Are there any traditional customs for the Mid-Autumn Festival?

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, Worship the Moon Festival, Daughters' Festival or Reunion Festival, is popular in many ethnic groups in China and the Chinese character cultural circle of the countries of the traditional cultural festivals, in the 15th day of the 8th month of the Lunar Calendar; because of its value in the third half of the Autumn Festival, so the name, and some places will be the Mid-Autumn Festival in the 16th day of the 8th month. What are the customs of the Mid-Autumn Festival? Details are as follows:

Mid-Autumn Festival customs

Traditional activities - moon festival, moon viewing, moon worship

The Rituals of the early records of the "Autumn evening moon", meaning the worship of the moon god, when this time to be held to welcome the cold and the moon festival, set incense. Set up incense. To the Zhou Dynasty, every mid-autumn night should be held to welcome the cold and moon festival. A large incense burner was set up, and mooncakes, watermelons, apples, jujubes, plums, grapes and other offerings were placed on the table, among which mooncakes and watermelons were absolutely indispensable, and the watermelons had to be cut into the shape of a lotus flower. Under the moon, the statue of the moon god is placed in the direction of the moon, red candles are lit high, and the whole family pays homage to the moon in turn, and then the housewife of the family cuts the mooncakes for reunion. The person who cuts it counts in advance how many people in the family ****, at home, out of town, should be counted together, can not cut more or less, the size should be the same. In the ethnic minorities, the same prevalence of moon worship custom.

Legend has it that the ancient Qi ugly girl without salt, when young, used to worship the moon devoutly, and when she grew up, she was admitted to the palace with superb character, but was not favored. One year, on the 15th day of the 8th month to enjoy the moon, the son of heaven saw her under the moonlight, thought she was beautiful and outstanding, and later set her up as the queen, the mid-autumn festival to worship the moon thus came to be. Chang'e in the moon, known for her beauty, so the young girl to worship the moon, may "look like Chang'e, face like the white moon". The Yunnan Dai people in the Mid-Autumn Festival night, the same prevalence of "moon worship" custom.

The custom of moon worship on Mid-Autumn Day was very popular in the Tang Dynasty, and many poets wrote poems about the moon in their masterpieces. To the Song Dynasty, the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival style is more prevalent, every day, "the noble family decorative platforms and pavilions, the people compete to take over the restaurant to play the moon". Ming and Qing court and folk moon worship and moon viewing activities on a larger scale, China has survived a lot of "moon worship altar", "moon worship pavilion", "moon building" and other monuments. Literati and scholars are even more fascinated by the moon, or they climbed the building to catch the moon or canoeing to invite the moon, drinking and writing poems, leaving a lot of popular songs of the past. Such as Du Fu, "August 15 night moon" to symbolize the reunion of the fifteenth moon to reflect their own wandering in a foreign land of the detained sadness; Song Dynasty literary hero Su Shi, Mid-Autumn Festival drinking up to the day, drunkenness, and made the "Song of Water", by the roundness of the moon is a metaphor for the separation of the human being. Until today, the family sits together to enjoy the beauty of the moon in the sky is still one of the essential activities of the Mid-Autumn Festival.