August 13 to 15 is the Mid-Autumn Festival, commonly known as August Festival. The market is booming, and mud rabbit stalls are everywhere. At the full moon in May, a moonlight horse is set in the courtyard, which provides fruits, moon cakes, edamame branches, cockscomb flowers, radishes, lotus roots, watermelons and other products. Men don't worship unless the moon offers it. As the saying goes, "Men don't Yue Bai, women don't sacrifice stoves". At the end of each month, families will sit together in groups of three and five to drink and enjoy the moon. This is the so-called "Reunion Festival". Also, the moon cakes in the Mid-Autumn Festival are divided into blocks according to the number of people, which are called "reunion cakes".

In old Beijing, the Mid-Autumn Festival takes three days off. From 13 to 15, students will not attend classes either. The so-called "mud rabbit stall" is selling male prostitutes. In the first ten years, rabbits were sold in the Mid-Autumn Festival in Beijing. It is rare now. It seems that I have only seen it at the Spring Festival temple fair. The Mid-Autumn Festival is dedicated to rabbits on this moon. Rabbits are made of mud. Rabbits wear armor on their heads, put flags on their backs, paint their faces with gold mud, sit or stand, carry or ride animals, and have two big ears, which is also funny and harmonious. There is a song as proof, "Don't mention old debts and worry about deleting them, forget time and be idle." "All of a sudden, I was surprised that the festive season is coming, and the streets are full of rabbit mountains. On the Mid-Autumn Festival, there is a statue of grandpa rabbit at home, which is really atmospheric.

It coincides with the Mid-Autumn Festival, which is particularly rich. In "Collecting Wind", there are "Mid-Autumn Festival, there are fruit stalls everywhere in the market, such as Yali (original flavor), Shaguo, Pak Lei, Shuili, Apple, Begonia, Prunus humilis, fresh dates, grapes, late peaches, and edamame with branches, fruit lotus root and watermelon". In the past, the fruit market was in the east of Qianmen, and the lights were as bright as day on August 13 and April 2. Some shouted, "What day is it today? Forget it, don't buy the fragrant fruit of my Shaguo apple, hey! Now, these autumn fruits can be bought in the street. And in contrast, this year's fruits are plentiful and cheap, which is the most beautiful moment for monkeys to become people. The fly in the ointment is that radish is a bit expensive, the same price as apple. It is inevitable that some old people will denounce this unreasonable price. It is also worth mentioning that edamame was not common in the past Mid-Autumn Festival. This year, in front of the moon cake stall in Beitaizhuang grocery store, there was a big pot of boiled edamame, and it was indeed edamame with branches.

Traditionally, gifts were given near Mid-Autumn Festival in the past. "Mid-Autumn Festival, everyone gives gifts to each other ..., rewards slaves with money, and stores post them, so every festival". In the past two years, Beijing seems to have set off a big Mid-Autumn Festival gift-giving wind. Get two cars before the festival, full of moon cakes and fruits, and deliver them to your door. Of course, home and residents here refer to business customers. Giving gifts is naturally to contact feelings and settle business. I thought when I did it two years ago, and now I really worship male prostitutes there. I'm afraid this trend will be even stronger this year.

Nowadays, we pay attention to Cantonese moon cakes. In the past, "Mid-Autumn moon cakes were first made in Kyoto, and there was a shortage of food at first." The moon cake is more than a foot long, and it is painted in the shape of a toad and a rabbit in the moon palace. Some people eat it after the sacrifice, while others eat it until New Year's Eve. This is the so-called reunion cake. "It will definitely not be Cantonese moon cakes that can last for half a year. Mooncakes come from folk sacrifices. Similarly, if traced back to the source, 70% to 80% of the snacks that Beijingers often eat come from folk sacrifices or religious offerings. From the production process, frying, candied fruit and baking are the best anti-corrosion measures. Even jiaozi is food after the Spring Festival.

In fact, not only eating, but also the popularization of Yan Shun Thought and the birth of art (cautious people will use some concepts of art here) are inseparable from folk sacrifices. I still remember when I was at school, I was very interested in this problem. Looking through some archaeological materials in Henan and Shandong, what still stimulates my thoughts is a Yu Fu unearthed in Rizhao, Shandong. Of course, Yu Fu is really invisible, but this photo alone is amazing enough. The axe is thin enough to transmit light, but it is difficult to describe it simply with the word "lifelike". What can its existence mean in the stone axe era?

