The Origin of the Mid-Autumn Festival

The term "Mid-Autumn Festival" first appeared in the Zhou Li. According to China's ancient calendar, the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar falls in the middle of the 8th month of the year, so it is called "Mid-Autumn Festival".

There are four seasons in a year, and each season is divided into three parts: Meng, Zhong, and Quarter, because the second month of autumn is called Zhongqiu, so the Mid-Autumn Festival is also known as the "Zhongqiu Festival". To the Wei and Jin dynasties, there are "Oracle Shangshu town cattle confusion, Mid-Autumn Festival Eve and around the micro-suits Panjiang" record.

Till the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, the Mid-Autumn Festival became a fixed holiday. It was recorded in the Book of the Tang Dynasty (《唐书-太宗记》) that the Mid-Autumn Festival was celebrated on the fifteenth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar. The prevalence 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.

Expanded Information:

The Legend of Mid-Autumn Festival Moon Festival:

Hou Yi shot down nine suns and was respected and loved by the people, and a lot of aspirants came to learn the art. The treacherous, tricky and ill-intentioned Feng Meng also mixed in. Hou Yi asked the Queen Mother of the West for a packet of immortality pills and handed it over to Chang'e for safekeeping.

Feng Meng, Houyi's villain (legend has it that Houyi later died under this man's arrow), took advantage of Houyi's outing to force Chang'e to hand over the immortality pills, and Chang'e swallowed the pills when she was in critical condition, and within a short time, she floated away from the ground and flew down to the moon to become an immortal. Hou Yi went home to look for his wife, but could not, beating his chest, looking up at the moon, calling Chang'e's name.

His call alerted the heavens, and on the bright moon, Chang'e's figure did appear. Hou Yi hurriedly set up incense, put on her usual favorite honey food fresh fruit, remote sacrifice in the moon palace Chang'e. When the people heard the news that Chang'e had gone to the moon and become immortal, they also set up incense under the moon to offer sacrifices to Chang'e.

Then the Moon Mother was moved by Yi's true feelings and allowed Chang'e to meet Yi under the laurel tree on the full moon. Since then, the custom of worshipping the moon on the Mid-Autumn Festival has spread among the people.

Reference: Baidu Encyclopedia - Mid-Autumn Festival