What is the origin of Mid-Autumn Festival?

August 15th of the lunar calendar is a traditional festival in China-Mid-Autumn Festival. Mid-Autumn Festival, Spring Festival, Tomb-Sweeping Day and Dragon Boat Festival are called the four traditional festivals of the Han nationality in China. The word "Mid-Autumn Festival" first appeared in Zhou Li. According to historical records, the festival that the ancient emperors sacrificed to the moon was the 15th day of the eighth lunar month, which happened to be half that of Sanqiu, hence the name "Mid-Autumn Festival". Because this festival is in August in autumn, it is also called Autumn Festival, August Festival, August Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival. There are also beliefs and related custom activities that pray for reunion, so they are also called "Reunion Festival" and "Daughter's Day". Because the main activities of Mid-Autumn Festival are all around the moon, it is also commonly known as "Moon Festival", "Moon Festival" and "Moon Worship Festival". In the Tang Dynasty, the Mid-Autumn Festival was also called "correcting the moon". The prevalence of Mid-Autumn Festival began in the Song Dynasty, and it became one of the major festivals in China in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. About the origin of Mid-Autumn Festival, there are roughly three kinds: it originated from the worship of the moon in ancient times, the custom of singing and dancing under the moon to find a spouse, and the custom of paying homage to the land god in ancient autumn. In order to inherit national culture and enhance national cohesion, Mid-Autumn Festival has been listed as a national statutory holiday in the State Council since 2008. The state attaches great importance to the protection of intangible cultural heritage. On May 20th, 2006, the festival was approved by the State Council to be included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list.

Edit the origin of this festival

The word "Mid-Autumn Festival" first appeared in Zhou Li. According to the ancient calendar of China, the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month is in the middle of August in autumn, so the legend of Chang 'e.

It's called Mid-Autumn Festival. There are four seasons in a year, and each season is divided into three parts: Bangladesh, China and Kyrgyzstan. Therefore, the second month in the middle of autumn is called the Mid-Autumn Festival, and it was not until the early years of the Tang Dynasty that the Mid-Autumn Festival became a fixed festival. The Book of the New Tang Dynasty (Volume XV) and Records of Rites and Music contain "Spring and Autumn Period in Wang Wenxuan and Wang Wucheng", and "In the 19th year of Kaiyuan, Taigong Fu Shang Temple was established, with Sean in Liu Hou as its partner. In the Mid-Spring and Mid-Autumn Festival, there are sacrifices, and the system of sacrificial music is like a text. " Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as Mid-Autumn Festival, Reunion Festival and August Festival, is the second largest traditional festival after the Spring Festival. The prevalence of Mid-Autumn Festival began in the Song Dynasty, and it became one of the major festivals in China in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Edit this Mid-Autumn Moon Cake

Moon cake is the first food in Mid-Autumn Festival, and there are different opinions about its origin. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, Zhang Shicheng (or Liu Bowen, the counselor of Zhu Yuanzhang), the leader of the anti-Yuan uprising in Taizhou, Jiangsu Province, used the Mid-Autumn Festival people to give each other round cakes, which contained a note saying "Kill Tatar on the night of August 15th". Everyone saw the note in the cake, and as expected, the "Tatar" (Yuan Bing), who had done evil together that night, was widely circulated, and then everyone ate the cake together to celebrate the victory of the uprising. In a long historical period, even at the end of the last century, many moon cakes were still affixed with a small note! Unfortunately, the moon cakes produced in recent years have disappeared, and the "cultural code" passed down from generation to generation in moon cakes has also disappeared. There is also a saying that in the early years of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty, General Xu Da captured Beijing, the capital occupied by the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty, and the good news spread to Nanjing, the capital. Zhu Yuanzhang, the Ming Taizu who was playing chess, was ecstatic, that is, he announced that the Mid-Autumn Festival would be celebrated all over the world and rewarded his subjects with moon cakes that conveyed information during the anti-Yuan uprising. Since then, moon cakes have become the "legal" food for Mid-Autumn Festival, and must be eaten [1]. During the Republic of China, the moon cake market in Nanjing was a "three-point world" with Guangdong style, Soviet style and local style. Cantonese fillings are mainly ham, jujube paste and coconut paste, with Guanshengyuan as the leading manufacturer, followed by Dasanyuan and Kangleyuan. They used massive advertising as a means to publish huge advertisements in newspapers and decorate neon lights in windows. The famous Suzhou-Hong Kong manufacturers include Xiao Suzhou, Taiping Village and Daoxiang Village. The advertising production has the characteristics of Shanghai style and likes to engage in gimmicks. The quality of Soviet-style moon cakes is not worse than that of Guangbang, but the price is cheaper. Therefore, after the holiday, financial resources are better than Guangbang. Guangbang's customers are dignitaries and businessmen; Su Gang's customers are mostly well-off families; The general public is happy to join this gang. Although its fillings are only two kinds of meat, five kernels and plain salt and pepper, more than 100 dim sum shops in the city are old brands. They don't decorate the window, let alone advertise, but they all win customers by quality, honesty and low price, and their market share is worse than that of Guangbang and Su Bang.

Edit this holiday custom

Mid-Autumn Festival

This is a very old custom in our country. 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 records: "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.