What is the relationship between the Mid-Autumn Festival and the lotus flower?

The lotus flower symbolizes harmony and reunion, which is the meaning of the Mid-Autumn Festival. A long time ago, in the area of Dongtai, Jiangsu Province, on the occasion of the Mid-Autumn Festival, the lotus root is broken for the cake, wrapped in minced meat, covered with wheat shavings, fried in a frying pan, so-called lotus root cake. I guess the custom of eating "lotus flowers" has slowly evolved into enjoying the lotus.

Eating mooncakes is another custom of the festival, which symbolizes reunion. The production of mooncakes has become more and more elaborate since the Tang Dynasty. Su Dongpo wrote a poem: "small cakes such as chewing the moon, there are crispy and syrup", the Qing Dynasty Yang Guangfu wrote: "moon cake full of peach filling, ice cream sweet laying cane sugar frosting". It seems that the mooncakes of that time and now are quite similar.

Many people usually say that the Mid-Autumn Festival originated from the story of Chang'e running to the moon. According to the history books, "In the past, Chang'e took the medicine of immortality from the Queen Mother of the West, and then ran to the moon as the moon spirit." The price Chang'e paid for this act was to be punished with hard labor and not be able to return to earth for the rest of her life. Li Bai was so sad about this that he wrote the following poem: "The white rabbit pounds medicine in the fall and then in the spring, who is the neighbor of the female Chang'e who lives alone?"

Chang E self although the moon palace of the good, but also can not bear the loneliness, in the 15th of August every year when the moon is full and the night is clear, return to the earth and reunion with her husband, but in the day before the moon must return to the moon palace. Whenever the Mid-Autumn Festival comes around, people in the future generations would like to go to the moon and get together with Chang'e, and they also hope that Chang'e will come down to the earth to have a glimpse of her face. Therefore, many people in the burning incense to worship the moon, praying for "men wishing to early step toad palace, high climb Xian Gui ...... women wish to look like Chang'e, round as the white moon." Year after year, people celebrate this day as a holiday.

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Mid-Autumn Festival:

Mid-Autumn Festival is a festival of the moon. p>The origin of the Mid-Autumn Festival

The 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar is the traditional Mid-Autumn Festival in China, which is also the second largest traditional festival in China after the Spring Festival. It is also known as the Mid-Autumn Festival, the Festival of Reunion, the August Festival, etc. It is a traditional festival of the Han Chinese and most of the ethnic minorities in China, and is also popular in neighboring countries such as North Korea, Japan and Vietnam.

Because of the fall of the seven, eight, nine months (refers to the lunar calendar), August is in the middle, and the thirty days of August, but also the fifteenth is in the middle, so it is called the Mid-Autumn Festival. This is also known as the Mid-Autumn Festival, because the moon is in the sky on this night, and people often reunite their families on this night, so it is also known as the Reunion Festival.

The Mid-Autumn Festival originated in China's ancient autumn rituals, moon worship custom. The Book of Rites" contains "the Son of Heaven spring sunrise, the moon in the fall. The sun in the morning, the moon in the evening." Here the "moon" is to worship the meaning of the moon. Two Han Dynasty has taken shape, the Tang Dynasty, the custom of the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival began to prevail, and designated as the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Ouyang Zhan (785 AD ~ about 827 years) in the "Chang'an play moon poem preface" cloud: "August in the fall. August is the beginning of Autumn, the end of the season; the fifteenth day of the month is the end of the night, and the moon is in the middle of the clouds. When we look at the heavenly way, the cold and heat are equalized, and when we take the number of the moon, the toad soul is round, so it is called Mid-Autumn."

Mid-Autumn night, the moon is bright, the ancients regarded the full moon as a symbol of reunion, therefore, also known as the 15th of August for the "reunion festival". Throughout history, people often use "full moon", "moon" to describe "sadness and happiness", living away from home, but also to the moon to send deep feelings.

The Tang Dynasty poet Li Bai's "raising his head to look at the bright moon, lowering his head to think of his hometown", Du Fu's "the dew is white from tonight, the moon is the hometown bright", and the Song Dynasty poet Wang Anshi's "the spring breeze is green again on the banks of the south of the Yangtze River, and when will the bright moon shine on me again" are all poems. The moon is bright in the hometown", "The spring breeze is green again on the south bank of the river, when will the bright moon shine on me back" by Wang Anshi in Song Dynasty, and other poems, all of which have been sung for ages.