There is a legend about the moon. Please give me an answer tonight.

According to legend, in ancient times, there were ten days in the sky at the same time, the crops died in the sun and the people were poor. A hero named Hou Yi has infinite power. He sympathized with the suffering people, climbed to the top of Kunlun Mountain, made full use of his divine power, drew his bow, shot down more than nine suns in one breath, and ordered the last one to rise and fall on time for the benefit of the people.

Hou Yi was respected and loved by the people. He married a beautiful and kind wife named Chang 'e. Besides hunting, Hou Yi spends all his time with his wife, and people envy this beautiful and loving couple.

Many people with lofty ideals came here to study as teachers, and Meng Peng with ulterior motives joined in.

One day, Hou Yi went to Kunlun Mountain to visit friends and seek truth. He happened to meet the Queen Mother passing by and asked her for a bag of elixir. It is said that taking this medicine can instantly ascend to heaven and become immortal. However, Hou Yi was reluctant to leave his wife, so he had to temporarily give the elixir to Chang 'e. Chang 'e hid the medicine in the dresser's treasure chest, but the villain Meng Peng saw it. He wants to steal the elixir to make himself immortal.

Three days later, Hou Yi led his entourage out hunting, while Meng Peng with ulterior motives pretended to be ill. Shortly after Hou Yi led the crowd to leave, Meng Peng broke into the backyard of the back room with a sword in his hand, threatening Chang 'e to hand over the elixir. Chang 'e knew that she was no match for Meng Peng. In times of crisis, she made a decisive decision, turned around and opened the treasure chest, took out the elixir and swallowed it in one gulp. Chang 'e swallowed the medicine and immediately floated off the ground, rushed out of the window and flew into the sky. Because Chang 'e was worried about her husband, she flew to the nearest moon and became a fairy.

In the evening, when Hou Yi came home, the maids cried and told what happened during the day. Hou Yi was surprised and angry, and drew his sword to kill the villain. Meng Peng escaped early. Angry and heartbroken, Hou Yi looked up at the night sky and shouted the name of his beloved wife. At this time, he was surprised to find that today's moon is exceptionally bright and bright. There is a swaying figure resembling Chang 'e. He chased the moon desperately, but he chased it three times, the moon retreated three times, he retreated three times, and the moon advanced three times. He couldn't catch up anyway.

Hou Yi had no choice but to miss his wife, so he had to send someone to Chang 'e's favorite back garden, put on a table sweetmeats, put on her favorite honey and fresh fruit, and offer a sacrifice to Chang 'e who was attached to him at the Moon Palace. After hearing the news that the Goddess Chang'e flying to the moon became an immortal, people made an incense table under the moon and prayed for good luck and peace to the kind Chang 'e.

Wugang cut laurel

There is also a legend about the Mid-Autumn Festival: It is said that osmanthus trees in front of Guanghan Palace on the moon are flourishing, reaching more than 500 feet. There is a man who often cuts down, but every time he finishes cutting, the cut place closes immediately. For thousands of years, this laurel tree can never be cut down. It is said that this tree-chopping man named WU GANG, a native of Xihe in Han Dynasty, once went to heaven with the immortal, but when he made a mistake, the immortal banished him to the Moon Palace and did this kind of hard work in vain every day as a punishment. 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."

Anti-yuan uprising

It is said that eating moon cakes in the Mid-Autumn Festival began in the Yuan Dynasty. At that time, the broad masses of the people in the Central Plains could not bear the cruel rule of the ruling class in the Yuan Dynasty and rose up against the Yuan Dynasty. Zhu Yuanzhang joined forces with various resistance forces to prepare for the uprising. However, the officers and men of the imperial court searched very closely and it was very difficult to pass on the news. Liu Bowen, a military strategist, came up with a plan and ordered his men to hide a note with the words "Uprising on the 15th of August" in the cake, and then sent people to the uprising troops in different places to inform them to respond to the uprising on the 15th of August. On the day of the uprising, all the rebels responded together, such as a single spark can start a prairie fire.

Soon, Xu Da captured the Yuan Dynasty and the uprising was successful. When the news came, Zhu Yuanzhang was overjoyed and quickly sent a message saying that all the soldiers should have fun with the people in the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival, and they should give the "moon cakes" secretly sent at the time of the war as seasonal cakes to the ministers. Since then, the production of "moon cakes" has become more and more elaborate, and there are more and more varieties, such as dishes, which have also become good gifts. After the Mid-Autumn Festival, the custom of eating moon cakes spread among the people.

Themis, the goddess of the moon.