Yu Fu is not so much an axe as a language, which describes the dialogue between a hard kitchen knife and heaven. Or call it an elf. This is an elf who abandons the spirit of utilitarian choice. So let nature take its course, and art appears like this. What's more, talents completely fall off and become people.

Mid-Autumn Festival is really good. Fortunately, it reminds me of these questions that I haven't thought about for a long time. Of course, festivals are people's spiritual festivals, and it is not surprising to occasionally notice the difference between moon cakes and pancakes at this time. You see, people are like this. I cook by myself, and I don't take it as a fill. Steamed buns have never changed for hundreds of years, but with a little spiritual pursuit, they can be refurbished.

It seems that cakes, works of art and many other things are really like this.

Ancient custom

Old custom

According to Volume 8 of Dream of China in Tokyo (1 147), a few days before the Mid-Autumn Festival, the streets and alleys of the Song Dynasty were filled with a strong festive atmosphere. The shop sells new wine and redecorates the colorful building in front of the door. There are pomegranates, pears, chestnuts, grapes, colored oranges and so on. In the evening, people compete to enjoy the moon in restaurants, and the bamboo and flute play together. The children in the alley played all night and the night market was crowded. As for dawn. Wu (living around 1270) also recorded in the fourth volume of Meng Lianglu that more people arranged family dinners and reunions with their children in the Southern Song Dynasty to reward festivals. Even poor families in mean streets will pawn clothes and buy wine to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Jin Yingzhi (who lived around 1 126) recorded the custom of people from enjoying the moon to Yue Bai at that time in the fourth volume of the newly edited Notes of the Drunken Man: "The appreciation of the moon in the capital will be different from other counties. The whole family, rich or poor, can go to twelve or thirteen by themselves and dress up as adults. You have your own time to climb stairs or burn incense in the court. Men are willing to go to Toad Palace to climb Xiangui early. Women want to look like Chang 'e and be as round as the clean moon. 」

Besides Yue Bai, there is the custom of watching lanterns. Zhou Mi (1232- 1308) recorded the Mid-Autumn Night in Hangzhou in the third volume of Old Wulin: "The lights and candles are gorgeous, but the evening is over." Zhejiang also put on a sheepskin water lamp "Little Red" on Mid-Autumn Festival night. The river is covered with thousands of lanterns, which are as eye-catching as the stars in the sky. It is said that water lanterns are for the benefit of Jiang Shen, not just for viewing.

In the Song Dynasty, Hangzhou also had a special Mid-Autumn Festival landscape, that is, watching the tide in Qiantang. Because the topography of Qiantang estuary is similar to a funnel, when the tide comes in, the waves overlap and pile up into a water wall, which is very spectacular. Su Dongpo wrote "Watching the Tide on a Mid-Autumn Night" when he was in Hangzhou, describing the number of people watching the Tide and the trend of the Tide:

I know the jade rabbit is round, and it has been frosty in September.

The message is don't lock the door, and the night tide stays on the moon.

Ten thousand people are clamoring for me, but they are still floating in the river like a old boys.

You know how high the tide is, and the mountains are muddy in the waves.

Another passage in "The Old Story of Wulin" describes the earth-shattering thin momentum more specifically: "When I am far away from Haimen, it is just like a silver line. It is the snowy mountain in Yucheng when it is coming, and it will come the next day. Loud as thunder, shocking and whipping, swallowing the sky and swallowing the sun, the situation is extremely heroic. " Today, Qiantang Tide Watching is still the most distinctive tourist attraction of Mid-Autumn Festival in Zhejiang Province.

Although the Yuan Dynasty entered the Central Plains as an alien, it was deeply localized. Most holiday customs also follow the old Han system. In Ming Dynasty, the custom of appreciating the moon, offering sacrifices to the moon and eating moon cakes prevailed.

