The Mid-Autumn Festival originated in ancient times, popularized in the Han Dynasty, shaped in the early Tang Dynasty and prevailed after the Song Dynasty. ? Mid-Autumn Festival is a traditional cultural festival popular in China and Chinese areas around the world. Mid-Autumn Festival, Spring Festival, Tomb-Sweeping Day and Dragon Boat Festival are called the four traditional festivals in China. Since 2008, Mid-Autumn Festival has been listed as a national statutory holiday. On May 20th, 2006, People's Republic of China (PRC) and the State Council, China listed it as the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage.
Mid-Autumn Festival custom:
1, eat moon cakes
Eating moon cakes is the main custom of Mid-Autumn Festival. According to the existing records, the custom of eating moon cakes originated in the Tang Dynasty. Tang Xizong ate moon cakes in the Mid-Autumn Festival and thought it was delicious. He ordered the chef to wrap moon cakes in HongLing and give them to the new scholars. In the Song Dynasty, moon cakes were called "lotus leaf", "golden flower" and "hibiscus", and their production methods were more exquisite. The poet Su Dongpo praised in a poem: "Small cakes are like chewing the moon, and there is fullness in the crisp." Its subtlety can be imagined.
2. Sacrifice the moon
In ancient times, there was a custom of "autumn and dusk", that is, worshipping the moon god. A big incense table was set up under the moon, the moon statue was placed towards the moon, red candles were burned high, and sacrifices such as moon cakes, watermelons, apples, red dates, plums and grapes were placed. The whole family took turns in Yue Bai, and then the housewife cut the reunion moon cakes into pieces as many as the whole family.
Step 3 enjoy the moon
In addition to offering sacrifices to the moon, the Mid-Autumn Festival has had the custom of enjoying the moon since ancient times. During the Zhou Dynasty, every Mid-Autumn Festival night, people held a festival to welcome the cold, set up a big incense table, put on wine and food, and a group of people got together to drink and enjoy the moon.
The origin of festivals
origin
The origin of Mid-Autumn Festival is closely related to the moon, which is the relic of ancient celestial worship-the custom of respecting the moon. At the autumnal equinox, it is an ancient "Moon Festival". ? [26] Offering sacrifices to the moon is a very old custom in China, which is actually the worship of the "Moon God" by ancestors in some places in ancient China. Mid-Autumn Festival comes from the traditional "Autumn Equinox Sacrificing the Moon". In traditional culture, the moon and the sun are the same, and these two alternate celestial bodies become the objects of ancestor worship. The Mid-Autumn Festival originated from the ancient people's sacrifice to the moon, which is the legacy and derivative of China people's custom of offering sacrifices to the moon.
festival name
According to the China calendar, August in the summer calendar (lunar calendar) is in the middle of autumn, which is the second month of autumn, so it is called "Mid-Autumn Festival", and August 15th is in the middle of it, so it is called "Mid-Autumn Festival". Mid-Autumn Festival has many nicknames: it is called "August Festival" and "August and a half" because it falls on August 15th; Because the main activities of the Mid-Autumn Festival are all around the "moon", it is also commonly known as the "Moon Festival". Mid-Autumn Festival is also called "Reunion Festival" and "Daughter's Day" because the moon is round, families get together and married daughters go home for reunion. Autumn creek worships moonlight as its birthday, so it is called "Moonlight Birthday". During the Mid-Autumn Festival, all kinds of melons and fruits are mature and listed, which is called the "Fruit Festival". ?