Dietary customs of the Mid-Autumn Festival on the 15th day of August in the Han Chinese calendar. Su Dongpo, a great poet in the Song Dynasty, once praised moon cakes with the poem "Small cakes are like chewing the moon, with crisp and filling inside", which shows that moon cakes in the Song Dynasty have been filled with butter and sugar.
In the Yuan Dynasty, it was said that people took advantage of the opportunity of giving mooncakes to carry a note in them, and agreed to take action at the same time to kill and drive away Mongolian "Tatars" on the evening of August 15.
In the Ming Dynasty, the custom of eating moon cakes on Mid-Autumn Festival became more common. Ming Shenbang's "Wan Bu Miscellaneous Notes" contains: "The furniture of ordinary people's homes is a kind of moon cake with different sizes, which is called moon cake." The "Proceedings" said: "In August, the Haitang and Hosta flowers were enjoyed in the palace. Mooncakes have been sold since the first day of the first lunar month, and every household sells mooncakes and melons from … to 15. ..... If there are leftover moon cakes, they should be collected in a dry and cool place and used separately at the end of the year. This is called reunion cake. " After the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, the custom of giving away mooncakes on Mid-Autumn Festival became increasingly popular, and mooncakes had the symbolic meaning of "reunion". From Qing Dynasty to modern times, new progress has been made in the quality and variety of moon cakes. Different raw materials, production methods and shapes make moon cakes more colorful, forming Beijing flavor, Suzhou flavor, Guangdong style and other unique varieties. Moon cakes are not only unique holiday food, but also exquisite cakes available in all seasons, which are deeply loved by people. ?
The word moon cake was first seen in Liang Lumeng by Wu in the Southern Song Dynasty. At that time, the moon cakes were diamond-shaped, with chrysanthemum cakes and plum cakes coexisting, and they were "available at any time, and you can call them if you want." It can be seen that moon cakes at this time are not only eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival. As for the origin of the word moon cake, there is no textual research. However, Su Dongpo, a famous scholar in the Northern Song Dynasty, left a poem "Little cakes are like chewing the moon, and there is fullness in the crisp", which may be the origin of the name of moon cakes and the basis of their practice. ?
Moon cakes symbolize reunion, which should have started in the Ming Dynasty. If we look at the information about moon cakes and Mid-Autumn Festival folk customs in the Ming Dynasty, we should be able to see the historical track of the reunion of moon cakes: after the Mid-Autumn Festival, the whole family will sit together and share moon cakes and fruits (offerings of the moon). Because moon cakes are also round and shared by the whole family, it gradually forms the implication that moon cakes represent family reunion.
Whenever the Mid-Autumn Festival is clear, set up a box in the open air and put cakes, pomegranates, dates and other fruits to dry the console table. After Yue Bai, the family sat around the dining table, chatting while eating and enjoying the bright sunshine.