According to the China calendar, the eighth month of the lunar calendar is in the middle of autumn, and the second month of autumn is called "Mid-Autumn Festival", and August 15th is in the middle of it, so it is called "Mid-Autumn Festival". There are many nicknames for Mid-Autumn Festival: August Festival, August and a half, Mid-Autumn Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival and so on. Because the main activities of Mid-Autumn Festival are around the "moon", the moon is round and symbolizes reunion, so it is also called "Reunion Festival".
The word "Reunion Festival" was first seen in the Ming Dynasty. "Journey to the West Lake" says: "August 15th is the Mid-Autumn Festival, and people send moon cakes to show their reunion". "A Brief Introduction to the Scenery of the Imperial Capital" also said: "On August 15th, the moon was sacrificed, the cakes were round, the melons were wrongly divided, and the petals were carved with lotus flowers. ..... Anyone who returns to Ning with a wife will return to her husband's family one day, which is called "Reunion Festival". On the night of Mid-Autumn Festival, there is a custom of "reunion" in most parts of our country, that is, flipping a small cake symbolizing reunion, which is similar to a moon cake. The cake contains sugar, sesame, sweet-scented osmanthus and vegetables, and the moon, sweet-scented osmanthus tree and rabbit are pressed outside. After the Mid-Autumn Festival, the elders at home will divide the cake into pieces according to the number of people, and each person will have one. If someone is not at home, leave one for them to show family reunion.
During the Mid-Autumn Festival, there are fewer clouds and more fog, and the moonlight is bright and bright. In addition to a series of activities such as enjoying the moon, offering sacrifices to the moon, eating moon cakes and wishing for reunion, there are activities such as dancing grass dragons and building stupas in some places. In addition to moon cakes, all kinds of seasonal fresh fruits and dried fruits are also delicious in the Mid-Autumn Festival.
There is another saying about the origin of Mid-Autumn Festival: The 15th day of the eighth lunar month happens to be the time when rice is ripe, and all families should worship the land god. Therefore, the Mid-Autumn Festival may be the legacy of Qiubao.
Local customs:
Women in Pucheng County walk through nanpu bridge to eat and live a long life. Hanging lanterns is a good omen to ask the moon palace for children in the custom of mid-autumn night in Jianning. Shanghang County, Mid-Autumn Festival, when there are more children than Yue Bai, please visit your aunt. The method is that body double, who takes the bamboo basket as the moon aunt, will shake the bamboo basket by himself if there is a spirit coming, and predict good or ill luck according to the shaking times. When Longyan people eat moon cakes, parents will control the round cakes with a diameter of two or three inches in the center for the elders to eat, which means that they can't tell the secrets to the younger generation. This custom comes from the legend that moon cakes contain anti-meta-news about killing Tartars. Before the Mid-Autumn Festival in Kinmen, Yue Bai should worship God. Sacrifice to heaven, make it pink, and call it "Tiangong". The red color of Yue Bai is in the shape of pigs and sheep, and the number must be nine pigs and sixteen sheep.
[Guangdong Province]
There is a custom of eating taro in Mid-Autumn Festival all over Guangdong, which is said to commemorate the historical story of Tartars being killed at the end of Yuan Dynasty. After killing the Tatars in the Mid-Autumn Festival, they gave their heads to the moon, and later they were replaced by taro. Until now, when Cantonese peel taro, it is also called "peeling ghost skin".
[Shandong Province]
On August 15, farmers in Qingyun County offered sacrifices to the land god, which was called "Young Miao Society". Zhucheng, Linyi, Jimo and other places have to pay homage to their ancestors in addition to the moon. Landlords in guanxian, Laiyang, Guangrao and Postal City also entertain their tenants in the Mid-Autumn Festival. Jimo eats a seasonal food called "Wheat Arrow" in the Mid-Autumn Festival.
[Shanxi Province]
Lu 'an Mid-Autumn Festival banquet invites son-in-law. Yue Bai star in Yongning Mid-Autumn Festival. Datong county moon cakes, called reunion cakes, are two or three feet big and have the custom of vigil on Mid-Autumn Night. Shilou county Mid-Autumn Festival worships the city god.
Hebei Province
Wanquan County called the Mid-Autumn Festival "Little New Year's Day", and there were pictures of Xing Jun and Guandi reading Spring and Autumn at night on moonlight paper. Hejian county takes the mid-autumn rain as a bitter rain. If it rains on the Mid-Autumn Festival, the food in that year will definitely taste bad.
Shanxi(Province)
On the Mid-Autumn Festival night in Xixiang County, men go boating and climb cliffs, and women also arrange banquets. No matter rich or poor, people should eat watermelons. The Mid-Autumn Festival invites a trumpeter to preach along the door in order to ask for money, and so does the Dragon Boat Festival on New Year's Eve. In Luochuan county, parents lead students to bring gifts to pay homage to their husbands, and there are more lunches than school dinners.
Jiangsu Province
Burning incense on Mid-Autumn Festival night in Wuxi county. There are silks around the incense barrel, which depicts the scenery in the Moon Palace. There are incense sticks made of thread Kaori with paper kuixing and colorful flags on them. Shanghainese Mid-Autumn Festival Banquet with Sweet-scented osmanthus honey wine.
[Jiangxi Province]
On the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival in Ji 'an County, every village burns crocks with straw. When the crock is red, put the vinegar in it. In this way, the fragrance filled the whole village. After the Mid-Autumn Festival in Xincheng County, grass lanterns were hung on the city streets from the eleventh night, and they were greeted with drum music until the seventeenth day.
[Anhui Province]
On the Mid-Autumn Festival in Wuyuan, children build a hollow pagoda with bricks. Curtains, plaques and other ornaments are hung on the tower, and a table is placed in front of the tower, displaying various utensils dedicated to the "tower god". Lights and candles are lit inside and out at night, which is bright and lovely. Children in Jixi Mid-Autumn Festival play Mid-Autumn firecrackers. Mid-Autumn Festival firecrackers are braided with straw, picked up and smashed stones after soaking, making a loud noise, which is a custom in Youlong. A fire dragon is a dragon made of grass with incense in it. When you visit the dragon, there are gongs and drums teams. They tour the village before being sent to the river.
[Sichuan Province]
The Mid-Autumn Festival in Jiading County is called "Goddess of Mercy" for offering sacrifices to land gods and performing zaju, vocal music and cultural relics. Besides eating moon cakes, Sichuanese will fight, kill ducks, eat sesame cakes, honey cakes and so on during the Mid-Autumn Festival. In some places, orange lights will be on. Hollow out oranges, light candles and hang them at the door to celebrate. There are also children who burn incense on grapefruit and dance along the street, which is called "dancing meteor ball"
Ruyuan County Records also recorded that eating taro in Mid-Autumn Festival can cure scabies. Guangdong Mid-Autumn Festival also has the custom of children carrying lanterns. The materials of the lamp are pomelo lamps carved with red pomelo skin, lanterns made of jasmine, and bright lights with the fragrance of flowers and fruits, which make people fondle. Unmarried young people in Dongguan also burn incense and candles under the moon, asking the elderly to fix them up. Xiapu has the custom of dragging stones in the Mid-Autumn Festival. Towing oilstones was invented by Qi Jiguang. He tied ropes with stones and dragged them along the street, bluffing and scaring the enemy.