According to legend, Chang 'e stole the elixir that her husband Hou Yi begged from the Queen Mother of the West and flew to the Moon Palace. However, Qiong Yu is too high to be cold, and the so-called "Chang 'e should regret stealing the elixir, and the blue sky and the dark night heart" is a portrayal of her loneliness. Later, Chang 'e confided her remorse to her husband and said, "Tomorrow is the night of the full moon. You make pills out of flour, round like a full moon, put them in the northwest of the house, and then keep calling my name. At midnight, I can go home. " The next day, do as my wife says, and then the fruit of Chang 'e flies from the middle of the month and the husband and wife reunite. The custom of making moon cakes for Chang 'e in the Mid-Autumn Festival is also formed.
Mid-Autumn Legend Story 2: WU GANG's Cutting of Guangxi
Legend has it that there are laurel trees in the moon, and Huainanzi once said that "there are laurel trees in the moon". Later, the legend was more specific, and WU GANG, a laurel cutter, was added beside the laurel tree. The legend of WU GANG, a laurel tree in the middle of the month, is the most concrete legend of WU GANG, a laurel tree in the middle of the month, which was recorded in the first volume of Tianzhi before Youyang Za in the Tang Dynasty. It says, "As the old saying goes, there is a laurel tree and a toad in the moon, so different books say that the laurel tree is 500 feet high, and one person often marries it, and the trees are combined. Wu Minggang, a native of Xihe, studied immortals and ordered to cut down trees. " WU GANG once followed the fairy to the sky, but he made a mistake, so the fairy sent him to the moon and ordered him to cut down the fairy tree, the laurel tree. The laurel tree is 500 feet high and can be cut down together. Emperor Yan used this endless labor as a punishment for WU GANG. In Li Bai's poems, there is a record that "if you want to be in the middle of the month, you will pay for the cold."
Mid-Autumn Legend Story 3: Jade Rabbit Fighting Drugs
This legend was first seen in Dong Escape from Han Yuefu: "The Jade Rabbit knelt for a long time and pounded toad pills, and presented a jade plate to your majesty. Take this medicine and you will get a fairy. " According to legend, there is a rabbit on the moon, as white as jade, so it is called "Jade Rabbit". This kind of white rabbit holds a jade pestle and kneels down to pound the medicine into toad pills. Taking these pills can make you live forever. Jade rabbit is probably the earliest playmate of Chang 'e in Guanghan Palace.
Summary: The stories of the first three Mid-Autumn Festival are full of myths and legends. As for the relationship between the three, there is a saying: According to legend, Yi got the elixir of life from the Queen Mother of the West and gave it to her for safekeeping. When Feng Meng heard about it, he stole it, but if he didn't steal it, it would hurt Heng 'e. In desperation, Heng E swallowed the elixir of life and flew to the sky. Unable to leave the village, Heng E stayed at the Moon Palace. Lonely and unbearable in the Guanghan Palace, he urged WU GANG to cut down the osmanthus tree and let Yutu pound medicine, hoping to make it a soaring medicine, so that he could return to the world as soon as possible and reunite with Iraq.
The following three legends have certain historical prototypes and are closely related to famous historical figures and historical records. Let's continue to savor it!
Legend of Mid-Autumn Festival 4: Xuanzong traveled to the moon
According to legend, Taoist priests Xuanzong, Shen and Hong all enjoy the moon in the Mid-Autumn Festival. Suddenly, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty put forward the idea of visiting the Moon Palace, so Shi Tianzhao did it, and the three of them began to go to Qingyun and roam the Moon Palace. However, the palace is heavily guarded and cannot enter, so it can only overlook the imperial city of Chang 'an. This time, I suddenly heard a fairy-tale voice, beautiful and wonderful, moving! Tang Xuanzong was always familiar with melody, so he memorized it. This is precisely "this song should only be in the sky, and the world can listen to it several times!" Later, Xuanzong recalled Xian 'e's music and singing in the Moon Palace and composed and choreographed his own music. This is the famous "colorful feather" in history.
Mid-Autumn Festival Legend Story 5: The Story of Yue Bai and Diexin
The story of Dixin is a song by Stuart Wang Yun in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. She is very beautiful. She looks very beautiful. Legend has it that the story of Diesim was born. In three years, the local peach blossom and apricot blossom bloomed and withered. At midnight in Yue Bai, the story of Diusim, Chang 'e was ashamed in the moon and hurried into the clouds; Story Diesim has a beautiful figure, blue ears, swaying willows when walking, and more elegant when quiet. The story of diusim is very wonderful. It is precisely because of this beauty that Dong Zhuo and Lu Bu, who are domineering over power, turned against each other and made the turbulent ruling and opposition parties feel a little peace.