Tian Rucheng (around 1540) recorded that people in Ming Dynasty gave more gifts than Mid-Autumn Festival and took the circle of "reunion". In the evening, there will be a banquet to enjoy the moon, or take wine and vegetables to the lake and sea. The second volume (1635) of The Scenery of the Imperial Capital, co-authored by Dong Liu and Yu Yizheng, describes in detail the offerings of Mid-Autumn Festival: the moon cakes must be round, and the fruits offered must be cut into lotus-shaped teeth. Moonlight paper is sold in the market. There is a partial moon bodhisattva painted on the moonlight paper. There is a full moon returning to the temple on the moonlight paper, and a rabbit is standing in the temple. After the festival, burn paper and distribute fruitcakes to every family member. Mid-Autumn Festival is also a reunion festival, so even if a woman returns to visit her relatives in the province, she will definitely return to her husband's family for reunion on this day.

As for the grand gathering of the Ming people enjoying the moon, there is also Zhang Dai (1597- 167 1? ) with its wonderful pen, it made the following extremely elegant explanation for us. "Tao An Meng Yi" Volume Five Tiger Autumn Nights:

In August and a half in Huqiu, there are aborigines, floating population, scholars, family members, female musicians, geisha, famous prostitutes in the song, opera women, folk young women, good women, young children, child molesters, diners, idlers and boys and girls. Since the birth of Gongtai, Qianshi, Hejian, Jianchi, Shenwending Temple, down to Gate 1 and Gate 2 of Shishi, have all sat on the mat and looked up, like geese landing on Pingsha and Xiajiang. On the day of the moon, there were hundreds of speakers, boasting about it, taking part in it, shaking the earth, thundering and screaming, but they didn't hear the call. What is more certain is that the drums and cymbals are gradually resting, and the silk and bamboo are flourishing, mixed with singing. It's all "the brocade sail opens the lake into a lake", with big songs in the same field, the sound of squatting gongs and drums, the sound of silk and bamboo, regardless of beating and smashing. In deeper places, people gradually dispersed, scholars and their families got off the boat and played in the water. They were asked to sing. Everyone contributed their skills to the North and the South, and the orchestra played repeatedly. Listeners distinguish words and phrases, and seaweed follows. The second drum is quiet, the screen is listening, and the hole is a wisp of sorrow, clear and tender, even more so than three or four. There are no mosquitoes and flies in the lonely moon with three drums. A lady appeared on the stage, sitting high on the stone, making a silky sound without whistling or flapping, splitting the stone through the clouds and pulling up the strings. Every word, the listener is heartbroken and exhausted, afraid to clap his hands and can only nod. However, there are still hundreds of people sitting beside the goose at this time. How can you seek knowledge if you are not in Suzhou?

Perhaps we can get a glimpse of the life interest of the late Ming people from this song "Autumn Night in Tiger House".

The "Moonlight Paper" used in Yue Bai in the Ming Dynasty was renamed "Moonlight Horse" in the Qing Dynasty. Yanjing Time by Fu Cha Deng Chong (1906). It is recorded that: "Moonlight riders draw Taiyin Star King with paper, such as Bodhisattva, Moon Palace and rabbits with medicine. People stand up and hold the pestle, the algae are exquisite and resplendent, and they sell much in the market. Seven or eight feet old and two or three feet short, with two flags on the top, red, green, basket and yellow, all dedicated to the moon. Burn incense and salute, and burn it with a thousand ingots after the sacrifice. "

There was another saying in the Qing Dynasty: "Men don't go to Yue Bai, and women don't run around". Therefore, Yue Bai has become a patent for women. Housewives in Yue Bai are very busy and children have nothing to do. A few days before the Mid-Autumn Festival, a kind of "male prostitute" for children's confinement will be sold in the market. Male prostitutes originated in the late Ming Dynasty. Ji Kun of Amin Dynasty (born around 1636) wrote in the Legacy of Flower King Pavilion: "Mid-Autumn Festival in Beijing is mostly shaped like a mud rabbit, dressed like a human figure, and children worship it." By the Qing dynasty, the function of male prostitutes had changed from offering sacrifices to the moon to children's Mid-Autumn Festival toys. It is becoming more and more exquisite, some dressed as military commanders in armor robes, some with paper flags or umbrellas on their backs, or sitting or standing. Sit down, there are Kirin, tiger leopard and so on. There are also vendors dressed as rabbit heads, or hairdressers, or sewing shoes, selling wonton and tea soup, and so on.

