wish for longevity and pray for blessings on this day.