Is there any relationship between the Master Rabbit and the Mid-Autumn Festival? What is the Master Rabbit?

Before the old Beijingers celebrated the Mid-Autumn Festival, sacrificing the moon had one of the key folk activities. By dusk on August 15, each family needed to set up a table of eight immortals in the courtyard, with fruits and vegetables, mooncakes, pea shoots, cockles and other tributes to worship the moon god. Fruits and vegetables, mooncakes are good to know, but what is the pea horn branch for? That is specially prepared for the "rabbit".

"Master" is an honorific title for the influential and noble people in the old society. Every Mid-Autumn Festival, a clay sculpture of a rabbit is respectfully "offered". This rabbit is not a livestock on earth, not a wild rabbit, but a jade rabbit in the Guanghan Palace, so it is honored as "master"! The rabbit is a traditional handicraft of the Han Chinese in Beijing, and at the same time is a seasonal toy for children at the Mid-Autumn Festival.

The Rabbit Master is going to happen at the end of the Ming Dynasty. Ming Ji Kun in the "Flower King Pavilion Remainders" recorded: "Beijing Mid-Autumn Festival more for the clay Tuan rabbit-shaped, dressed and seated like a man, children worship." This is also the first historical record of the Rabbit Master. The more common "rabbit master", generally is a golden helmet and armor warrior look. And, inserted into the hat of the pheasant plume only one, the old Beijing has a jingle: "rabbit master" plume - single kill.

The old Beijing South City rabbit master's type is more, there are clay production, cloth made out of, paper made, wood made of ...... general clay production of more, a thousand forms, a little bigger three feet big, small only three inches, all for the pinkish-white face, wearing a golden helmet, wearing armor, the back of the order of the flag or umbrella cover. It mounts lions, tigers, deer and elephants. The Rabbit Master holds a mortar in his right hand and a pestle in his left hand, making the shape of pounding medicine. In addition, there is also a "bar mouth" of the rabbit master, the inner cavity, the upper lip is alive, right in the middle of the tie release, pulling the knot, cleft lip and palate chaotic pounding. In short, there are many varieties. Many people in order to let the rabbit have a complete home, return the rabbit "married" a rabbit grandmother, but also invited to the table for the table, so that they love husband and wife.

Old Beijing, there are many businesses as this, every lunar August, will set up stalls in the street, into the August Festival Festival scene. The five pailou in the middle door, the side door in front of the Nanjing Drum Tower, Xidan, Dongsi part of the area, are selling the rabbit stalls. The children and adults who went to buy the rabbit masters were a sea of people, hustle and bustle. The famous writer Mr. Shu Yi, remembering the good old days of the Rabbit Masters in the streets and alleys, once said fondly: "In my childhood, the Rabbit Masters were the representative of the Mid-Autumn Festival, and without them, it seemed like it wasn't the Mid-Autumn Festival. The children have to buy the rabbit, we all think that if even the rabbit did not buy this how can it be?"

Since the end of the Ming Dynasty after the occurrence of the rabbit fast folk generally widespread, to the Qing Dynasty, the Qing court not only did not destroy the Han Chinese tradition of the moon festival, but inherited a very pious, the Royal Harem moon festival is also righteous, the Eight-Power Allied Forces into Beijing, the Empress Dowager Cixi did not forget to nine baby sacrifices to the rabbit on the way to escape. The court of the Qing Dynasty called the Jade Rabbit the Taiyinjun. Folkloric rabbit sacrifice is not so dignified regulations, reflecting the characteristics of play. The common people called the Jade Rabbit the Rabbit Master, which is not as serious and dignified as "Taiyin Jun", but very close. By the end of the Qing Dynasty, the Rabbit became a toy for children during the Mid-Autumn Festival as well as a tribute. The Qing Dynasty poet Lixiong "Yan Tai Xin Rong" wrote a poem "Rabbit Festival": "Reunion Festival celebrates the family, singing and laughing in the hall recommended fruit and melon. The drug thief Yi Yi's wife is called a widow, and the gold-coated cunning rabbit even calls him master. In the autumn wind, the moon grottoes camped in the sky, and the cool night toad light reflected the water's end. Used to play with children and teenagers, printing mud and paper and wrestling sand." In the Republic of China, despite the change of dynasties, the custom of worshipping and playing with the Rabbit Master continued. Even during the Japanese invasion of China during the war, the rabbit is still popular.

