Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as Moon Festival, Autumn Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, August Festival, Moon Chasing Festival, Moon Appreciating Festival, Daughter's Day or Reunion Festival, is a popular traditional cultural festival in many ethnic groups and countries in the Chinese character cultural circle in China, and falls on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month. Because its value is only half that of Sanqiu, it is named, and some places set the Mid-Autumn Festival on August 16.
The Mid-Autumn Festival began in the early years of the Tang Dynasty and prevailed in the Song Dynasty. By the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it had become one of the major festivals in China. Influenced by China culture, Mid-Autumn Festival is also a traditional festival for overseas Chinese in some countries in East and Southeast Asia, especially local Chinese. Since 2008, Mid-Autumn Festival has been listed as a national statutory holiday. On May 20th, 2006, it was listed in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage by the State Council.
The Mid-Autumn Festival has customs such as offering sacrifices to the moon, enjoying the moon, eating moon cakes, enjoying osmanthus and drinking osmanthus wine. Since ancient times, and spread to this day, it lasts for a long time. The Mid-Autumn Festival is a colorful and precious cultural heritage. The full moon is a symbol of people's reunion, a sustenance for missing their hometown and relatives, and hopes for a bumper harvest and happiness.
Second, Mid-Autumn Festival.
The Mid-Autumn Festival is a very old custom in China. The Mid-Autumn Festival is an ancient ceremony, which expresses people's good wishes to pray for the moon god to bless the world. According to historical records, as early as the Zhou Dynasty, ancient emperors had the custom of offering sacrifices to the sun at the vernal equinox, to the earth at the summer solstice, to the moon at the autumnal equinox, and to heaven at the winter solstice. Its places of worship are called Ritan, Ditan, Yuetan and Tiantan. It is located in four directions: southeast and northwest. The Moon Altar in Beijing is the place where emperors of Ming and Qing Dynasties offered sacrifices to the moon.
The Book of Rites says: "The son of heaven is sunny in spring and autumn is in the evening. The DPRK, the evening of the moon. " The moon here refers to offering sacrifices to the moon at night. This custom is not only pursued by the imperial court and the upper nobility, but also gradually affects the people with the development of society.
Third, the literati admire the moon.
The custom of enjoying the moon comes from offering sacrifices to the moon, and serious sacrifices have become relaxed pleasures. Folk Mid-Autumn Festival began in Wei and Jin Dynasties, but it did not become a habit. In the Tang Dynasty, it was quite popular to enjoy and play with the moon in the Mid-Autumn Festival. Many poets wrote poems about the moon in their masterpieces. In the Song Dynasty, the Mid-Autumn Festival centered on appreciating the moon was formed and officially designated as the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Different from the Tang people, Song people appreciate the moon more because they feel hurt by things, and often compare human affairs with the lack of rain or shine. Even on the night of Mid-Autumn Festival, the bright moon can't hide the sadness of Song people. But for the Song people, the Mid-Autumn Festival has another form, that is, the Mid-Autumn Festival is a secular and joyful festival, and the Mid-Autumn Festival in the Song Dynasty is a sleepless night. The night market is open all night, and there are endless tourists playing on the moon.
After the Ming and Qing Dynasties, due to the relationship of the times, the practical utilitarian factors in social life were prominent, and the secular flavor of Japan and China was rich. The lyrical and mythical literati tradition centered on "enjoying the moon" has weakened, and utilitarian worship, prayer and secular feelings and wishes constitute the main forms of Mid-Autumn Festival customs for ordinary people.
In ancient times, there was a custom of "autumn and dusk". The moon at night is to worship the moon god. Put a big incense table, with offerings such as moon cakes, watermelons, apples, red dates, plums and grapes, among which moon cakes and watermelons are absolutely indispensable. Watermelon must be cut into lotus shapes. Under the moon, put the moon statue in the direction of the moon, and the red candle burns high. The whole family takes turns in Yue Bai, and then the housewife cuts the reunion moon cakes. If people are laid off in advance, the number of people in the whole family will be counted, including those at home and those from other places. You can't lay off more or less, but the size should be the same.
Fourth, eat moon cakes.
It is said that eating moon cakes in the Mid-Autumn Festival began in the Yuan Dynasty. At that time, the broad masses of the people in the Central Plains could not bear the cruel rule of the ruling class in the Yuan Dynasty and rose up against the Yuan Dynasty. Zhu Yuanzhang joined forces with various resistance forces to prepare for the uprising. However, the officers and men of the imperial court searched very closely and it was very difficult to pass on the news. Liu Bowen, a military strategist, came up with a plan and ordered his men to hide a note with the words "Uprising on the 15th of August" in the cake, and then sent people to the uprising troops in different places to inform them to respond to the uprising on the 15th of August. On the day of the uprising, all the rebels responded together.
Soon, Xu Da captured the Yuan Dynasty and the uprising was successful. When the news came, Zhu Yuanzhang was overjoyed and quickly sent a message saying that all the soldiers should have fun with the people in the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival, and they should give the "moon cakes" secretly sent at the time of the war as seasonal cakes to the ministers. Since then, the making of "moon cakes" has become more complicated and varied. Since then, the custom of eating moon cakes in the Mid-Autumn Festival has spread among the people.
Extended data
According to historians, the custom of appreciating the moon in Mid-Autumn Festival was first put forward by ancient court scholars and later spread to the people. As early as the Wei and Jin Yuefu's Forty Poems of Midnight, there was a poem "There is a bright moon in autumn" saying: "Look up at the bright moon and send your feelings for thousands of miles." In the Tang Dynasty, it was quite popular to enjoy and play with the moon in the Mid-Autumn Festival. Many poets wrote poems about the moon in their masterpieces, and the Mid-Autumn Festival began to become a fixed festival. The Book of Emperor Taizong recorded the Mid-Autumn Festival on August 15. It is said that when Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty sleepwalked in the Moon Palace and got colorful feathers, the custom of Mid-Autumn Festival became popular among the people.
Moon viewing was very popular in Ming and Qing Dynasties. "Its fruitcake must be round"; Every family should set up a "moonlight position" and "Yue Bai" in the direction of the moon. Lu's "Year of Jinghua" contains: "On the night of Mid-Autumn Festival, everyone has a symbol of the Moon Palace, which symbolizes freedom as a person; Chen melon and fruit are in court, and the moon palace is painted on the cake surface. Men and women worship incense and burn it. " Tian Rucheng's Travel Notes on the West Lake says: "At dusk, people feast to enjoy the moon, or swim along the river with the white lake. Above Su Causeway, singing hand in hand is no different from daytime "; People invite each other with moon cakes to show their reunion.
Fu Cha Dunchong's "Yanjing Chronicle" said: "The Mid-Autumn Moon Cake is the first in Kyoto, but there is not enough food elsewhere. There are moon cakes everywhere. It is more than a foot big, and it is painted with the shape of the moon palace wax rabbit. " "Every Mid-Autumn Festival, Zhumen, the mansion, presents moon cakes and fruits. On the full moon in May, Chen Guaguo was in court for the month, offering sacrifices to edamame and cockscomb flowers. It's just the right time, the clouds are scattered and the children are noisy. This is really called a festival. Only when the moon is offered, men will not worship. "
At the same time, in the past 500 years, festivals such as burning incense, walking on the moon, lighting lanterns, planting Mid-Autumn Festival, lighting tower lanterns, dancing dragons, dragging stones and selling male prostitutes have been launched one after another. Among them, the custom of enjoying the moon, eating moon cakes and having a reunion dinner has been passed down to this day.
Baidu Encyclopedia-Mid-Autumn Festival