Local custom

Local custom

[Fujian Province]

Women in Pucheng County walk through nanpu bridge to eat and live a long life. Hanging lanterns is a good omen to ask the moon palace for children in the custom of mid-autumn night in Jianning. Shanghang County, Mid-Autumn Festival, when there are more children than Yue Bai, please visit your aunt. The method is that body double, who takes the bamboo basket as the moon aunt, will shake the bamboo basket by himself if there is a spirit coming, and predict good or ill luck according to the shaking times. When Longyan people eat moon cakes, parents will control the round cakes with a diameter of two or three inches in the center for the elders to eat, which means that they can't tell the secrets to the younger generation. This custom comes from the legend that moon cakes contain anti-meta-news about killing Tartars. Before the Mid-Autumn Festival in Kinmen, Yue Bai should worship God. Sacrifice to heaven, make it pink, and call it "Tiangong". The red color of Yue Bai is in the shape of pigs and sheep, and the number must be nine pigs and sixteen sheep.

[Guangdong Province]

There is a custom of eating taro on Mid-Autumn Festival in Puguang, which is said to be a historical story to commemorate the killing of Tatars at the end of Yuan Dynasty. After killing the Tatars in the Mid-Autumn Festival, they gave their heads to the moon, and later they were replaced by taro. Until now, when Cantonese peel taro, it is also called "peeling ghost skin".

[Shandong Province]

On August 15, farmers in Puqingyun County offered sacrifices to Tugu God, which was called "Young Miao Society". Zhucheng, Linyi, Jimo and other places have to pay homage to their ancestors in addition to the moon. Landlords in guanxian, Laiyang, Guangrao and Postal City also entertain their tenants in the Mid-Autumn Festival. Jimo eats a seasonal food called "Wheat Arrow" in the Mid-Autumn Festival.

[Shanxi Province]

Pu 'an Mid-Autumn Festival invites a son-in-law. Yue Bai star in Yongning Mid-Autumn Festival. Datong county moon cakes, called reunion cakes, are two or three feet big and have the custom of vigil on Mid-Autumn Night. Shilou county Mid-Autumn Festival worships the city god.

Hebei Province

Puwanquan County called the Mid-Autumn Festival "Little New Year's Day", and the moonlight paper painted pictures of Xing Jun and Guan Di reading the Spring and Autumn Festival at night. Hejian county takes the mid-autumn rain as a bitter rain. If it rains on the Mid-Autumn Festival, the food in that year will definitely taste bad.

Shanxi(Province)

On the Mid-Autumn Festival night in Puxi County, men go boating and climb cliffs, and women also arrange banquets. No matter rich or poor, people should eat watermelons. The Mid-Autumn Festival invites a trumpeter to preach along the door in order to ask for money, and so does the Dragon Boat Festival on New Year's Eve. In Luochuan county, parents lead students to bring gifts to pay homage to their husbands, and there are more lunches than school dinners.

Jiangsu Province

Burn incense in mid-autumn night in Puwuxi County. There are silks around the incense barrel, which depicts the scenery in the Moon Palace. There are incense sticks made of thread Kaori with paper kuixing and colorful flags on them. Shanghainese Mid-Autumn Festival Banquet with Sweet-scented osmanthus honey wine.

[Jiangxi Province]

On the night of Mid-Autumn Festival in Phuket County, every village burns crocks with straw. When the crock is red, put the vinegar in it. In this way, the fragrance filled the whole village. After the Mid-Autumn Festival in Xincheng County, grass lanterns were hung on the city streets from the eleventh night, and they were greeted with drum music until the seventeenth day.

[Anhui Province]

On the Mid-Autumn Festival in Puwuyuan, children build a hollow pagoda with bricks. Curtains, plaques and other ornaments are hung on the tower, and a table is placed in front of the tower, displaying various utensils dedicated to the "tower god". Lights and candles are lit inside and out at night, which is bright and lovely. Children in Jixi Mid-Autumn Festival play Mid-Autumn firecrackers. Mid-Autumn Festival firecrackers are braided with straw, picked up and smashed stones after soaking, making a loud noise, which is a custom in Youlong. A fire dragon is a dragon made of grass with incense in it. When you visit the dragon, there are gongs and drums teams. They tour the village before being sent to the river.

[Hubei Province]

Zhou Pu Mid-Autumn Festival, take weaving worms to fight.

