The first place in the traditional festival handwritten newspaper Mid-Autumn Festival

The Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Worship Festival, Moonlight Festival, Moon Eve, etc., falls on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month every year. Since ancient times, the Mid-Autumn Festival has included worshiping the moon, appreciating the moon, eating moon cakes, playing with lanterns, appreciating osmanthus flowers, drinking osmanthus wine and other folk customs, which have been popular for a long time. The Mid-Autumn Festival uses the round moon as a sign of people's reunion, expressing the feeling of missing one's hometown and relatives, and praying for a good harvest and happiness. It has become a colorful and precious cultural heritage.

The Mid-Autumn Festival originated in ancient times, became popular in the Han Dynasty, was finalized in the early Tang Dynasty, and became popular after the Song Dynasty. ?The Mid-Autumn Festival is a traditional cultural festival popular in China and Chinese regions around the world. Mid-Autumn Festival, Spring Festival, Qingming Festival and Dragon Boat Festival are known as the four traditional festivals in China. Since 2008, the Mid-Autumn Festival has been listed as a national statutory holiday. On May 20, 2006, the State Council of the People's Republic of China included it in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage lists.

Mid-Autumn Festival customs:

1. Eating moon cakes

Eating moon cakes is the main custom of the Mid-Autumn Festival. According to existing records, the custom of eating moon cakes originated in the Tang Dynasty. During the Tang Dynasty, Emperor Xizong of the Tang Dynasty ate mooncakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival and found them delicious. He ordered the imperial kitchen to wrap the mooncakes in red silk and give them to the new scholars. By the Song Dynasty, mooncakes had elegant names such as "Lotus Leaf", "Golden Flower", and "Hibiscus", and their production methods became more refined. The poet Su Dongpo praised it in a poem: "Small cakes are like chewing the moon, with crispy and sweet fillings in them." Its deliciousness can be imagined.

2. Worshiping the moon

In ancient times, there was the custom of "autumn twilight and evening moon". In the evening moon, people worshiped the moon god. Under the moon, a large incense table is set up, the moon statue is placed in the direction of the moon, the red candle is burned high, and moon cakes, watermelons, apples, dates, plums, grapes and other sacrifices are placed. The whole family worships the moon in turn, and then the head of the household The housewife cuts the reunion moon cake into as many pieces as there are people in the family.

3. Moon Appreciation

In addition to offering sacrifices to the moon, the Mid-Autumn Festival has had the custom of appreciating the moon since ancient times. Food and wine are placed on the big incense table, and a group of people gather around to drink and admire the moon.

Origin of the festival

Origin

The origin of the Mid-Autumn Festival is inseparable from the moon. The Mid-Autumn Festival is a remnant of the ancient celestial worship - the custom of worshiping the moon. During the autumnal equinox, it is the ancient "Moon Sacrifice Festival". ?[26]?Sacrificing the moon is a very ancient custom in our country. It is actually an activity of worshiping the "Moon God" by the ancients in some places in my country in ancient times. The Mid-Autumn Festival comes from the traditional "Autumnal Equinox Festival". In traditional culture, the moon is the same as the sun. These two alternating celestial bodies have become the objects of worship by the ancestors. The Mid-Autumn Festival originated from the ancient people's worship of the moon. It is the remnant and derivative of the Chinese nation's custom of worshiping the moon.

Festival name

According to our country’s calendar, August in the lunar calendar is in the middle of autumn and is the second month of autumn. It is called "Zhongqiu", and August 15th is in the middle of autumn. The day is in the "Mid-Autumn Festival", so it is called "Mid-Autumn Festival". The Mid-Autumn Festival also has many other names: because the festival falls on August 15th, it is called "August Festival" and "August Half"; because the main activities of the Mid-Autumn Festival are all around the "month", it is also commonly known as "August Festival". Moon Festival”. During the Mid-Autumn Festival, the moon is full, families are reunited, and married daughters go home for reunion, so it is also called "Reunion Festival" and "Daughter's Day". On Qiuxi, we worship the moonlight for the birthday of the moon, so it is also known as the "Moonlight Birthday". In mid-autumn, all kinds of fruits are ripe and on the market, so it is called the "Fruit Festival".