The Origin and Significance of Mid-Autumn Festival

The Mid-Autumn Festival originated from the worship of celestial phenomena and evolved from the worship of the autumn moon in ancient times. Offering sacrifices to the moon has a long history, and it is an activity of offering sacrifices to the "Moon God" in some places in ancient China. The autumnal equinox in the twenty-four solar terms is an ancient "Moon Festival".

Mid-Autumn Festival is popular in Han Dynasty, which is a period of economic and cultural exchanges and integration between the north and the south of China, and cultural exchanges between different places spread together. The word "Mid-Autumn Festival" first appeared in the literature of Han Dynasty. According to Zhou Li, during the pre-Qin period, there were activities such as "Mid-Autumn Festival to welcome the cold night", "Mid-Autumn Festival to offer autumn clothes" and "Yue Bai at the Equinox".

The custom of Mid-Autumn festival

In terms of diet, there are many local folk customs in the north and south. Guangdong has the habit of eating yunpian cake and taro. Nanjing people will eat the famous Jinling dish "osmanthus duck" and drink osmanthus wine in the Mid-Autumn Festival. Sichuan can cook rice, kill ducks, eat sesame cakes and honey cakes.

In rural areas of Guizhou, children in the village get together to cook "moon meal". On the night of Mid-Autumn Festival, everyone took out all kinds of cooking utensils and ingredients from home, sat around, built a stove by themselves, and some people handled the ingredients. After the preparations were finished, they began to cook together.