Throw handkerchiefs to attract relatives
In some areas of Fujian Province, there is a custom of throwing handkerchiefs on the night of Mid-Autumn Festival to attract relatives. That night, colorful platforms were set up in the square, decorated in the shape of the Moon Palace, and jade rabbits and osmanthus trees were also set up. Some unmarried girls dress up as Chang 'e. After celebrating the song and dance, the girls threw handkerchiefs embroidered with different colors at the audience. If the handkerchief received by the audience is the same color as the handkerchief in Chang 'e's hand, they can go on stage to receive the prize. When some unmarried boys return handkerchiefs, Chang 'e can give them rings if she likes them. From then on, the two sides can be friends, and all's well that ends well.
Beg for the moon, shine on it and climb it.
In the old society, some women in Dongguan believed that "Yue Lao was the matchmaker". Anyone who has adult men and women at home but no Mr. Right can burn incense and light candles under the moon on the night of Mid-Autumn Festival, and ask the old man to fix him up. According to legend, the quiet moonlight on the night of Mid-Autumn Festival can make women pregnant. In some areas, on the Mid-Autumn Festival moonlit night, some infertile women who have been married for a long time will go out to bathe in the moonlight, hoping to have children early, which is called "depending on the moon".
Steal vegetables and beg for lang.
In Taiwan Province Province, unmarried women have the custom of "stealing vegetables to beg for husbands" on the Mid-Autumn Festival night. The beautifully decorated woman stepped on the moonlight and stole onions and vegetables from other people's gardens. After stealing them, it indicates that she will meet the only thrill. Therefore, Taiwan Province Province has "stealing onions and marrying a good husband; The proverb "steal vegetables and marry a good husband".
Stealing melons and praying for children
In Hengyang, Hunan Province, there is a saying, "On the night of Mid-Autumn Festival, melons are delivered". Feng lived in his original place, married a woman who had been infertile for many years, and relatives and friends entrusted people to send melons. A few days ago, he stole a melon in the garden, so that the owner didn't know it, and painted it with color. His clothes were wrapped around it and he became a human figure. Give people who are good at it a long life, "beating gongs and firecrackers and sending them to their homes." Older people put wax gourd on the bed and watch the sun under the crack of the door. As you sow, you reap. Those who suffer from melons hold a grand banquet to entertain them, if it happens again. When a woman gets a melon, she will cut it off. As the saying goes, stories are the best. " In Hengyang, whoever is married and has no children in the village, "as long as the popularity is good, someone in the village will give them a gift."
In other parts of Hunan, there is also the custom of sending melons to children. Similar to Hengyang, on the night of Mid-Autumn Festival, while the master is not at home to enjoy the moon, good neighbors secretly send their children for him. The person who sends the child must be someone who already has a child. They first selected the melon wheel of the worst family in the village, stole a big wax gourd from the garden, painted the doll's face on the melon, and then inserted a small bamboo tube five inches long into the belly of the wax gourd, and filled it with water along the bamboo tube until it was full. The sender hid the wax gourd in the master's bed, waited for the master to go back to his room to sleep, and pulled the quilt with his hand. When the wax gourd doll moves, water will flow out along the bamboo tube, just like a child wetting the bed. People who throw melons curse when they get up early in the morning. It is said that the more fierce the curse, the stronger the dolls will be in the future. If you have a baby in the second year, you should worship the giver "michel platini" and "dopted mother".
In Guizhou, there is also the custom of stealing melons and giving them away. When you steal melons at night, you deliberately let the stolen people know, so that you can get a scolding. The uglier the curse, the better. After the melon is stolen, you should dress it, draw eyebrows, pretend to be a child, beat gongs and drums, carry it with bamboo tools, and send it to a childless family. The person who receives the melon must invite the person who sends the melon to eat a moon cake, then sleep with the melon for one night and cook it the next morning, thinking that they can get pregnant from now on.
In Shexian County, Anhui Province, during the Mid-Autumn Festival, adults let children's melons or mother-in-law taro brought by their mothers be put into the quilts of newlyweds, making the mattresses extremely dirty. In this way, the sender is represented. There is a poem that says, "It's beautiful to send a child to the Mid-Autumn Festival. Guading taro is always suitable for men. Innocent people cherish HongLing's quilt the most. It's a pity to drag it with water.
Hakka custom
Hakka people's custom of eating moon cakes and enjoying the moon in Mid-Autumn Festival is roughly the same as that in other parts of the country. Hakkas call August Festival or August and a half.
During the Mid-Autumn Festival when the moon is full, Hakkas will put moon cakes, peanuts, grapefruit and other fruits in the yard, on the balcony, or where the moon rises in front of their houses to prepare for the "Yue Bai" activities.
After the worship, the whole family enjoyed the moon together and ate out. Watching the moon is an adult's business. Children generally don't just sit there and enjoy the moon, but chase and play in the bright moonlight. This is their paradise. And the food is a little particular. Parents often let everyone eat these sacrifices to the moon god first. In China's sacrificial culture, there is a tradition that after the gods enjoy it, the sacrifices are often divided, thus ending the whole sacrificial ceremony. In the process of sharing food, on the one hand, we accepted the blessing of the moon god, on the other hand, we also fulfilled the traditional sacrificial culture. Meixian people say that eating these sacrifices is more "good" and blessed, and it will be more auspicious.
In Meizhou, in addition to the traditional Mid-Autumn Festival food with universal significance, pomelo is an essential holiday food, and its varieties include golden pomelo (Shatian pomelo), honey pomelo or crystal pomelo. And eating grapefruit also has certain significance. "Like cutting grapefruit is called' killing grapefruit', which means exorcism. Some people also say that peeling grapefruit skin is' peeling ghost skin', which reflects the desire to exorcise evil spirits and eliminate disasters. "
In addition to ordinary moon cakes, there are "five-kernel moon cakes" in Hakka areas, and there is also a round cake made of glutinous rice flour and sugar. Although the social economy continues to progress, Hakka people have been inheriting the traditional food culture and developing the folk food culture, while the heritage of the Central Plains remains unchanged.
Take the moon and three bridges for example.
Wu has the custom of walking the three bridges on the moon, that is, traveling in the moonlight, at least three bridges must be crossed (see Jia Qinglu, Volume 8). Shanghai also has this custom (see Yu Yousheng's Travel Notes on Metallurgy in the Seas). The so-called three bridges are obviously the flavor of the city.