Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as Moon Festival, Moonlight Birthday, Moon Festival, Autumn Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, Moon Festival, Moon Festival and Reunion Festival, is a traditional folk festival in China. The Mid-Autumn Festival originated from the worship of celestial phenomena and evolved from the worship of the autumn moon in ancient times. The following are the Mid-Autumn Festival customs I have compiled for reference only, hoping to help everyone.
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 military salaries, which successfully solved the problem of military rations derived from absorbing a large number of anti-Sui rebels.
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According to historians, the custom of appreciating the moon in Mid-Autumn Festival was first put forward by ancient court scholars and later spread to the people. As early as the Wei and Jin Yuefu's Forty Poems of Midnight, there was a poem "There is a bright moon in autumn" saying: "Look up at the bright moon and send your feelings for thousands of miles." In the Tang Dynasty, it was quite popular to enjoy and play with the moon in the Mid-Autumn Festival. Many poets wrote poems about the moon in their masterpieces, and the Mid-Autumn Festival began to become a fixed festival. The Book of Emperor Taizong recorded the Mid-Autumn Festival on August 15. Legend has it that Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty sleepwalked in the Moon Palace and got colorful feather clothes, and the custom of Mid-Autumn Festival began to prevail among the people.
In the Northern Song Dynasty, August 15th was officially designated as the Mid-Autumn Festival, and seasonal foods such as "small cakes are like chewing the moon, with crisp and stuffing inside" appeared. Meng Yuanlao's Dream of Tokyo said: "On the Mid-Autumn Festival night, your home decorates the terrace, and people compete for restaurants to play the moon"; And "string full of enthusiasm, close to the residents. At night, it is like a cloud. Children in the room, even the wedding drama at night; As for the night market, as for familiarity. " Wu Meng said, "At this moment, golden phoenix is refreshing, the jade dew is cool, the sweet-scented osmanthus is fragrant, and the silver toad is full of light. The son of Taizi, a rich man with a huge room, climbs dangerous buildings all the time, plays the moon in the porch, or opens a wide pavilion, puts on a big banquet and sings loudly with harps to predict the joy of the evening. Even in a cushioned house, you can board a small platform, arrange family dinners, gather around your children and reward festivals. Although the poor in the backcountry knew how to drink at the farmers' market, he reluctantly welcomed the joy and refused to waste it. This night, the street was sold until five drums, tourists were played on the moon, and the mother-in-law was in the city until the fire was endless. " More interestingly, the newly compiled Notes of the Drunken Man describes the custom: "Children of Qingcheng family, regardless of wealth, can go to twelve or thirteen by themselves, all decorated with the eyes of adults, burning incense in the building or atrium, each with its own direction; Men are willing to go to themoon early and climb the fairy laurel. ..... Women want to look like Chang 'e and be as round as the bright moon. "
Moon viewing was very popular in Ming and Qing Dynasties. "Its fruitcake must be round"; Every family should set up a "moonlight position" and "Yue Bai" in the direction of the moon. Lu's "Year of Jinghua" contains: "On the night of Mid-Autumn Festival, everyone has a symbol of the Moon Palace, which symbolizes freedom as a person; Chen melon and fruit are in court, and the cake surface is painted with moon palace toad exemption; Men and women worship incense and burn it. " Tian Rucheng's Travel Notes on the West Lake says: "At dusk, people feast to enjoy the moon, or swim along the river with the white lake. Above Su Causeway, singing hand in hand is no different from daytime "; People invite each other with moon cakes to show their reunion. Fu Cha Dunchong's "Yanjing Chronicle" said: "The Mid-Autumn Moon Cake is the first in Kyoto, but there is not enough food elsewhere. There are moon cakes everywhere. It is more than a foot big, and it is painted with the shape of the moon palace wax rabbit. " "Every Mid-Autumn Festival, Zhumen, the mansion, presents moon cakes and fruits. On the full moon in May, Chen Guaguo was in court for the month, offering sacrifices to edamame and cockscomb flowers. It's just the right time, the clouds are scattered and the children are noisy. This is really called a festival. Only when the moon is offered, men will not worship. " At the same time, in the past 500 years, festivals such as burning incense, walking on the moon, lighting lanterns, planting Mid-Autumn Festival, lighting tower lanterns, dancing dragons, dragging stones and selling male prostitutes have been launched one after another. Among them, the custom of enjoying the moon, eating moon cakes and having a reunion dinner has been passed down to this day.
Mid-Autumn Festival is a traditional festival in China. According to historical records, the word "Mid-Autumn Festival" first appeared in the book Zhou Li. In the Wei and Jin dynasties, there was a record of "telling Shangshu Town about cattle confusion, crossing the river in mid-autumn and evening". It was not until the early years of the Tang Dynasty that the Mid-Autumn Festival became a fixed festival. The Book of Emperor Taizong recorded the Mid-Autumn Festival on August 15. 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. This is also the second largest traditional festival in China after the Spring Festival.
