An Investigation and Research on the Customs of the Mid-Autumn Festival

Mooncakes: When mentioning the festive food for the Mid-Autumn Festival, everyone must immediately think of mooncakes. In fact, the custom of eating mooncakes at the Mid-Autumn Festival did not flourish until the Ming Dynasty. Before that, the Mid-Autumn Festival food is still mainly fruits and melons for the festival. As for the origin of mooncakes, there is a legend circulating in the folklore: at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the Han Chinese wanted to revolt against the Mongols, but there was no way to pass the message. So Liu Bowen came up with a plan. It said that there was going to be a winter plague this year, and that it could only be avoided if every family bought mooncakes to eat at the Mid-Autumn Festival. When they returned home, they bit into the mooncakes and found a note hidden inside that read, "On the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, kill the Tartars and welcome the righteous army!" So the people rose up against the rulers, and this custom of eating mooncakes at mid-autumn stayed. The characteristics of mooncake types vary from place to place. Soviet-style mooncakes are mostly crispy, heavy in oil and sugar, and crunchy. Cantonese mooncakes are heavy in sugar and light in oil, with a thin skin and beautiful filling that is not easy to break. Beijing-style mooncakes vegetarian oil and vegetarian filling, and more hard skin. Chao-style moon cakes to sugar melon filling, eat the crunchy moist. There is another type of mooncake produced in the Northeast, designed for gift-giving. The largest chassis is about thirty-three centimeters in diameter and shrinks one by one from the bottom up, making a set of mooncakes look like a pagoda. Moreover, each mooncake has a different pattern on it, forming a set of Chang'e's moon painting. According to Gao Gongqian's Records of Taiwan Province in the Qing Dynasty, mooncakes were also used as props by Taiwanese students to divine their future achievements! In the Qing Dynasty, the 15th of August was the day of the Autumn Examination, the third test of the countryside examination. So the mooncake also took some of the names corresponding to the imperial examinations. Containing the first prize, the eye, scout cake each one, will be the first cake four, the cake eight, the cake sixteen, the showman cake thirty-two. Participate in divination students take turns to six dice thrown into the bowl, each depending on the number of points, to predict the level of their merit. "The moon cake is a good luck for the scholar to win the title. Crab: Autumn is also the season of crab production, is a lot of seafood-loving gourmets to taste a good time. Crab is cold in nature, it is best to eat crab while it is still hot, and dab some ginger and wine foods to get rid of its cold. Taro: In Taiwan, also popular in the Mid-Autumn Festival to eat taro. There is a saying: "eat rice flour taro, have a good head of road". The harmonization of taro and road is taken to pray for the blessing of ancestors to find a good job. Water Duck: Kaohsiung County has a strong culture of raising water ducks, and around the Mid-Autumn Festival is the time when water ducks are at their tenderest. Therefore, the Hakka people in the Meinong area often slaughter and eat ducks on the Mid-Autumn Festival, which has become a specialty of the Mid-Autumn Festival in the area. Vegetable Cake: In addition to mooncakes, the Yilan area also eats a kind of vegetable cake on the Mid-Autumn Festival. Vegetable cakes are made of flour and baked with brown sugar in the center, and have a crispy and refreshing flavor. Other: Fruits for the festival, such as Taiwan's mazuwendan pomelo and loquat, and so on. Religious customs of the Mid-Autumn Festival Moon worship: moonlight paper and rabbit. As we said, the origin of the Mid-Autumn Festival comes from the ancient custom of the emperors sacrificing the moon on the 15th day of the 8th month. In folklore, the custom was gradually introduced later. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, moon cakes had to be round and fruits and melons had to be cut into lotus-like petals. The market sells a kind of thing called "moonlight paper", on top of which the moonlight shines on the Bodhisattva, and underneath which the moon palace is painted, with a rabbit standing there pounding medicine. The moonlight paper is burned after the moon festival. In the Qing Dynasty, a saying was passed down: "Men do not worship the moon". Therefore, moon worship became a women's monopoly. The housewives were busy with moon worship, and the children were not worried about having nothing to do. A few days before the Mid-Autumn Festival, a kind of "rabbit" was sold in the market for children to worship the moon. The origin of the "Rabbit Master" is around the end of the Ming Dynasty, when it was molded from clay into a rabbit's head and body, sitting in a human-like posture. During the Qing Dynasty, the rabbit's function changed from moon worship to a toy for children during the Mid-Autumn Festival. They were also made in an increasingly elaborate manner, with some dressed as military generals wearing armor and battle robes, and others dressed as traders, or as shaving masters, shoe sewers, and sellers of wonton tea soup. Worshiping the God of the Earth: During the Mid-Autumn Festival, farmers in Taiwan worship the God of the Earth to thank the God of the Earth for blessing them with a rich fall harvest. In addition to worshipping the God of the Earth, farmers must also place "God of the Earth walking sticks" in their fields. The walking stick is made of bamboo with the gold of the God of the Earth clamped on it, and is inserted in the field. In southern Taiwan, it is also customary to pay homage to the King of Trees on the Mid-Autumn Festival. Worshipping Taiyin Xingjun and Taiyin Niangniang: Taiyin Xingjun and Taiyin Niangniang are the Chinese gods of the moon, whose status is similar to that of Diana in Western mythology. Since the Mid-Autumn Festival is a moon festival, it is natural to worship the moon god. In the Sun Palace in Toufen, Miaoli, for example, the annual Mid-Autumn Festival activities for the birthday celebration of Taiyin Niangniang include playing a table of worship, reciting sutras to celebrate the birthday of the goddess, holding a moonlight party, and chanting the Blood Basin Sutra, among other things. Taiwan Mid-Autumn Folklore Related to Women: Praying for Longevity: According to Taiwanese folklore, the later a girl sleeps on Mid-Autumn Night, the longer she will live. If a young girl sleeps on Mid-Autumn Night, her mother will live a long life. Praying for a husband of your choice: According to legend, if an unmarried girl steals vegetables or green onions from another family's vegetable garden on Mid-Autumn Night, it means that she will meet a husband of her choice in the future. The saying, "Stealing green onions means marrying a good man; stealing vegetables means marrying a good son-in-law" refers to this custom. Praying for children: Women who have not yet given birth to children after marriage steal a melon from someone's vegetable garden and carry it home on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, which is said to give birth to a fat baby next year. Listening to Incense: According to Lian Heng's General History of Taiwan, at the end of the night during the Mid-Autumn Festival, women first burn incense in front of the statue of a god in their home, express their desire to ask for advice, and then go out with the incense in their hands after asking for instructions on the direction to go out. After asking for directions, the women would then go out with incense in their hands and throw cups at the gods for the answers they had heard on the way. Other Mid-Autumn Customs Barbecuing: Recently, barbecuing has become a popular activity during the Mid-Autumn Festival in Taiwan. Originally, barbecuing and enjoying the bright moon outdoors on a high autumn day is a beautiful thing, but the lack of public morality creates a lot of environmentally destructive garbage on Mid-Autumn night. While we are enjoying ourselves, let's not forget to return the earth to a cleaner state! Autumn Festival Gift Giving: In Taiwan, it is also popular to give gifts to each other during the Mid-Autumn Festival. At the beginning of the eighth month of the lunar calendar, stores launch various gift boxes and gift certificates to attract customers in the name of Mid-Autumn Festival gift-giving. Heads of companies and organizations also reward their employees at the Mid-Autumn Festival, either with gifts or bonuses. The weather of the Lantern Festival is said to be the cause and effect of the weather of the Mid-Autumn Festival and the Lantern Festival of the following year. As the saying goes, "Clouds cover the moon on the 15th of August, and rain hits the lanterns on the coming Lantern Festival". It is also said: "rain hit the lantern, cloud cover the moon in the Mid-Autumn Festival".