[Sichuan Province]

The Mid-Autumn Festival in Pujiading County is called "Watching the Meeting", where people worship the land gods and perform zaju, vocal music and cultural relics. Besides eating moon cakes, Sichuanese will fight, kill ducks, eat sesame cakes, honey cakes and so on during the Mid-Autumn Festival. In some places, orange lights will be on. Hollow out oranges, light candles and hang them at the door to celebrate. There are also children who burn incense on grapefruit and dance along the street, which is called "dancing meteor ball"

Pu's Ruyuan County Records also records that eating taro in the Mid-Autumn Festival can cure scabies. Guangdong Mid-Autumn Festival also has the custom of children carrying lanterns. The materials of the lamp are pomelo lamps carved with red pomelo skin, lanterns made of jasmine, and bright lights with the fragrance of flowers and fruits, which make people fondle. Unmarried young people in Dongguan also burn incense and candles under the moon, asking the elderly to fix them up. Xiapu has the custom of dragging stones in the Mid-Autumn Festival. Towing oilstones was invented by Qi Jiguang. He tied ropes with stones and dragged them along the street, bluffing and scaring the enemy.

On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, just after the Spring Festival, the traditional festival Lantern Festival in China was ushered in.

The first month is the first month of the lunar calendar. The ancients called the night "Xiao", so they called the fifteenth day of the first month the Lantern Festival. The fifteenth day of the first month is the night of the first full moon in a year and the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty. On the night of Spring Festival, people celebrate this festival and the continuation of the Spring Festival. Lantern Festival is also called "Shangyuan Festival".

According to the folk tradition in China, on this bright night, people light thousands of lanterns to celebrate. Going out to enjoy the moon, lighting and setting fires, solve riddles on the lanterns, spending the Lantern Festival together, family reunion and celebrating festivals are all pleasant.

Lantern Festival is also called Lantern Festival. The custom of burning lanterns in the Lantern Festival originated in the Han Dynasty. In the Tang Dynasty, the lantern viewing activities became more prosperous. Lights are hung everywhere in palaces and streets, and tall light wheels, light buildings and light trees have been built. Lu Zeng, a great poet in the Tang Dynasty, described the grand occasion of the Lantern Festival in "Watching Lights at Fifteen Nights", saying that "the stars in the Han Dynasty fell, and the balcony was like a hanging moon."

In the Song Dynasty, more attention was paid to the Lantern Festival, and lantern viewing activities became more lively. The lantern viewing activity lasted for five days, and the styles of lanterns were more abundant. In the Ming Dynasty, the Lantern Festival will last 10 days, which is the longest Lantern Festival in China. Although there were only three days to enjoy the lanterns in the Qing Dynasty, the scale of the lantern viewing activities was unprecedented. Besides burning lanterns, fireworks are also set off for entertainment.

"Lantern riddle", also known as "playing riddles", is an activity added after the Lantern Festival, which appeared in the Song Dynasty. In the Southern Song Dynasty, Lin 'an, the capital, made riddles every Lantern Festival, and there were many people in solve riddles on the lanterns. At the beginning, it was a busybody who wrote riddles on paper and posted them on colorful lanterns for people to guess. Because riddles are enlightening and interesting, they are welcomed by all walks of life in the process of communication.

Folk custom of eating Yuanxiao on Lantern Festival. Yuanxiao is made of glutinous rice, which can be solid or stuffed. Filled with bean paste, sugar, hawthorn, various fruit materials and so on. You can cook, fry, steam and fry when you eat. At first, people called this kind of food "Floating Zi Yuan", and later they called it "Tangtuan" or "Tangyuan". These names are similar in pronunciation, meaning reunion, symbolizing family reunion, harmony and happiness. People also miss their departed relatives and place their best wishes on their future lives.

In some places, the Lantern Festival also has the custom of "walking away from all diseases", which is also called "roasting all diseases" and "dispersing all diseases". Most of the participants are women. They walk together or against the wall, or across the bridge in the suburbs, in order to drive away diseases and eliminate disasters.

With the passage of time, there are more and more activities in the Lantern Festival, and many local festivals have added traditional folk performances such as playing dragon lanterns, playing lions, walking on stilts, rowing dry boats, dancing yangko and playing Taiping drums. This traditional festival, which has been passed down for more than two thousand years, is not only popular on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, but also celebrated every year in areas where overseas Chinese live in concentrated communities.