The main customs are:
Watching the moon (playing with the moon):
Scholars recite poems, enjoy the moon, drink and chat under the moon. Folk songs under the moon, singing and dancing under the moon, under the moon.
Swing, drink,
Men and women eloped together under the moon, also known as "stepping on the moon (picking the moon by the river)". Wudi has the custom of walking three bridges on the moon, that is, traveling in the moonlight requires at least three bridges (see Lu Gu's Jia Qinglu, Volume 8). Shanghai also has this custom (see Yu Yousheng's Travel Notes on Metallurgy in the Seas). "Before the Mid-Autumn Festival, new wines were laid in each shop, pavilions were decorated in your home, and people competed in restaurants to play the moon, listening to music thousands of miles away, and the play sat until dawn" (Dream of Tokyo, China). The Mid-Autumn Festival in the Song Dynasty was a sleepless night. The night market is open all night, and there are endless tourists playing with the moon. Drinking and reciting poems under the moon.
Three awards for laurel:
Enjoy the moon, recite poems, and drink under the laurel tree.
Four Yue Bai:
Woman Yue Bai. Yue Bai, a young girl, hopes that she will be "as bright as Chang 'e and as bright as the moon", and there will be a big incense table with moon cakes, watermelons, apples, red dates, plums and grapes, among which moon cakes and watermelons are absolutely indispensable. The Yue Bai family worships women or only women. "The newly compiled Notes on Drunken Weng describes the custom:" Children of Qingcheng School, regardless of wealth, can go to the twelfth or thirteenth school on their own. They are all decorated with the eyes of adults, and they burn incense upstairs or in the atrium in Yue Bai, each with its own direction; Men are willing to go to themoon early and climb the fairy laurel. ... women want to look like Chang 'e and be as round as the bright moon. "Lu's" Year of Jinghua "contains:" On the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, everyone has a symbol of the moon palace, which symbolizes freedom as a person; Chen melon and fruit are in court, and the cake surface is painted with moon palace toad exemption; Men and women worship God and burn incense, but they burn incense.
Five Yue Bai old:
Love, courtship, love is like a full moon.
Six mascots, Master Rabbit (Master Rabbit):
In old Beijing, there is a habit of worshipping grandpa rabbit every Mid-Autumn Festival on August 15th. Rabbit-shaped toys wear people's clothes Or made of mud or noodles. "The Remaining Draft of Kaoting": "The Mid-Autumn Festival in Beijing is mostly in the shape of a mud rabbit, disguised as a human figure, and worshipped by children." By the Qing dynasty, the function of male prostitutes had changed from offering sacrifices to the moon to children's Mid-Autumn Festival toys. It is becoming more and more exquisite, some dressed as military commanders in armor robes, some with paper flags or umbrellas on their backs, or sitting or standing. Sit down, there are Kirin, tiger leopard and so on. There are also vendors dressed as rabbit heads, or shaving masters, or sewing shoes, selling wonton and tea soup. "Every Mid-Autumn Festival, smart people in the city make a toad and rabbit statue out of loess to sell, called a prostitute."
Seven fragrances:
Burn with osmanthus fragrance. Osmanthus fragrans oil and powder for women.
Eight reunion festivals:
Husband and wife and beauty. Worship ancestors. Have a reunion dinner and enjoy the moon.
September Palace logo:
Peng's "You Zhou Tu" describes: "The symbol of the Moon Palace is painted as the Jade Rabbit Kiln Platform; Moon Palace cake, made of silver toad and purple house shadow. A pair of toads and rabbits spread all over the world, regretting the year when Chang 'e stole medicine; I can't go back to the cold, I'm in Yan Dan. "
Ten new moons:
It was popular in the Tang Dynasty that whenever a new moon was born, women prayed in the middle of the night, hoping that their youth would last forever. "This can only worship women, round fans, also called moon fans.
Give each other bronze mirrors on Mid-Autumn Festival.
Because the Mid-Autumn Festival is also a festival of bronze mirrors, it has become very popular to see the image decoration of Luna with the theme of Mid-Autumn Festival on bronze mirrors, among which the most important images are toad, jade rabbit and Chang 'e.
Watching the moon on Mid-Autumn Festival is a popular custom, but few people know about watching the mirror on autumn night. Anyone who knows it, from the first sight, will gradually fall in love with the bronze mirror as bright as moonlight and full of eternal breath.
The bright moon bronze mirror originated in the prosperous Tang Dynasty. Whenever sweet-scented osmanthus is fragrant, it is imperative for the mirror-casting people to cast "double autumn" mirrors for the festive season-the money ball mirror and the Mid-Autumn Festival mirror.