Mid-Autumn Festival Legend Story 6: Drinking with the Moon
Li Bai, a poet, described himself in Drinking Alone among Flowers and Moons. The sentence "Bring me my shadow and let the three of us" is wonderfully conceived, which shows his lonely and bold feelings. Shi Lizhi's Solution: "It's empty-minded to drink the bright moon alone." When the poet came to power, the background was a greenhouse, the props were a pot of wine, the role of the poet was only himself, the action was to drink alone, and the words "no blind date" were added. The scene was very monotonous. So on a whim, the poet turned his own shadow, even himself, into three people, raising a glass and drinking together, and the deserted scene became lively.
poetic sentiment
Drink with the moon
Lipper
Flowers in the next pot of wine, no friends, drink alone.
Raise my cup, I invite the bright moon, which brings me its shadow and makes us three people.
The moon doesn't know how to drink, but the shadow in front of it is behind.
I have to mingle with them and enjoy the happiness of spring.
The song I sing is bright and wandering, and I dance the shadow before wandering.
Wake up and be happy together, and disperse after drunkenness.
I am willing to stay with them forever and forget the harm of friendship, just like the Milky Way.
August 15th, jathyapple.
Du Fu
The full moon flies in the mirror and returns to the heart to fold the sword.
Turn the tent and travel far, climb the laurel and ascend to heaven.
The waterway is suspected of frost and snow, and the forest is covered with feathers.
At this time, I look forward to the white rabbit, and I want to count the autumnal equinox.
Watching the moon on fifteen nights
Wang Jian
There are crows in Bai Shu and osmanthus in Coody Leng in the atrium.
I don't know who will fall in Qiu Si!
Nanzhai Wan Yue
Wang Changling
Lying on the high seat in the south study, we opened the curtains-we saw the rising moon.
The clear water-flowing wood flows like waves on our windows and doors.
Time flies, calmly, beyond our wisdom, and the old and the new alternate.
Our chosen person, our friend, is singing, perhaps, a sad oriental song by the clear river.
A thousand miles away, there is a smell of orchids coming with the wind.
Festival moon
Su Shi
The twilight clouds are cold, and the silver-haired people silently turn to the tracts.
If you don't meet a good night in this life, where will you see the bright moon next year?
Festival moon
Miracle
The sky in Wan Li is cloudless and wet, and the stars are pouring out to clear the rules.
Lin Dong doesn't interfere with getting up gradually, and seeing the road all over the world.
Can also clearly sing the spirit of Hao, willing to teach the dark to take Dan Zhi.
Poor Guan Ye Shan Juanying, waiting for five residual wines.
Social customs and habits
Traditional activities
Sacrifice the moon, admire the moon and admire Yue Bai.
It has been recorded in the Book of Rites that "autumn twilight and the moon" means to worship the moon god, and it will be held at this time.
Mid-Autumn Festival
Welcome the cold and offer sacrifices to the moon, and set up incense tables. In the Zhou Dynasty, every Mid-Autumn Festival night, activities to welcome the cold and offer sacrifices to the moon were held. Put a big incense table, with moon cakes, watermelons, apples, red dates, plums, grapes and other sacrifices, among which moon cakes and watermelons are absolutely indispensable, and watermelons should 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. Those who cut should calculate in advance how many people there are in the whole family, both at home and from other places. They should not be cut more or less, they should be the same size. Among ethnic minorities, the custom of offering sacrifices to the moon is also very popular.
According to legend, the ugly women in ancient Qi had no salt. When she was young, she was very devout to Yue Bai. 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". The Dai people in Yunnan are
Folk Yue Bai
On the night of Mid-Autumn Festival, the custom of "Yue Bai" is also popular.
The custom of enjoying the moon in the 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.
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.
