What is the origin and custom of August 15?

Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival, Autumn Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, August Festival, August Meeting, Chasing the Moon Festival, Playing the Moon Festival, Moon Festival, Daughter's Festival or Reunion Festival and a series of other names, is the inheritance of a long time a Han culture, Mid-Autumn Festival date in the lunar calendar every year on the fifteenth of the eighth month this day, because the day coincides with the half of the three Autumn Festival, so it is called "Mid-Autumn Festival". "

Mid-Autumn Festival is held on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar every year.

The Mid-Autumn Festival began in the Tang Dynasty, flourished in the Song Dynasty, to the time of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the Mid-Autumn Festival has developed into a traditional Chinese festival and the Chinese New Year name, among them, not only in China in the Mid-Autumn Festival, some of the greater influence of the Chinese culture of East Asia, Southeast Asia countries will also be the Mid-Autumn Festival, in particular, the Chinese diaspora of these countries, but also in this way to reminisce about their own motherland's culture.

Customs:

1, enjoy the moon

China has had the custom of enjoying the moon since ancient times, the "Book of Rites" recorded in the "autumn sunset moon", that is, to worship the moon god. By the Zhou Dynasty, every Mid-Autumn Night is held to welcome the cold and moon festival. A large incense burner was set up and seasonal fruits such as mooncakes, watermelons, apples, plums and grapes were placed on the table, of which mooncakes and watermelons were absolutely indispensable.

2, eat moon cakes

The saying goes: "The moon is full on the 15th day of the 8th month, and the mooncakes are fragrant and sweet during the Mid-Autumn Festival". Mooncakes were initially used to offer sacrifices to the moon god, "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 the cake-shaped food. Later, people gradually combined the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival with mooncakes, a symbol of family reunion.

Myths and legends of the Mid-Autumn Festival:

Mooncake Uprising

Mid-Autumn Festival mooncakes are said to have begun in the Yuan Dynasty. It is said that at that time, the vast number of people in the Central Plains could not bear the cruel rule of the Yuan Dynasty ruling class 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, making it very difficult to pass on news. Liu Bowen, the military adviser, came up with a plan,

ordered his subordinates to hide the "August 15 night uprising" note hidden inside the cake, and then sent people to send people around the insurgent army, notify them in the night of August 15 uprising response. On the day of the uprising, all the rebels responded together. Soon, Xu Da captured the Yuan capital and the uprising was successful.

When the news came, Zhu Yuanzhang was so happy that he hurriedly sent down an oracle to let all the generals and soldiers have fun with the people in the coming Mid-Autumn Festival, and rewarded the ministers with "moon cakes", which had been used to send messages secretly during the uprising, as a festive confectionary. Since then, the mooncake has become more and more elaborate, and there are more varieties of mooncakes. After that, the custom of eating mooncakes on Mid-Autumn Festival was spread among the people.