The Mid-Autumn Festival originated in ancient times, popularized in the Han Dynasty, shaped in the early Tang Dynasty and prevailed after the Song Dynasty. Mid-Autumn Festival is a synthesis of autumn seasonal customs, most of which have ancient origins. 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.
Ancient moon worship
Mid-Autumn Festival originated from people's worship of the moon. Sun and moon worship is one of the important contents of primitive religion. In ancient China, there was a religious custom of offering sacrifices to the sun and the moon for a long time. The sun and the moon are the representatives of Yin and Yang respectively. The normal operation of the sun and moon is the guarantee of the harmony of the universe, so the ancients attached great importance to the sacrifice of the sun and moon.
Yin people have divided the sun and the moon into East Mother and West Mother. According to the time attribute of the sun and the moon, the Zhou Dynasty performed the ceremony of the sun and the moon: "When pretending to be a great event, you must put it on the sun and the moon."
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, Luna was called the Eastern Emperor and the Western Empress Dowager respectively. In the Han Dynasty stone relief in Yinan, the Queen Mother of the West and Dong are sitting on a pillar (some people say it is Kunlun Mountain), and there are jade rabbits on both sides of the Queen Mother of the West. It can be seen that Guo Pu's statement that "the moon in Kunlun Mountain is pure and the Shuifu is spiritual" is well-founded, and the goddess Chang 'e in later generations evolved from the Queen Mother of the West (the earliest name is Chang).
The royal family monopolized the right to worship the moon.
During the Qin and Han dynasties, sun and moon sacrifices were still royal ceremonies. Since then, the Northern Wei Dynasty, Sui and Tang Dynasties and even the Ming and Qing Dynasties have had the etiquette of offering sacrifices to the moon on the autumn equinox. Now Yuetan Park in Beijing is an altar to worship the moon in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
In ancient times, after the worship of the moon as a seasonal ceremony was included in the royal sacrifice ceremony and routine sacrifice, there was no news of the worship of the moon among the people. This may be related to the theocracy control in ancient society. After the "Jedi Heaven Connect", only Wang Jiacai can communicate with the gods of heaven and earth representing Yin and Yang, such as the sun and the moon, and ordinary people naturally have no chance to enjoy the sacrifice. For civilians, the moon is an exotic mysterious dominant force, and it is impossible to approach it or sacrifice it. Therefore, during the Han and Wei Dynasties, there was no record of the folk custom of offering sacrifices to the moon in China's cultural system, and there was no festival centered on Yue Bai.
The Mid-Autumn Festival has finally become a folk festival.
After the Sui and Tang Dynasties, with the enrichment of astronomical knowledge and the progress of the times and culture, the sacred color of the moon has obviously faded. At this time, the royal family gradually lost the exclusive right to worship the moon god. Although there was no Mid-Autumn Festival in the Tang Dynasty, it has become a fashion for literati to enjoy and play with the moon on the Mid-Autumn Festival. Up to now, there are myths about the moon god, except the lonely Chang 'e, the toad and the Jade Rabbit, and WU GANG who was banished to the Moon Palace. The moon god evolved from a primitive cosmic god into a Taoist fairy.
The Mid-Autumn Festival in the Song Dynasty has become a folk festival. It is important to enjoy the moon when you have a day off. The Mid-Autumn Festival in the Song Dynasty was a sleepless night, and the officials in charge of public security cancelled the routine curfew.
After the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the utilitarian factors in social life became prominent, and the secular interests of Japan and China intensified in the new year. The lyrical and mythical literati tradition centered on "appreciating the moon" has weakened, and utilitarian worship, prayer and secular feelings and wishes constitute the main forms of the Mid-Autumn Festival custom of ordinary people, and the Mid-Autumn Festival has become an important node in people's time life.
Legend of the origin of Mid-Autumn Festival
According to legend, there were ten suns in the ancient sky, which made the earth smoke and the sea dried up, and ordinary people could not live any longer. This incident alarmed a hero named Hou Yi. He climbed to the top of Kunlun Mountain, walked with divine power, drew the bow, detonated nine redundant suns in one breath, and saved the people in from the mire. Soon, Hou Yi married a beautiful wife named Chang 'e.
One day, Hou Yi went to Kunlun Mountain to visit friends and seek truth. He happened to meet the Queen Mother passing by and asked her for a pack of elixir. It is said that after taking this medicine, he can ascend to heaven immediately. However, Hou Yi was reluctant to leave his wife, so he had to hand over the elixir to Chang 'e for collection.