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 candles of Mid-Autumn Night Lights are tied to bamboo poles with ropes and hung high on tile eaves or terraces, or made into fonts or various shapes with small lights and hung high on houses, commonly known as' Mid-Autumn Festival on trees' 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. " It seems that since ancient times, the custom of burning lanterns in Mid-Autumn Festival seems to be second only to Lantern Festival in scale.
solve the riddle
On the Mid-Autumn Festival full moon night, many lanterns will be hung in public places. People get together to guess the riddles written on lanterns. Because they are the favorite activities of most young men and women, and love stories are also heard in these activities, solve riddles on the lanterns is also derived as a form of love between men and women in the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Eat moon cakes
Watching the moon and eating moon cakes is an essential custom in Mid-Autumn Festival in all parts of China.
mooncake
As the saying goes, "August 15th is the full moon, and Mid-Autumn moon cakes are sweet and fragrant". The word moon cake originated from Liang Lumeng written by Wu in the Southern Song Dynasty, when it was just a snack. Later, people gradually associated moon viewing with moon cakes, symbolizing family reunion and bearing their thoughts. At the same time, moon cakes are also an important gift for friends to contact their feelings during the Mid-Autumn Festival.
There is also the custom of Fugui cake in Xiamen, Fujian, and Fugui cake is listed as a national intangible cultural heritage project.
Enjoy osmanthus and drink osmanthus wine.
People often eat moon cakes and enjoy osmanthus in Mid-Autumn Festival, and eat all kinds of foods made of osmanthus, 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.
Play with lanterns
There is no large-scale Lantern Festival in Mid-Autumn Festival, and playing with lanterns is mainly between families and children. 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, in the autumn festival in Foshan, there are all kinds of colored lights: sesame lights, eggshell lights, wood shavings lights, straw lights, fish scales lights, chaff lights, melon seeds lights, birds and animals, flowers and trees lights and so on.
Festival lanterns (displayed on the Lantern Festival)
In Guangzhou, Hong Kong and other places, Mid-Autumn Festival activities will be held on Mid-Autumn Festival night, and trees will be erected, which means that lanterns will be erected high. With the help of their parents, children make rabbit lanterns, carambola lanterns or square lanterns out of bamboo paper, hang them horizontally on short poles and then stand on high poles. They are high-tech and colorful, adding another scenery to the Mid-Autumn Festival. Children often compete with each other to see who stands tall, much taller and has the most exquisite lighting. In addition, there are sky lanterns, that is, Kongming lanterns, which are made of paper and tied into large lanterns. Burning candles under the lamp, the hot air rises, making the lamp fly in the air, making people laugh and chase. In addition, there are children carrying all kinds of lanterns to enjoy in the lower reaches of the moon.
In Nanning, Guangxi, in addition to all kinds of lanterns tied with paper and bamboo for children to play with, there are also simple grapefruit lanterns, pumpkin lanterns and orange lanterns. The so-called grapefruit lamp is to empty the grapefruit, carve a simple pattern, put on a rope and light a candle inside, which is very elegant. Pumpkin lanterns and orange lanterns are also made by removing pulp. Although simple, it is easy to make and very popular. Some children also put grapefruit lights into the pool water to play games.
There is a simple autumn lantern in Guangxi, which is made of six bamboo sticks, pasted with white gauze paper and inserted with candles. Hanging on the platform for offering sacrifices to the moon or for children to play with.
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 pour interest. This is the famous tile-burning lamp. " The tile-burning tower in Chaozhou, Guangdong Province is also a hollow tower made of bricks, 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.
Legend has it that this custom is related to the righteous act of resisting the Yuan soldiers. After the establishment of the Yuan Dynasty, the Han people were subjected to bloody rule, so the Han people made unyielding resistance, held meetings in various places to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival, and lit trumpets on the top floor of the pagoda. Similar to the fire on the platform at the top of the mountain, although this resistance was suppressed, the custom of burning pagodas remained.
local color
south
There is a custom of Mid-Autumn Festival Yue Bai in Chaoshan, Guangdong, which is mainly aimed at women and children. As the saying goes, "men are dissatisfied with the moon, and women don't sacrifice stoves." There is also the custom of eating taro in the Mid-Autumn Festival. There is a saying in Chaoshan: "River to mouth, taro to eat." August is the harvest season of taro, and farmers are used to using taro to worship their ancestors. Of course, this has something to do with farming, but there is also a popular folk legend: 1279, Mongolian nobles destroyed the Southern Song Dynasty, established the Yuan Dynasty, and brutally ruled the Han people. Mafa defended Chaozhou against the Yuan Dynasty. After the city was broken, the people were slaughtered. In order not to forget the suffering of Hu people's rule, later generations regarded taro as a homonym with "Hu tou" and looked like a human head, in order to pay homage to their ancestors and pass it on from generation to generation, which still exists today. Burning towers on the night of Mid-Autumn Festival is also very popular in some places.
