Chinese Middle Autumn Festival

Chinese has three traditional holiday, The Spring Festivel, The Dragon Boat Festival, The Middle Autumn Festival. Because The Middle Autumn Festival is about coming, so today I am going to introduce this important festival to you who want to know more culture about China.

The Middle Autumn Festival is on 15th August of Chinese lunar calendar, 15th August is about in the middle of Autumn, so it is called The Middle Autumn Festival, it also called Moon Festival or Reunion Festival, why also called Moon Festival or Reunion Festival, becasue on this day, all family will gether together to have reunion dinner, no matter people are in where, and no matter what they are doing, The Middle Autumn Festival is in their bottom heart and the Reunion with family in their heart, and after reunion dinner, the whole family will gether together to enjoy the beautiful moon. 

Since ancient times, the Mid-Autumn Festival has folk customs such as offering sacrifices to the moon, admiring the moon, eating moon cakes, watching lanterns, appreciating osmanthus flowers, drinking osmanthus wine and so on.

The origin of the Mid-Autumn Festival is inseparable from the moon. The Mid-Autumn Festival is the relic of the ancient celestial phenomenon worship - the custom of respecting the moon. During the autumn equinox, it is the ancient "Sacrificial Moon Festival". Sacrificing the moon is a very ancient custom in our country. The Mid-Autumn Festival comes from the traditional "autumn equinox". In traditional culture, the moon is the same as the sun, and these two alternate celestial bodies have become the objects of worship of the ancestors. The Mid-Autumn Festival originated from the ancient people's sacrifice to the moon, and it is the relic and derivative of the Chinese people's custom of worshiping the moon. The Mid-Autumn Festival is a synthesis of autumn seasonal customs, and most of the festivals and customs contained in it have ancient origins.

On this day, there are also many traditional activities. People enjoy and like these activities very much.

Sacrificing the moon

Sacrificing the moon is a very ancient custom in China. It is actually a worship activity for the "moon god" by the ancients. In ancient times, there was a custom of "autumn evening and evening moon". On the evening of the moon, worship the moon god. Since ancient times, in some areas of Guangdong, people have the custom of worshipping the moon god (worshipping the moon goddess, worshipping the moonlight) on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival. To worship the moon, set up a big incense table, and put moon cakes, watermelons, apples, red dates, plums, grapes and other offerings. Under the moon, place the "Moon God" tablet in the direction of the moon, the red candle burns high, and the whole family worships the moon in turn to pray for blessings. Offering sacrifices to the moon and admiring the moon, entrusting the moon in memory, expressing people's best wishes. As one of the important rituals of the Mid-Autumn Festival, worshipping the moon has continued from ancient times to the present, and has gradually evolved into folk activities to appreciate the moon and praise the moon.

burning lamp

On the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, there is a custom of lighting lanterns to help the moonlight. Today, there is still the custom of using tiles to stack towers on the towers to light lanterns. In the south of the Yangtze River, there is a custom of making light boats. The custom of lighting lanterns during the Mid-Autumn Festival is even more popular in modern times. Today's Zhou Yunjin and He Xiangfei said in their article "Let's Talk about Seasonal Events": "Guangdong has the most prosperous lanterns. Ten days before the festival, each family uses bamboo strips to make lanterns. And the words 'Celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival', etc., painted with various colors on the paste-colored paper. The inner burning candle of the Mid-Autumn Night Light is tied to a bamboo pole with a rope, erected high on the eaves or on the terrace, or built with small lamps into glyphs or various shapes, hanging At the height of the house, it is commonly known as 'the tree mid-autumn' or 'the vertical mid-autumn festival'. The lanterns hung in the rich and noble homes can be several feet high. You can also enjoy yourself. The lights in the city are like a world of colored glass." The custom of burning lanterns in the Mid-Autumn Festival seems to be second only to the Lantern Festival. 

Enjoy the moon

The custom of appreciating the moon comes from offering sacrifices to the moon, and serious sacrifices have turned into relaxed entertainment. It is said that the moon is the closest to the earth on this night, and the moon is the largest, roundest and brightest, so there has been the custom of feasting and enjoying the moon since ancient times. In ancient times, the customs of the North and the South were different, and the customs were different in different places. The written records of the Mid-Autumn Festival Moon Appreciation activities appeared in the Wei and Jin Dynasties, but they did not become a custom. In the Tang Dynasty, viewing the moon and playing with the moon during the Mid-Autumn Festival were quite popular, and many poets' famous poems included poems about the moon. 

Chasing the moon

The so-called "chasing the moon" means that the fifteenth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar has passed, and the excitement is still unfinished, so the next night, many people invited relatives and friends to continue to appreciate the moon, which is called "chasing the moon". According to the preface of Chen Zihou's "Lingnan Miscellaneous Notes": "On the 16th night of the eighth month, people who do good things in Guangdong gather relatives and friends to eat and drink to enjoy the moon, which is called chasing the moon."

Watch the tide

In ancient times, in addition to watching the moon during the Mid-Autumn Festival, watching the tide in Zhejiang was another Mid-Autumn Festival event. The custom of watching tides in the Mid-Autumn Festival has a long history, as early as the Han Dynasty Meicheng's "Seven Hair" Fu has a fairly detailed description. After the Han Dynasty, the trend of watching tides during the Mid-Autumn Festival became more popular. There are also records of tide watching in Zhu Tinghuan's "Supplement to Wulin's Old Stories" of the Ming Dynasty and Wu Zimu's "Mengliang Lu" of the Song Dynasty. 

Guessing

There are many lanterns hanging in public places on the Mid-Autumn Festival full moon night. People gather to guess the riddles written on the lanterns. Because it is a favorite activity of most young men and women, and there are also love stories in these activities, so the Mid-Autumn Festival guessing lantern riddles It has also been derived a form of love between men and women.

Eat Mooncake

Moon cakes, also known as moon cakes, harvest cakes, palace cakes, reunion cakes, etc., are offerings to worship the moon god in the ancient Mid-Autumn Festival. Moon cakes were originally used as offerings to worship the moon god. Later, people gradually regarded the Mid-Autumn Moon viewing and tasting moon cakes as a symbol of family reunion. Moon cakes symbolize great reunion. People regard them as festive food, offering sacrifices to the moon and gifts to relatives and friends. Up to now, eating moon cakes has become an essential custom for Mid-Autumn Festival in all parts of China. On this day, people have to eat moon cakes to show their "group".

Appreciating osmanthus, drinking osmanthus wine

People often eat moon cakes to appreciate sweet-scented osmanthus during the Mid-Autumn Festival, and eat various foods made of sweet-scented osmanthus, most commonly pastry and candy.

On the night of Mid-Autumn Festival, looking up at Dangui in the middle of the moon, smelling the fragrance of osmanthus, drinking a cup of sweet-scented sweet-scented osmanthus wine, celebrating the sweetness of the family, has become a beautiful enjoyment in the festival. In modern times, people mostly use red wine instead.

Fire-Dargon Dancing

Fire dragon dance is the most traditional custom of the Mid-Autumn Festival in Hong Kong. From the 14th night of the eighth lunar month every year, the Tai Hang area of Causeway Bay holds a grand fire dragon dance for three consecutive nights. This fire dragon is more than 70 meters long. It is made of pearl grass into a 32-section dragon body and is filled with longevity incense. On the night of the event, in the streets and alleys of this district, winding fire dragons danced happily under the lights and the music of dragon drums, which was very lively.

Wow, with so many interesting mid-autumn festival activities, would you like to visit China to enjoy this great festival ？ We are highly welcome you to visit China and experience our traditional festival.