August is the second month of autumn, which was called Mid-Autumn Festival in ancient times. Because it is in the middle of autumn and August, it is called Mid-Autumn Festival, also called Autumn Festival, August Festival, August Half Day, Moon Festival, and because the moon is full on this day, it symbolizes reunion, so it is also called Reunion Festival.
The origin of the Mid-Autumn festival
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. The word "Mid-Autumn Festival" first appeared in Zhou Li. According to the ancient calendar of China, there are four seasons in a year, and each season has three months, which are called Meng Yue, Mid-month and Seasonal Month respectively. Therefore, the second month of autumn is called Mid-Autumn Festival, which is called "Mid-Autumn Festival" because it falls on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month. It was not until the early years of the Tang Dynasty that the Mid-Autumn Festival became a fixed festival.
The custom of Mid-Autumn festival
In ancient China, there was a custom of "autumn and dusk". The moon at night is to worship the moon god. In the Zhou Dynasty, every Mid-Autumn Festival night, activities to welcome the cold and offer sacrifices to the moon were held.
Poems about Mid-Autumn Festival
Poor Guan Ye Shan Juanying, waiting for five residual wines.
Chang Li E Shang Yin
The mica screen is deeply shaded by candles, and the long river is gradually falling.
Chang 'e, I must regret eating the elixir, and now I am alone, in the blue sky, singing every night.
Li Bai's Night Thoughts
The foot of my bed is shining so brightly. Is there frost already?
I looked up at the moon and looked down, feeling nostalgic.
Liuyueye
The moonlight is deeper than half a house, and the big dipper is withered south.
Tonight, through the green screen window, I know that spring is warm and the sound of insects is fresh.
Du Fu in Memorizing Brothers on a Moonlit Night
A vagrant heard the drums heralding the battle, which was the first call of a wild goose on the border in autumn.
The dew turns to frost tonight, and the moonlight at home is bright!
Brothers are scattered, and no one can ask about life and death.
Letters sent to Luoyang city are often not delivered, and wars often do not stop.
On the quatrains of Mid-Autumn couplets
People are happy when they are happy;
From January to Mid-Autumn Festival, the brightness increases.
There are several places to stay on the moon;
Wanjiaxiao wind music Mid-Autumn Festival.
Open Yu Yu on the third and fifth nights;
World ice wheel
Moon cakes have a long history in China. According to historical records, as early as the Yin and Zhou Dynasties, there was a kind of "Taishi cake" to commemorate Taishi Wenzhong, the "ancestor" of China moon cakes. Zhang Qian introduced sesame seeds and walnuts to the Western Regions in Han Dynasty, which added auxiliary materials for making moon cakes. At this time, a round cake filled with walnuts appeared, which was called "Hu cake". In the Tang Dynasty, people had bakers engaged in production, and pastry shops began to appear in Chang 'an, the capital. It is said that one Mid-Autumn Festival night, Emperor Taizong and Yang Guifei enjoyed the moon and ate Hu Bing. Emperor Taizong felt that the name Hu Bing was not pleasant to listen to. Yang Guifei looked up at the bright moon, and her emotions surged. She casually came up with "moon cakes". Since then, the name of "moon cake" has gradually spread among the people. The royal family in the Northern Song Dynasty likes to eat a kind of "palace cake" in the Mid-Autumn Festival, commonly known as "small cake" and "moon group". Su Dongpo has a poem: "Small cakes are like chewing the moon, crisp and pleasing." In the Ming Dynasty, eating moon cakes in the Mid-Autumn Festival gradually spread among the people. At that time, ingenious bakers printed the Goddess Chang'e flying to the moon's fairy tales on moon cakes as food art drawings, making moon cakes a necessary food for Mid-Autumn Festival. The Journey to the West, a Tian Rucheng in Ming Dynasty, said: "August 15th is the Mid-Autumn Festival, and people send moon cakes to show their reunion." By the Qing Dynasty, the production technology of moon cakes had been greatly improved, and there were more and more varieties. Moon cakes prepared for the moon can be seen everywhere. Yuan Jinglan, a poet in the Qing Dynasty, has a long poem "Moon Cake Poetry", which includes "If you enter the kitchen, you can defrost and steam the pot. Rub fine dust and polish rouge marks. This sentence, "Let friends and relatives give gifts to each other, save everything ... children sit together, and the cups and plates are exhausted" are all described, from the making of moon cakes, the exchange of moon cakes between friends and relatives, to the holding of family banquets and the appreciation of the moon.