Among several kinds of bronze mirrors with the theme of Mid-Autumn Festival, whether it is the double-phoenix flower-and-bird mirror, the double-magpie moon palace dragon mirror, or the Tang emperor's night trip to the moon palace mirror, they all have profound humanistic and historical implications, which embodies the aesthetic taste and scientific and technological wisdom of the times. These bronze mirrors will also become treasures that future generations will always admire.
The custom of exchanging bronze mirrors in Mid-Autumn Festival has a long history.
According to legend, the Mid-Autumn Festival used to be called "Qian Qiu Festival". According to the records of Xuanzong in the old Tang Dynasty, it was August in the seventeenth year of Kaiyuan (729). At the request of hundreds of officials, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty designated his birthday (August 5th) as "Qian Qiu Festival", which was a national celebration. Baiguan can dedicate beautiful mirrors to the emperor, and the emperor will also customize bronze mirrors in Yangzhou and give them to the company.
Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty wrote a poem, "A Millennium Sacrifice to the Mirror of Ministers", which is a commandment: "Cast a mirror for a thousand years, and a hundred alchemists will shine. Points will be given to ministers, and they will see the image of pure heart in the case. The ice is clear on the stage and the moon is in the window. Even if it is a longer ribbon, you should pay attention to it. " There is also the Five Laws of Courtiers, which states that "the sacred system should be peaceful, and a Millennium mirror should be made": "The precious mirror gives God a day and writes sacred feelings. Qian Qiu wrote an inscription in the name of Longevity Belt. The moon is on the horizon, and flowers are born in the sun. If you don't accept the image, who can tell the heart? "
Over the years, Qian Qiu Festival has evolved into a festival for exchanging bronze mirrors, also known as Qian Qiu Golden Sword Festival. During this period, money-ball mirrors can be divided into two categories: giving mirrors and offering mirrors. Among them, anyone with the inscription "Qian Qiu" belongs to giving a mirror, decorating a dragon or holding a bird, which is luxurious and atmospheric. The China Bronze Mirror, edited by Mr. Kong Xiangxing, has a pair of flower-and-bird mirrors with buttons standing on the left and right, flapping their wings and dancing. The button is a galloping Swiss beast, the button is a grape vine fruit, and a parrot spreads its wings and stands on a grape string. There are four kinds of decorative patterns with symmetrical edges. One is the word "thousand" and "autumn" on the blooming sunflower, the other is moire, the third is a flower with two leaves and one bud, and the fourth is victory. The casting and popularity of Qian Qiujing fully reflected people's desire to pray for Xuanzong's longevity and long for peace and prosperity from Kaiyuan to Tianbao in the prosperous Tang Dynasty.
Only "poetry" and "mirror" prove the future scenery.
On the 15th day of the eighth lunar month after the birth of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, people in the Tang Dynasty ushered in the Mid-Autumn Festival, which is also a festival of bronze mirrors. Sculptors combined the different legends of Mid-Autumn Festival into the casting of bronze mirrors, and many distinctive works were born.
As shown in the picture, "Double Magpies Moon Palace Panlong Mirror", double magpies hold buttons and ribbons in their hands, spreading their wings and flying. In the middle of the month, there are osmanthus trees, and there are moon rabbits and toad patterns on both sides. There is a dragon sea under the button, decorated with four auspicious clouds. The petal edges of sunflowers are similar to those of moon cakes. The decorative patterns on the back of the Moon Palace mirror mainly depict toads, jade rabbits, Chang 'e and osmanthus trees. Toad is regarded as a symbol of the moon palace by ancestors because its hibernation cycle is similar to the rise and fall of the moon. The story of "there is something in the moon, and the white rabbit pounds medicine" in Fu Xuan's "Quasi-Heaven Question" in the Jin Dynasty is circulated, which shows that the jade rabbit has long been the representative of the ancients' daydreaming about the moon palace; "Gui Zang" was written in the Warring States Period. The book said: "In the past, Chang 'e took the medicine of the queen mother of the West to live forever, so she went to the moon and became a moon essence. "After the Six Dynasties, the status of Chang 'e gradually rose. The beautiful and graceful Chang 'e surpassed the Jade Rabbit Toad to become the most attractive fairy in the Moon Palace, and the bronze mirror depicting Chang 'e also portrayed its beautiful image.
On the bronze mirror. According to legend, Taoist priests Shen and Hongdu enjoyed the moon in the Mid-Autumn Festival and suddenly had the idea of going to the Moon Palace. So Shi Tianzhao did it. The three of them went to the Moon Palace by cloud, and they had to listen to Yue Xian. In this way, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty finally won colorful feathers.
After the Anshi Rebellion, the national situation in the Tang Dynasty declined, and the scene of a prosperous Millennium no longer existed. Looking back at history, ups and downs are submerged in the long river of time. Now, only "poetry" and "mirror" are left as evidence.
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