Mid-Autumn Festival Origin Competition
On May 20th, 2006, it was listed in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage by the State Council. Since the Mid-Autumn Festival, there have been customs such as offering sacrifices to the moon, enjoying the moon, eating Yue Bai, enjoying osmanthus flowers and drinking osmanthus wine, which have been passed down to this day and last forever. The Mid-Autumn Festival is a colorful and precious cultural heritage. The full moon is a symbol of people's reunion, a sustenance for missing their hometown and relatives, and hopes for a bumper harvest and happiness. Mid-Autumn Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Spring Festival and Tomb-Sweeping Day are also called the four traditional festivals in China.
There are many theories about the origin of Mid-Autumn Festival. The word Mid-Autumn Festival first appeared in Zhou Li. The Book of Rites and the Moon Order said: "The Mid-Autumn Festival moon nourishes aging and follows the porridge diet." One theory originated from the sacrificial activities of ancient emperors. It is recorded in the Book of Rites that "the sun rises in spring and the moon sets in autumn", and the moon is a sacrifice to the moon, indicating that as early as the Spring and Autumn Period, emperors began to offer sacrifices to the moon and Yue Bai. Later, aristocratic officials and scholars followed suit and gradually spread to the people.
Second, the origin of Mid-Autumn Festival is related to agricultural production. Autumn is the harvest season. The word "autumn" is interpreted as "autumn when crops are ripe" In the Mid-Autumn Festival in August, crops and various fruits are maturing one after another. In order to celebrate the harvest and express their joy, farmers regard the Mid-Autumn Festival as a festival. "Mid-Autumn Festival" means the middle of autumn. August in the lunar calendar is a month in autumn, and the 15th is a day in this month. Therefore, the Mid-Autumn Festival may be a custom passed down from the ancient Autumn Newspaper. Some historians have also pointed out that the origin of Mid-Autumn Festival should be August 15th, 13th year of Tang Jun's great cause at the end of Sui Dynasty. Pei Ji and Tang Jun, with the idea of a full moon, successfully invented moon cakes and distributed them to the army as salaries.
The legend of Mid-Autumn Festival is very rich, and fairy tales such as the Goddess Chang'e flying to the moon, Wu Gang cutting Guangxi and Jade Rabbit smashing medicine are widely circulated.
One of the legends of Mid-Autumn Festival-the Goddess Chang'e flying to the moon
According to legend, in ancient times, there were ten days in the sky at the same time, the crops died in the sun and the people were poor. A hero named Hou Yi has infinite power. He sympathized with the suffering people, climbed to the top of Kunlun Mountain, made full use of his divine power, drew his bow, shot down more than nine suns in one breath, and ordered the last one to rise and fall on time for the benefit of the people.
Hou Yi was respected and loved by the people. He married a beautiful and kind wife named Chang 'e. Besides hunting, Hou Yi spends all his time with his wife, and people envy this beautiful and loving couple.
Many people with lofty ideals came here to study as teachers, and Meng Peng with ulterior motives joined in.
One day, Hou Yi went to Kunlun Mountain to visit friends and seek truth. He happened to meet the Queen Mother passing by and asked her for a bag of elixir. It is said that taking this medicine can immediately ascend to heaven. However, Hou Yi was reluctant to leave his wife, so he had to temporarily give the elixir to Chang 'e. Chang 'e hid the medicine in the dresser's treasure chest, but the villain Meng Peng saw it. He wants to steal the elixir to make himself immortal.
Three days later, Hou Yi led his entourage out hunting, while Meng Peng with ulterior motives pretended to be ill. Shortly after Hou Yi led the crowd to leave, Meng Peng broke into the backyard of the back room with a sword in his hand, threatening Chang 'e to hand over the elixir. Chang 'e knew that she was no match for Meng Peng. In times of crisis, she made a decisive decision, turned around and opened the treasure chest, took out the elixir and swallowed it in one gulp. Chang 'e swallowed the medicine and immediately floated off the ground, rushed out of the window and flew into the sky. Because Chang 'e was worried about her husband, she flew to the nearest moon and became a fairy.
In the evening, when Hou Yi came home, the maids cried and told what happened during the day. Hou Yi was surprised and angry, and drew his sword to kill the villain. Meng Peng escaped early. Angry and heartbroken, Hou Yi looked up at the night sky and shouted the name of his beloved wife. At this time, he was surprised to find that today's moon is exceptionally bright and bright. There is a swaying figure resembling Chang 'e. He chased the moon desperately, but he chased it three times, the moon retreated three times, he retreated three times, and the moon advanced three times. He couldn't catch up anyway.
Hou Yi had no choice but to miss his wife, so he had to send someone to Chang 'e's favorite back garden, put on a table sweetmeats, put on her favorite honey and fresh fruit, and offer a sacrifice to Chang 'e who was attached to him at the Moon Palace. After hearing the news that the Goddess Chang'e flying to the moon became an immortal, people made an incense table under the moon and prayed for good luck and peace to the kind Chang 'e.
Since then, the custom of Mid-Autumn Festival in Yue Bai has spread among the people.
WU GANG, the second legend of Mid-Autumn Festival, won the laurel.
There is also a legend about the Mid-Autumn Festival: It is said that osmanthus trees in front of Guanghan Palace on the moon are flourishing, reaching more than 500 feet. There is a man who often cuts down, but every time he finishes cutting, the cut place closes immediately. For thousands of years, this laurel tree can never be cut down. It is said that this tree-chopping man named WU GANG, a native of Xihe in Han Dynasty, once went to heaven with the immortal, but when he made a mistake, the immortal banished him to the Moon Palace and did this kind of hard work in vain every day as a punishment. In Li Bai's poems, there is a record that "if you want to be in the middle of the month, you will pay for the cold."
Legend of Mid-Autumn Festival III —— Zhu Yuanzhang and Moon Cake Uprising
It is said that eating moon cakes in the Mid-Autumn Festival began in the Yuan Dynasty. At that time, the broad masses of the people in the Central Plains could not bear the cruel rule of the ruling class in the Yuan Dynasty and rose up against the Yuan Dynasty. Zhu Yuanzhang joined forces with various resistance forces to prepare for the uprising. However, the officers and men of the imperial court searched very closely and it was very difficult to pass on the news. Liu Bowen, a military strategist, came up with a plan and ordered his men to hide a note with the words "Uprising on the 15th of August" in the cake, and then sent people to the uprising troops in different places to inform them to respond to the uprising on the 15th of August. On the day of the uprising, all the rebels responded together, such as a single spark can start a prairie fire.
Soon, Xu Da captured the Yuan Dynasty and the uprising was successful. When the news came, Zhu Yuanzhang was so happy that he quickly sent a message saying that all the soldiers should have fun with the people in the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival and give the "moon cakes" secretly sent at the time of the war as seasonal cakes to the ministers. Since then, the production of "moon cakes" has become more and more elaborate, and there are more and more varieties, such as dishes, which have become good gifts. After the Mid-Autumn Festival, the custom of eating moon cakes spread among the people.