Why then did the old Beijingers need to offer the Rabbit Master on August 15th? There is a legend that one year there was a sudden epidemic in Beijing, and many people died, and there were screams everywhere. Chang'e, the Jade Rabbit Fairy, saw this unforgiving scene in the sky, and was so intolerant of it that she sent the Jade Rabbit beside her to the earth to look after the people's health. Jade Rabbit turned into a beautiful girl, each household for the people to send medicine grain, this medicine grain has red and yellow, eat the disease on the line, this white and red medicine grain later developed into the Mid-Autumn Festival to eat "since the red" and "since the white" moon cakes.

Many people in order to appreciate the Jade Rabbit, one after another to send things to him; but the Jade Rabbit do not have to do anything, just borrow clothes from others to wear, every place to change a dress, sometimes dressed like a stall, sometimes like a fortune-teller. Sometimes he was dressed like a peddler, sometimes like a fortune-teller. At one time he was dressed as a man, and at another time as a woman. Because he would treat a large number of people, the Jade Rabbit got on a deer, Leo, or tiger, which was much faster than walking, and traveled all over the capital and beyond, saving a large number of people. Afterwards, in order to celebrate and thank the Jade Rabbit's kindness, everyone took clay to depict the image of the Jade Rabbit, there are riding deer, there are riding tigers, there are riding lions, there are armored with armor, there are also wearing a variety of workers to do the clothing, in different forms, so lovely. On the fifteenth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar, every family needs to worship him, with delicious food fruits and vegetables and pea corners, used to reward him for bringing good luck and good fortune to the world, but also affectionately called her "rabbit master".

Now the rabbit is not as good as it used to be, and has become a rarity. Even during the Mid-Autumn Festival, you can hardly see any of them, and only a few of them are still available in some of the craft stores. Children are also slowly losing track of what a rabbit is. Even so, the Rabbit's beautiful folklore stories and lifelike, super-cute brand image have not been completely erased from the public's memory. Especially the older generation, in their pure and bitter childhood memories, the Rabbit will always be solemn and gorgeous. When Beijing's bid for the Olympics was successful, Mr. Qigong, a famous calligrapher, was informed of the news that he should be selected as the mascot of the Olympics, and actually said without hesitation, "If you want me to vote on the Internet, I'll vote for the Rabbit." Mr. Lao She's "Four Shih Tong Tang", old man Qi remembered that its children and grandchildren "are about to live in a does not have a rabbit master of Beiping, accompanied by a rabbit master of the settlement, many, many super cute, Beiping unique items, but also inevitably no one else's roots!" The old Beijinger's love affair with the rabbit is evident.

Be sure not to underestimate a small clay sculpture made of "Rabbit Master", who has influenced many aspects of the life of the Beijing people, in the Rabbit Master not only shows the Beijing Chinese opera, festival life and other folk customs, but also shows the spirit of struggle of the old Beijing people. Among the many brand images of the Master Rabbit, the image of riding a tiger is more typical, because the ferocity of the tiger is a reflection of the Master Rabbit's great ability. Although it is a bold creation of folk handicrafts, it also shows the optimism and open-mindedness of the old Beijingers to deal with the mentality of life. In particular, the Rabbit Master is regarded as a god, and as a small toy, "closely combining worship and enjoyment." Only Beijing culture and art, which has experienced the luxury of glory and wealth and enjoyed the vicissitudes of decline and change, and which has seen the world and weathered the storms, can produce a kind of combination of power and even the gods with positivism and lifism. It is only after seeing the great world and experiencing the great storms that one can produce a mentality that combines power and even godliness with positivism and lifism. The Rabbit is a model of Beijing culture and art, and is a very representative folk culture mark of the region.