1, Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as Moon Festival, Autumn Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, August Festival, Moon Chasing Festival, Moon Appreciation Festival, Daughter's Day or Reunion Festival, is a popular traditional cultural festival in many ethnic groups and countries in China Chinese character cultural circle, which falls on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month; Because its value is only half that of Sanqiu, it is named, and some places set the Mid-Autumn Festival on August 16. [ 1-2]?
Mid-Autumn Festival began in the early years of Tang Dynasty and prevailed in Song Dynasty. By the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it had become one of the traditional festivals in China, which was as famous as the Spring Festival. Influenced by China culture, Mid-Autumn Festival is also a traditional festival for overseas Chinese in some countries in East and Southeast Asia, especially local Chinese. Since 2008, Mid-Autumn Festival has been listed as a national statutory holiday. On May 20th, 2006, it was listed in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage by the State Council.
3. Since the Mid-Autumn Festival, there have been customs such as offering sacrifices to the moon, enjoying the moon, Yue Bai, eating moon cakes, enjoying osmanthus and drinking osmanthus wine, which have been passed down to this day and lasted for a long time. 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.
4. First, it 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.
5. According to legend, the ugly women in ancient Qi had no salt, and they were very devout to Yue Bai when they were young. When she grew up, she entered the palace with superior moral character, but she was not loved. Seeing the moon on August 15th, the son of heaven saw her in the moonlight and thought she was beautiful and outstanding. Later, he made her queen, and Yue Bai came from the Mid-Autumn Festival. In the middle of the moon, Chang 'e is famous for its beauty, so Yue Bai, a young girl, wants to be "like Chang 'e and have a bright moon". On the night of Mid-Autumn Festival, the Dai people in Yunnan also have the custom of "Yue Bai".
6. The custom of enjoying the moon in Mid-Autumn Festival is very popular in the Tang Dynasty, and many poets have poems about the moon in their masterpieces. In the Song Dynasty, the Mid-Autumn Festival was more popular. On this day, "your family decorates pavilions, and people compete for restaurants to play the moon." During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Yue Bai enjoyed more moon-watching activities, and many places of interest such as Yue Bai altar, moon-worshipping pavilion and moon-watching building remained in various parts of China. Literati have a soft spot for enjoying the moon. They went upstairs to admire the moon, or invited the moon by boating, drank wine and wrote poems, leaving many famous sentences. For example, Du Fu's "The Night of August 15th" uses the bright moon symbolizing reunion to set off his wandering worries in a foreign land; Su Shi, a literary giant in the Song Dynasty, was drunk in the Mid-Autumn Festival, and wrote "Water Tune Song Tou", which is a metaphor for people's separation due to the lack of the moon. To this day, it is still one of the essential activities of the Mid-Autumn Festival for the whole family to sit together and enjoy the beautiful scenery of the bright moon in the sky.