During the Mid-Autumn Festival, the folk customs in Jiangnan are also varied. Nanjing people love moon cakes on Mid-Autumn Festival, so they must eat them.
dragon dance
A famous dish in Jinling, osmanthus duck. "Sweet-scented osmanthus duck" should be listed in Gui Xiang. It is fat but not greasy and delicious. After drinking, you must eat a small piece of sugar taro and pour cinnamon pulp on it. Beauty speaks for itself. "Guijiang" was named after Qu Yuan's "Helping the North to close its doors and drink Guijiang" in Chu Ci Shao Si Ming. Cinnamon pulp is a kind of sweet-scented osmanthus, which is picked around the Mid-Autumn Festival and pickled with sugar and sour plum. Jiangnan women are good at turning poems and songs into delicacies on the table. People in Nanjing enjoy the moon with their families, which is called "celebrating reunion", the group sitting and drinking is called "full moon", and the market trip is called "walking on the moon".
At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, there were Moon Tower and Moon Bridge in Nanjing. In the Qing Dynasty, there was a moon-watching building under Lion Mountain, all of which were for people to enjoy the moon, and most people played the Moon Bridge. When the bright moon is high, people climb the Moon Tower, play the Moon Bridge and enjoy the Jade Rabbit together. "Xiyue Bridge" is located in the Confucius Temple on Qinhuai River, next to the mansion of Ma Xianglan, a famous prostitute. On this night, the literati gathered on the bridge to play the flute, sing songs and reminisce about Niuzhu playing with the moon and writing poems for the moon, so it was called playing with the moon bridge. After the death of the Ming Dynasty, it gradually declined. Later generations have a poem saying: "The romantic Southern Song Dynasty has been exhausted, leaving the west wind to be a long Banqiao, but remember to take the Yuren Bridge and teach the flute under the moon." Longbanqiao, the original Moon Bridge. In recent years, the Confucius Temple in Nanjing has been renovated, some pavilions and pavilions in the Ming and Qing Dynasties have been restored, and the rivers have been dredged. Until the Mid-Autumn Festival, you can enjoy playing with the moon together.
In Wuxi County, Jiangsu Province, incense is burned on Mid-Autumn Festival night. 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.
On the night of Mid-Autumn Festival in Ji 'an County, Jiangxi Province, every village burns crocks with straw. When the crock is red, put the vinegar in it. At this time, the whole village will smell a fragrance. During the Mid-Autumn Festival in Xincheng County, grass lanterns are hung from the evening of August 1 1 to August 17. On the Mid-Autumn Festival in Wuyuan, children build a hollow pagoda with bricks. Curtains, plaques and other decorations are hung on the tower, and a table is placed in front of the tower, displaying various utensils to worship the "tower god". At night, lights and candles are lit inside and out. 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.
In Sichuan province, in addition to eating moon cakes on Mid-Autumn Festival, people also eat cakes, ducks, sesame cakes and honey cakes. In some places, orange lanterns are also lit and hung 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" Jiading County's Mid-Autumn Festival is called "Guanyin Club" for offering sacrifices to land gods and performing zaju, vocal music and cultural relics.
north
On August 15, farmers in Qingyun County, Shandong Province offered sacrifices to the god of land valley, 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 Mid-Autumn Festival eats a kind of holiday food called "Wheat Arrow". Banquet for son-in-law at Mid-Autumn Festival in Lu 'an, Shanxi. Datong county calls moon cakes reunion cakes, and it is a custom to keep vigil on Mid-Autumn Festival night.
Wanquan County, Hebei Province called the Mid-Autumn Festival "Little New Year's Day", and there were pictures of Xing Jun and Guan Di reading the Spring and Autumn Festival at night on moonlight paper. Hejian county people think that the rain in Mid-Autumn Festival is bitter rain. If it rains in the Mid-Autumn Festival, the local people think that vegetables must be terrible.
On the Mid-Autumn Festival night in Xixiang County, Shaanxi Province, men row boats and climb cliffs, while women set up banquets. No matter rich or poor, people should eat watermelons. On Mid-Autumn Festival, drummers blow drums along the door to ask for money. In Luochuan county, parents lead students to bring gifts to their husbands, and there are more lunches than school dinners.
