What are the customs of Mid-Autumn Festival on August 15th?

In our impression, it seems that eating moon cakes and enjoying the moon has always been the tradition of the Mid-Autumn Festival. Then, besides moon cakes, what other traditional customs are there in Mid-Autumn Festival? Might as well have a look.

? What are the traditional customs of Mid-Autumn Festival?

? 1, Yue Bai

In ancient China, there was a custom of "autumn and dusk". The moon at night 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. 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. 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.

? 2. Flower viewing lamp

Since ancient times, people in China have had the custom of celebrating the Lantern Festival in the Mid-Autumn Festival. In the Northern Song Dynasty, "Old Wulin Story" recorded that during the Mid-Autumn Festival, the "Little Red" lantern was put into the river to drift and play. Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the custom of Mid-Autumn Festival has become more popular, and many places have formed customs such as planting Mid-Autumn Festival trees and putting lanterns.

Lantern Festival is not only a variety, but also often decorated with paper-cuts, calligraphy and painting, poetry and so on, which is a display of traditional folk handicrafts in China. In Guangzhou, Hong Kong and other places, the activity of "Tree Mid-Autumn Festival" means putting up colored lights. Bright colored lights not only enrich the festive atmosphere, but also become a unique landscape of the city. In Nanning, Guangxi, in addition to all kinds of lanterns tied with paper and bamboo for children to play with, there are also simple lanterns, pumpkin lanterns and orange lanterns. The so-called "sky lantern", that is, Kongming lantern, is a kind of paper lamp. Light a candle under a lamp. The hot air can make the lamp fly into the air and make people smile.

Lights symbolize hope. Lantern viewing is very popular in traditional festivals in China, which shows that the Chinese nation is optimistic about life and full of expectations for the future.

? Step 3 light the lamp

On the night of Mid-Autumn Festival, the sky is as clear as water and the moon is as bright as a mirror, which can be described as a beautiful scene. However, people are not satisfied with this, so there is a custom of burning lanterns to help the moon.

On the Mid-Autumn Festival, people will go out to travel. At that time, they were holding lanterns, so they had the custom of burning lanterns to help the moon. "Burning lanterns" originated from Taoism's "ternary theory": the fifteenth day of the first month is Shangyuan Festival, the fifteenth day of July is Zhongyuan Festival, and the fifteenth day of October is Xiayuan Festival. The three officials in charge of the upper, middle and lower elements are heaven, earth and man respectively. Celestial officials are happy, and lanterns are important for the Lantern Festival. The wind of burning lanterns and setting fires in the Lantern Festival began in the Han Dynasty. In the Tang Dynasty, it became a custom. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, people also had the custom of burning lanterns on the Mid-Autumn Festival.

? 4. Enjoy osmanthus? Drink osmanthus wine

Appreciation of laurel in Mid-Autumn Festival is a traditional custom since ancient times. The goodness behind osmanthus fragrans is not only noble and beautiful, but also linked to the official career economy, that is, taking the kindness of "laurel tree" in order to get into the senior high school entrance examination. Appreciation of laurels in Mid-Autumn Festival shows that people's pursuit and praise of life is sweet. In ancient times, people regarded osmanthus fragrans and its fruit as a symbol of loftiness, beauty and auspiciousness. Therefore, it is also a custom to enjoy osmanthus and drink osmanthus wine in Mid-Autumn Festival, which is a beautiful scenery.

Drinking Osmanthus fragrans Wine Every Mid-Autumn Festival night, people will look up at Osmanthus fragrans, smell Osmanthus fragrans and drink a glass of Osmanthus fragrans wine in the middle of the month to celebrate the sweetness of the family and get together, which becomes a beautiful enjoyment of the festival. Osmanthus fragrans is not only ornamental, but also edible. In Qu Yuan's "Nine Songs", there are some poems, such as "supporting the horse and fighting, drinking cinnamon pulp" and "drinking cinnamon wine and pepper pulp". It can be seen that China has been drinking osmanthus wine for quite a long time.

? Step 5 taste crabs

This is the custom in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, and the Mid-Autumn Festival is the season of "rich crab paste and fragrant rice flowers". A full moon, a pot of sake, a few old friends and a plate of hairy crabs are fascinating. Back to secular life: But today's hairy crabs must be expensive enough. You might as well leave the moon till tomorrow.

? Step 6 eat snails

In the "Shunde County Records" during the Xianfeng period of the Qing Dynasty, it was recorded: "Looking at the sun in August is still eating snails." Eating snails in the Mid-Autumn Festival is the finale of many Cantonese people. On the one hand, people think that eating snails can improve their eyesight. It is said that eating snails on August 15th can make eyes "bright as autumn moon". Secondly, I think the fat of snails also means beauty; Third, snails have shells, and shelling and eating meat is a sign of "eating heart (new) luck" to ward off evil spirits.

On the other hand, the word "snail" is homophonic with the word "snail" in Cantonese, which means "feeding the field". As the saying goes, "If you have no food, ask the snail (Luo)". Eating snails on the Mid-Autumn Festival night means a bumper harvest, which means a bumper harvest of grains.

? 7. Combustion tower

Burn the tower on Mid-Autumn Night. The height of the tower varies from 1-3 meters, mostly made of broken tiles. The tower is also made of bricks, accounting for about 1/4 of the tower height, and then stacked with tiles, leaving a tower mouth at the top for fuel transportation. On the night of Mid-Autumn Festival, it will be lit and burned. The fuel is wood, bamboo, chaff, etc. When the fire is booming, rosin powder will be poured to cheer, which is very spectacular.

There are also folk rules for burning stupas. Whoever burns the stupa to the whole house wins, and those who fail or collapse in the burning process lose. The winner will be presented with colorful flags, bonuses or prizes by the host. It is said that burning towers is also the origin of Han people's resistance to cruel rulers and Mid-Autumn Uprising at the end of Yuan Dynasty.

Modern people use "burning towers" to pray for a full meal, a prosperous home and the safety of relatives and friends. Jiangxi, Guangzhou and other places still follow this custom.

? 8. Observe the tides

The custom of watching tide in Mid-Autumn Festival has a long history. Su Shi's "Watching the Tide on August 15th": "I know that the Jade Rabbit is very 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. " In ancient Zhejiang, besides enjoying the moon, tide watching was another Mid-Autumn Festival activity. Today, watching tide in Qiantang is still the most distinctive folk activity in Zhejiang Mid-Autumn Festival.

In addition, many special Mid-Autumn Festival customs have been formed in some places. 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.