Unexpectedly, this incident was seen by Pang Meng, a public figure of Hou Yi. After Pang Meng went out, he threatened Chang 'e to hand over the elixir. Knowing that Chang 'e was no match for Pang Meng, she decided in desperation and took out the elixir of life and swallowed it in one gulp. After Chang 'e swallowed the medicine, her body immediately flew off the ground and into the sky. Because Chang 'e was worried about her husband, she flew to the nearest moon and became a fairy.
When Hou Yi came back, the maids cried about everything. In grief, she looked up at the night sky and called his wife's name. At this time, she was surprised to find that the moon was particularly bright tonight, and there was a swaying figure resembling Chang 'e. Hou Yi ordered people to put a table of incense, put on Chang 'e's favorite honey and fresh fruit, and sacrificed Chang 'e in the moon palace. When people heard that the Goddess Chang'e flying to the moon flew to the Goddess Chang'e flying to the moon as a fairy child, they would put an incense table on the edge of the moon and pray for kind the Goddess Chang'e flying to the moon. Since then, the custom of Mid-Autumn Festival in Yue Bai has spread among the people.
Mid-autumn festival custom
Eat moon cakes
The most popular traditional custom in Mid-Autumn Festival is to eat moon cakes. As the saying goes, "August 15th is full, and Mid-Autumn moon cakes are sweet and fragrant". The word "moon cake" first appeared in Wu's Liang Lumeng in the Southern Song Dynasty. At that time, it was just a cake-shaped food like Ling Hua cake. Later, people gradually combined the Mid-Autumn Festival with tasting moon cakes, which symbolized family reunion.
Appreciate the bright full moon
On the night of Mid-Autumn Festival, besides eating moon cakes, China has had the custom of enjoying the moon since ancient times. "Book of Rites" records "autumn dusk and evening moon", that 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. In the Song Dynasty, the Mid-Autumn Festival was more popular to enjoy the moon. According to "Dream of Tokyo", "On the Mid-Autumn Festival night, your family is dressing up and the people are fighting for the restaurant to play the moon".
Sacrifice the Moon
Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the important ceremonies in ancient China. The Book of Rites records: "The son of heaven is sunny in spring and autumn is in the evening. The Asahi is facing the DPRK, and the evening is in the evening. " In the Zhou Dynasty, the emperor had the custom of offering sacrifices to the sun at the vernal equinox, to the land at the summer solstice, to the moon at the autumnal equinox and to heaven at the winter solstice. With the passage of time, the Mid-Autumn Festival has gradually spread to the people, and the date of the Mid-Autumn Festival has also moved from the autumnal equinox to the nearest full moon day-the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Drink osmanthus wine
People often eat moon cakes, enjoy osmanthus flowers and eat all kinds of foods made of osmanthus flowers, among which cakes and sweets are the most common.
On the night of Mid-Autumn Festival, looking up at osmanthus, smelling osmanthus fragrance and drinking a glass of osmanthus wine in the middle of the month to celebrate the sweetness of the family has become a wonderful enjoyment of the festival. In modern times, people mostly use red wine instead.
Tidal bore watching
In ancient times, Zhejiang Mid-Autumn Festival was another Mid-Autumn Festival activity besides watching the moon. The custom of watching tide in Mid-Autumn Festival has a long history, which is described in detail in Mei Cheng's Seven Mao Fu in Han Dynasty. After the Han Dynasty, Mid-Autumn tide watching became more popular. There are also records of watching the tide in Zhu Tinghuan's Ming Bu Wulin Past and Zi Mu's Meng Lianglu. Su Shi, a poet in the Song Dynasty, wrote "Watching the Tide on August 15th": "I know that the Jade Rabbit is round, and it has been frosted in September. Send a message to close the door and close the key, and the night tide stays in the moon. " This poem is about the custom of watching tide in Mid-Autumn Festival.
Bo cake
The Mid-Autumn Festival is a unique moon cake culture and a unique traditional Mid-Autumn Festival activity in southern Fujian for hundreds of years. Legend has it that when Zheng Chenggong was stationed in the army, in order to solve the soldiers' love for the Mid-Autumn Festival and boost their morale, the Ministry of Life invented it by Hong Xu. People's emotional sustenance is devoted to Expo activities, especially in Xiamen. Therefore, Minnan people have always attached great importance to the Mid-Autumn Festival, and there is even a saying of "small Spring Festival, big Mid-Autumn Festival".
Burning lamp
On the night of Mid-Autumn Festival, there is the custom of burning lanterns to help the moon. Nowadays, there is still the custom of piling tiles and burning lamps on towers in Huguang area. Jiangnan has the custom of making lantern boats. The custom of burning lanterns in modern Mid-Autumn Festival is more prosperous. Today, Zhou Yunjin and He He said in their article "Talking about the Four Seasons": "The lanterns in Guangdong are the most prosperous, and every household uses bamboo sticks to tie lanterns ten days before the festival. Make fruits, birds and animals, fish and insects, and "celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival" and so on, and paint various colors on the paste paper.
