Mid autumn

Mid-Autumn Festival

The Mid-Autumn Festival is a traditional festival in China. On this day, the family is filled with the festive atmosphere. According to the "Book of Rites" records: "The emperor of the Spring Day, the autumn eve of the moon. The dynasty of the Asahi, the eve of the moon." The eve of the evening, it is the night to worship the moon. This custom is not only pursued by the court and the upper aristocracy, but also gradually affects the people with the development of society.

- Author's note

The Mid-Autumn Festival originated in the last years of the Yuan Dynasty. Zhang Shicheng, the anti-yuan uprising leader of Taizhou, Jiangsu Province, used the Mid-Autumn Festival to exchange the round cakes with the words "August 15 Night Killing the Scorpion" in the cake. Everyone saw the note in the cake. Ten hundred pass, such as about the "scorpion" about the day and night, with no evil at all, after eating cakes to celebrate the victory of the uprising, and officially called the Mid-Autumn Festival round cake as moon cake. In the long history of the later period, even at the end of the last century, many moon cakes were still affixed with a small piece of paper! It is a pity that the moon cakes produced in recent years have disappeared from small pieces of paper. The "cultural code" contained in the moon cakes has not disappeared from generation to generation. Another said that in the early years of Ming Hongwu, the general Xu Da took the remnant of the Yuan Dynasty, the capital of the Yuan Dynasty, Beijing. The news was transmitted to the capital, Nanjing. The Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, who is playing chess, was ecstatic, that is, the Mid-Autumn Festival was celebrated. The moon cake that conveyed the message when the anti-Yuanda uprising was originally given to the subjects. Moon cakes have since become the "legal" food for the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Eating moon cakes is of great significance, eating moon cakes to show "reunion." Moon cakes, also known as Hu cakes, palace cakes, moon groups, harvest cakes, reunion cakes, etc., are the offerings of the ancient Mid-Autumn Festival to worship the moon god. According to legend, in ancient China, the emperor had a ritual system of spring festivals and autumn festivals. In the folk, during the Mid-Autumn Festival in August, there are also customs that worship the moon or worship the moon. "August 15th, the children's moon, the Mid-Autumn Festival moon cake is sweet and sweet", this name tells the custom of eating moon cakes for urban and rural people in the Mid-Autumn Festival. The moon cake was originally used to worship the moon god. Later, people gradually used the Mid-Autumn Festival to appreciate the moon and taste the moon cake as a symbol of family reunion. Slowly, the moon cake became a must-have gift for the festival.

"Every Mid-Autumn Festival, the city's people, using the loess to become the image of the rabbit to sell, said the rabbit child." In the old Beijing Dongsi archway area, there are often rabbits and sons, specializing in the Mid-Autumn Festival for the rabbits. In addition, in the South Paper Store, incense sticks are also available for sale. This rabbit master has been personalized by the bold creation of folk artists. It is the first person in the rabbit, holding a jade. Later, some people modeled the opera characters, and the rabbits were carved into the golden helmets of the Golden Warriors, some riding lions, elephants and other beasts, and some riding peacocks, cranes and other birds. Especially the rabbits riding the tiger, although it is a strange thing, but it is the bold creation of folk artists. There is also a rabbit child who can move the elbow joint and the lower jaw. It is commonly called "scratch and beat the mouth" and is more flattering. Although it is a offering for the moon, it is a wonderful toy for children.

On the streets of Beijing decades ago, old Beijing, more than 60 years old, can still remember. Once on July 15th, the rabbit's son's stall was put out. The front door five-storey building, the back door drum front, the west single, the east four, etc., are full of rabbit children's stalls, large and small, high and low, posing extremely lively.

Third day: Yu Qianxiang