Some places have also formed many special Mid-Autumn Festival customs. In addition to enjoying the moon, offering sacrifices to the moon and eating moon cakes, there are dragon dances in Hong Kong, piling towers in Anhui, Mid-Autumn Festival in Guangzhou, burning towers in Jinjiang, moon-watching in Shihu, Suzhou, moon-dancing in Dai and Miao, moon-stealing dishes by Dong and dancing in Gaoshan.
Distinctive national characteristics
the Mongol nationality
Mongolians love to play the game of chasing the moon. People are riding horses and galloping on the grassland in the silver moonlight. They galloped west, and the moon rose in the east and set in the west. Persistent Mongolian riders, until the moon goes down, "chasing the moon" is more than that.
right
The custom of Tibetan compatriots in some parts of Tibet to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival is "searching for the moon". That night, young men, women and dolls, along the river, followed the bright moon reflected in the water, took pictures of the moon shadows in the surrounding ponds, and then went home to eat moon cakes.
Dong nationality in Guangxi
The Dong people in Guangxi have the custom of "walking on the moon". On the night of Mid-Autumn Festival, Song Lusheng and the dance teams from various cottages walked all the way to the nearby cottages, and spent a long night enjoying the moon, singing and dancing with the villagers.
Deang nationality in Yunnan
Yunnan Deang people "string the moon". Young men and women of De 'ang nationality in Luxi, Yunnan Province, when the Mid-Autumn Moon is high and exceptionally bright, the hills are blocked, and the melodious sound of cucurbits comes from time to time. Young men and women gather together to "string the moon" and pour out their hearts. Some also set an engagement by sending betel nuts and tea through "string month".
Yi nationality in Yunnan
The traditional custom of Yunnan Yi people to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival is to "jump on the moon". At night, men, women and children in this ethnic village gather in the open space of the mountain village. Girls wearing belts and veils, boys wearing cloth belts, old people, old women and children all sang and danced enthusiastically, especially the duet of young men and women expressing their love, as if the moon had been moved by it, which made it even more charming and bright.
Gelao (GL)
On the "Tiger Day" before the festival, the Gelao people slaughtered a bull in the whole village, leaving the heart of the bull for the Mid-Autumn Festival night to worship their ancestors and welcome the new valley. They call it "August Festival".
Korean nation
Koreans use wooden poles and pine branches to build a "moon-watching frame". When the bright moon is lifted off, please invite several elected old people to board the moon viewing frame. After watching the moon, the old man will light up the moon-watching frame, play the flute and dance the "peasant dance" together.
Zhuang nationality in western Guangxi
The activity of "offering sacrifices to the moon and asking god" of Zhuang nationality in western Guangxi is more typical. Every year in the middle of August in the summer calendar, some are on the Mid-Autumn Festival night. People set up an altar in the open air at the end of the village to offer sacrifices and incense burners. On the right side of the table, a branch or bamboo branch about a foot high symbolizes a tree and is also a ladder for the moon god to descend to earth. There are ancient moon myth factors preserved here. The whole activity is divided into: inviting the moon god to descend to earth, with one or two women as the spokespersons of the moon god; God and man sing to each other; Luna divination fortune-telling; Singers sing mantras and send the moon god back to heaven in four stages.
nautical/sea mile
Li people call Mid-Autumn Festival "August Meeting" or "Sound Adjustment". At that time, a song and dance party will be held in each market town, and young men and women in each village will be led by a "turn around" (that is, the leader). Moon cakes, sweet cake, cookies, flower towels, colored fans and vests will be presented to each other in droves. In the evening, they gather around the fire, roast game, drink rice wine and sing duets. Unmarried young people take the opportunity to find their future partners.
Foreign customs
Korean peninsula
Korean name "(Qiu Xi)" "? (Mid-Autumn Festival) "(Jia Fu)" (Mid-Autumn Festival)? ""(Mid-Autumn Festival) ". This is a day to sweep graves and offer sacrifices to ancestors with newly harvested grains and fruits. Going home to visit relatives and giving gifts to relatives and friends is also a custom to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival. Therefore, the Mid-Autumn Festival on the Korean Peninsula is also called "Korean Thanksgiving Day" in English.
Viet Nam
Mid-Autumn Festival is also a festival for Vietnamese children. That night, the children listened to the legend about A Gui and went to see the lion dance. Some even asked their father to buy him a lion to dance and play with their friends. Vietnamese children have to travel and play with carp lanterns on Mid-Autumn Festival night, which also indicates the meaning of "jumping the dragon gate" when they grow up.
