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Introduced] Mid-Autumn Festival related practices
Release date :2007-08-06
The practices related to the Mid-Autumn Festival
August 15 Mid-Autumn Festival, sources have long, may have a period of the original. Ancient peoples in abundance festival held around the Mid-Autumn Festival, also worship Gods, written Mid-Autumn 2000 also a matter of years. More records to the Tang Dynasty, was killed together with moon cakes Tartar of the legend of the Mid-Autumn Festival has become a national awareness day. In the year since the Ming and Qing Dynasties become one of the three major festivals, now a national holiday.

(1) to celebrate:

The Mid-Autumn Festival is a special full moon, bright and successful, have symbolic significance. Many more people want to see the moon, and Wu Gang Yutu logging.

(2) eat moon cakes:

The custom of eating moon cakes is written at the Ming Dynasty, the legend of the miraculous food festivals, and given the patriotic significance.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is the occasion for the "moon cakes", with the Ancients Festival eat the same. Moon cakes are commemorating the rule against mixed.

(3) reunion:

We eat moon cakes to celebrate, rewards communities and practices - god, pray in every glorious life, a happy family reunion, community peace and Full Moon also shown round the ideal

The Mid-Autumn Festival is a traditional festivity for both the Han and minority nationalities. The custom of worshipping the moon (called xi yue in Chinese) can be traced back as far as the ancient Xia and Shang Dynasties (2000 B.C.-1066 B.C.). In the Zhou Dynasty(1066 B.C.-221 B.C.), people hold ceremonies to greet winter and worship the moon whenever the Mid-Autumn Festival sets in. It becomes very prevalent in the Tang Dynasty(618-907 A.D.) that people enjoy and worship the full moon. In the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279 A.D.), however, people send round moon cakes to their relatives as gifts in expression of their best wishes of family reunion. When it becomes dark, they look up at the full silver moon or go sightseeing on lakes to celebrate the festival. Since the Ming (1368-1644 A.D. ) and Qing Dynasties (1644-1911A.D.), the custom of Mid-Autumn Festival celebration becomes unprecedented popular. Together with the celebration there appear some special customs in different parts of the country, such as burning incense, planting Mid-Autumn trees, lighting lanterns on towers and fire dragon dances. However, the custom of playing under the moon is not so popular as it used to be nowadays, but it is not less popular to enjoy the bright silver moon. Whenever the festival sets in, people will look up at the full silver moon, drinking wine to celebrate their happy life or thinking of their relatives and friends far from home, and extending all of their best wishes to them.
This day was also considered a harvest festival since fruits, vegetables and grain had been harvested by this time and food was abundant. With delinquent accounts settled prior to the festival , it was a time for relaxation and celebration. Food offerings were placed on an altar set up in the courtyard. Apples, pears, peaches, grapes, pomegranates , melons, oranges and pomelos might be seen. Special foods for the festival included moon cakes, cooked taro, edible snails from the taro patches or rice paddies cooked with sweet basil, and water caltrope, a type of water chestnut resembling black buffalo horns. Some people insisted that cooked taro be included because at the time of creation, taro was the first food discovered at night in the moonlight. Of all these foods, it could not be omitted from the Mid-Autumn Festival.
The round moon cakes, measuring about three inches in diameter and one and a half inches in thickness, resembled Western fruitcakes in taste and consistency. These cakes were made with melon seeds, lotus seeds, almonds, minced meats, bean paste, orange peels and lard. A golden yolk from a salted duck egg was placed at the center of each cake, and the golden brown crust was decorated with symbols of the festival. Traditionally, thirteen moon cakes were piled in a pyramid to symbolize the thirteen moons of a "complete year," that is, twelve moons plus one intercalary moon.
There is this story about the moon-cake. during the Yuan dynasty (A.D. 1280-1368) China was ruled by the Mongolian people. Leaders from the preceding Sung dynasty (A.D. 960-1280) were unhappy at submitting to the foreign rule, and set how to coordinate the rebellion without being discovered. The leaders of the rebellion, knowing that the Moon Festival was drawing near, ordered the making of special cakes. Backed into each moon caked was a message with the outline of the attack. On the night of the Moon Festival, the rebels successfully attached and overthrew the government. Today, moon cakes are eaten to commemorate this legend and was called the Moon Cake.

Hope the below helps you:



Yes. Mid Autumn Festival is also known as the Moon Festival, is a popular Asian celebration of abundance and togetherness, dating back over 3,000 years to China 's Zhou Dynasty. In Malaysia and Singapore, it is also sometimes referred to as the Lantern Festival, similar in name to a different festival which falls on the fifteenth day of the Chinese New Year).
The Mid-Autumn Festival falls on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month of the Chinse Calendar favourite festival. The Mid-Autumn Festival date that parallels the Autumn Equinox of the solar calendar. This is the ideal time, when the moon is at its fullest and brightest, to celebrate the abundance of the summer's harvest. The traditional food of this festival is the mooncake, of which there are many different varieties.
The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the two most important holidays in the Chinese calendar (the other being the Chinese Lunar New Year), and is a legal holiday in several countries. Farmers celebrate the end of the summer harvesting season on this date. Traditionally, on this day, Chinese family members and friends will gather to admire the bright mid-autumn harvest moon, and eat moon cakes and pomeloes together. Accompanying the celebration, there are additional cultural or regional customs, such as:


Barbecues outside under the moon

Putting pomelo rinds on one's head

Carrying brightly lit lanterns

Burning incense

Planting Mid-Autumn trees

Lighting lanterns on towers

Fire Dragon Dances
Shops selling mooncakes, before the festival, often display pictures of Chang'e floating to the moon.
I love this festival because it is a time whereby all my family members come together and celebrate. My mother will organise a great feast and all my cousins will come and we all have a great time.