The internal combustion candle of the Mid-Autumn Night Lantern is tied to a bamboo pole with a rope and stands high on the tile eaves or terraces, or is built into a glyph or a seed shape with a small lamp. This shape, hanging high in the house, is commonly known as' Mid-Autumn Festival on the tree' or' Mid-Autumn Festival vertically'. Rich people can hang lights as high as tens of feet. Families gather under the lamp to enjoy drinking, and ordinary people erect a flagpole and two lanterns to enjoy themselves. The city is full of lights and glass. From ancient times to the present, the scale of the custom of burning lanterns in Mid-Autumn Festival seems to be second only to the Lantern Festival. In the south of the Yangtze River, there is a folk custom of making lanterns on the night of Mid-Autumn Festival, and then putting them in the water to flow far away, which also places people's good wishes.
To the moon.
Walking on the moon is strange to most people, but walking on the moon is a custom activity that must be done in the evening of Mid-Autumn Festival. In ancient times, people dressed luxuriously, accompanied by three or five people, or strolled on the streets, or boated on the Qinhuai River, or went upstairs to watch the Yuehua, talking and laughing. It means that the moon is full and people are round, and it won't leave until late at night. In addition, in ancient times, walking on the moon also added meaning. However, all married women who haven't had a son will go to the Confucius Temple on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival and then cross a bridge. According to legend, there will be a "bear dream" (meaning to be a boy).
For male prostitutes,
In ancient times, it was a tradition for every family to invite male prostitutes in Mid-Autumn Festival, just like setting off firecrackers in the New Year. Please put the prostitute back on the conspicuous table and call Yu Rabbit "prostitute" and "grandma rabbit". The melon and kidney beans will be sacrificed to the Jade Rabbit in return for the happiness it brings to the world, hoping that the "male prostitute" can bless the whole family's safety and health. By the Qing dynasty, the function of male prostitutes had changed from offering sacrifices to the moon to children's Mid-Autumn Festival toys. Nowadays, we seldom see male prostitutes in the market. Generally, it is exhibited as a folk cultural relic in a folk museum or sold in a handicraft shop.
Combustion tower
The game of burning tile lamp (or burning flower tower, burning tile tower and burning fan tower) is widely circulated in the south. For example, Volume 5 of China Folk Customs: "On the Mid-Autumn Festival night in Jiangxi, children usually pick up tiles in the wild and pile them into round towers with holes. At dusk, it is burned in the firewood tower under the bright moon. As soon as the tiles burned red, kerosene was poured on the fire, and suddenly the fields were red and bright as day.
It was not until late at night, when no one was watching, that it began to get interested. This is the famous tile-burning lamp. "The tile-burning tower in Chaozhou, Guangdong Province is also a hollow tower made of bricks and tiles, which is filled with branches and burned to ashes. At the same time, it also burns smoke piles, that is, piles of grass and firewood burned after the end of Yue Bai. The fan-burning pagoda in the border area of Guangxi is similar to this kind of activity, but the folklore is to commemorate the heroic battle of Liu Yongfu, a famous anti-French fighter in Qing Dynasty, who burned the ghosts (French invaders) who escaped into the pagoda. There is also a "tower burning boy" activity in Jinjiang, Fujian.
Yue Bai
In ancient times, there was a custom of "autumn and dusk". The moon at night is to worship the moon god. Put a big incense table, with offerings such as moon cakes, watermelons, apples, red dates, plums and grapes, among which moon cakes and watermelons are absolutely indispensable. Watermelon must be cut into lotus shapes. Under the moon, put the moon statue in the direction of the moon, and the red candle burns high. The whole family takes turns in Yue Bai, and then the housewife cuts the reunion moon cakes. If people are laid off in advance, the number of people in the whole family will be counted, including those at home and those from other places. You can't lay off more or less, but the size should be the same.
Play with lanterns
As early as the Northern Song Dynasty, it was recorded in Old Wulin that the Mid-Autumn Festival was a custom, and there was an activity of "putting a small red light into the river to drift and play". Lantern playing in Mid-Autumn Festival is mostly concentrated in the south. For example, the autumn festival in Foshan mentioned earlier has all kinds of colorful lights: sesame lights, eggshell lights, wood shavings lights, straw lights, fish scales lights, chaff lights, melon seeds lights, birds, animals, flowers and trees lights, which are amazing.