Japan
The traditional Mid-Autumn Festival in Japan is called Fifteen Nights, also called the Moon of Mid-Autumn Festival. Japanese people eat zongzi while enjoying the moon, which is called "seeing zongzi on the moon". Because this period is the harvest season of various crops, in order to express gratitude to nature, the Japanese will hold various celebrations. Japanese people will also enjoy the moon, which is called "seeing the moon". Jiaozi, Miscanthus, Taro, etc. enjoying the moon will be displayed in the house.
loochoo
Besides offering sacrifices to ancestors and Yue Bai, Ryukyu people also offer sacrifices to stoves during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Thank the Kitchen God for keeping your home safe within one year. In addition to eating moon cakes, they will also eat a kind of food called blowing cakes, which is a kind of rice cake wrapped in red beans. In addition, there are tug-of-war and lion dance customs.
Mid-Autumn Festival is also a time for family reunion. People will go home for dinner and get together. They will worship their ancestors and thank them for their protection. They also eat certain foods, many of which are related to the moon and reunion. These foods are also sacrifices to the moon. For example, China people (Han nationality), Vietnamese people (Jing nationality) and Ryukyu people all have the custom of eating moon cakes. Some people in Guangdong and Hong Kong will use mooncakes instead of mooncakes. Japanese (Yamato) will eat moon jiaozi, and some areas will fry sunny side up. Moon cakes, moon cakes, moon cakes and one-sided fried moon cakes are all round and represent the full moon. Koreans eat half-moon-shaped pine chips, symbolizing that the moon turns from deficit to surplus. Ryukyu people eat moon cakes and blow cakes. In addition, seasonal fruits and other crops, such as carambola, grapefruit, taro, chestnut, water chestnut, pear, persimmon, etc., are farmers' harvest in autumn in farming society, and are also food and sacrifices for Mid-Autumn Festival.
Singapore
Singapore is a country with an overwhelming Chinese population and has always attached great importance to the annual Mid-Autumn Festival. For Chinese in Singapore, the Mid-Autumn Festival is a godsend opportunity to connect feelings and express gratitude. Friends, relatives and business partners exchange moon cakes to express greetings and wishes.
Malaysia, Philippines
Eating moon cakes, enjoying the moon and carrying lanterns are the Mid-Autumn Festival customs handed down from generation to generation by Chinese in Malaysia. Mid-Autumn Festival
Malaysia
Recently, time-honored merchants from all over Malaysia have launched various kinds of moon cakes. There are mooncake counters in major shopping malls in Kuala Lumpur, the capital, and mooncake advertisements in newspapers and TV stations are overwhelming, creating a festive atmosphere to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival. Chinese communities in some places in Kuala Lumpur are holding lantern parades to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival. In addition to dragon and lion dances, there are floats carrying Chang 'e and the Seven Fairies, among which artists and young people in bright costumes are singing and dancing.
Mid-Autumn Festival is a traditional festival that overseas Chinese living in the Philippines attach great importance to. Chinatown in Manila, the capital of the Philippines, is very lively, and local overseas Chinese hold activities to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival. Lanterns are hung on the main commercial streets of overseas Chinese communities, colorful banners are hung on the main intersections and bridges entering Chinatown, and many shops sell all kinds of moon cakes made by themselves or imported from China. Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations include dragon dance parade, national costume parade, lantern parade and float parade.
Mid-Autumn Festival banquet custom
In ancient times, the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet custom of Han people was the most elegant in the court. For example, eating crabs was very popular in the court of the Ming Dynasty. After steaming the crabs with cattail, everyone sat around and tasted them, served with wine and vinegar. Drink Su Ye Tang after eating and wash your hands with it. The banquet table was filled with flowers, pomegranates and other fashionable things, and the Mid-Autumn Festival drama was staged. In the Qing Palace, a courtyard placed a screen to the east, with cockscomb flowers, soybean crafts, taro, peanuts, radishes and fresh lotus roots on both sides of the screen. There is a square table in front of the screen, with an extra-large moon cake on it, surrounded by cakes and fruits. After the Mid-Autumn Festival, mooncakes are cut into several pieces according to the royal population, and each person symbolically tastes them, which is called "eating reunion cakes". The size of moon cakes in Qing Palace is unimaginable. For example, the moon cake given by the last emperor Puyi to Ying Shao, Minister of the Interior, was "about two feet in diameter and weighed about twenty pounds".