In Greek mythology, Poseidon had a son named Aolaiwen. Oliver was born as tall and strong as his father. But he doesn't like living in the sea. Instead, he often comes to Shan Ye to climb mountains and hunt. However, he is Poseidon's son, so he can walk like a fly even at sea.

Accompanied by him all day is a hound named Sirius, who is as brave as his master. He always rushes to the front when hunting and always stands in front of Aolaiwen when he meets wild animals.

After a long time, Aolaiwen often met the moon god and hunting goddess themis when hunting. The two were quickly attracted by each other's elegance and superb hunting skills. Later, they often walked in the mountains together, climbed cliffs and climbed dangerous peaks, and talked about everything.

All this made Apollo, the sun god, very angry. He knew Artemis was a stubborn girl, and persuasion would not impress her at all. Apollo was cruel and came up with a deadly trap.

One day, as usual, Aolaiwen "flew" at sea, ready to go ashore to hunt. His whole body is submerged except his head.

Apollo and themis happened to fly across the sea.

"Sister, the somebody else say you wear Yang kung fu. How about we have a game today? "

Artemis thinks that only Aolaiwen's archery can compare with her, so she doesn't care about her brother!

"Well, what did you say?"

"Look, that little black spot is a stone, just shoot it." Apollo knew that his sister's eyesight was not as good as his own, and he couldn't see clearly what the black spot was.

"No problem!" His voice did not fall, but he heard a whoosh. A sharp arrow was neither biased nor inclined, and it was a small black spot.

"Elder sister, you really live up to your reputation. Brother, I never dare to compare with you again. " Say that finish, Apollo quietly left.

Artemis was very proud. She landed at sea and wanted to see the shooting target. But what she saw was Aolaiwen, who was shot in the head, lying quietly on the water. Before she could say a word to his sweetheart, she was dead.

My favorite person was shot dead by my own arrow, and Artemis fainted. Hearing the news of the tragic death of his master, Sirius cried bitterly all night. He didn't even look at other people's food, and a few days later he left with Aolaiwen.

This tragedy made Zeus cry. He collected Aolaiwen's body, lifted him to the sky and turned him into Orion. We can't be together all the time before we die, and finally we will be together forever with Artemis, the goddess of the moon. Sirius also won the sympathy of Zeus with his loyalty, ascended to heaven and continued to accompany his master. This is a dog. In order not to make Sirius lonely, Zeus also specially found a partner for him-a puppy. Zeus knew that Aolaiwen liked hunting best before his death, so he put a small prey beside him-the sky map.

The origin of the Mid-Autumn festival

Mid-Autumn Festival on August 15th, Jiangnan is also called August Festival. The origin and prosperity of August Festival is related to Nanjing.

As the season of the New Year, the Mid-Autumn Festival came into being late, but enjoying the moon has a long history. During the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Nanjing's "Cow and Bamboo Playing on the Moon" was the most influential story so far, and even evolved into the Mid-Autumn Festival that the broad masses of the people loved for thousands of years.

Niuzhu (now Caishiji) belonged to Moling, Danyang County (now Nanjing) in Han Dynasty. "The History of Counties and Counties in Continued Han Dynasty" says that there is "Nanniuzhu" in Moling County. As early as 1600 years ago, the Eastern Jin Dynasty established its capital in Nanjing (then called Jianye), and Xie Shang, who was guarding Niuzhu, went boating on the Niuzhu River on a moonlit night. I heard that he satirized his poem "Ode to History" on the charter, which greatly appreciated him and invited him to cross the boat. This man is Justin. It hit it off and recited the poem until dawn. At that time, Xie Shang was a general in Zhenxi, while Justin was just a poor scholar who made a living by renting. Because of their respect for talents, they broke the status barrier. Justin was praised by Xie Shang and became famous from then on. Xie Shang plays the moon, Yuan Hong chants history before, while scholars chase the moon after, so boatmen and moonwalkers emerge one after another. When Li Bai, a great poet in the Tang Dynasty, came to Jinling to learn about it, he wrote a poem saying, "I heard about the five chapters of swimming in Niuzhu. Why thank Yuan Jialang today?" Emotionally, go to the Sun Kitchen Restaurant in the west of the city to "play with the moon". In the Tang Dynasty, Ouyang Zhan's Preface to Poems on the Moon also said: "Playing Gu Yue, Xie Fu Bao's family, looking at a castle in the distance, and in a bright building, all play the moon." Ming Chengzu visited the Moon Palace at night in the Tang Dynasty, and these are the stories that have been handed down to this day.

On August 15th, when it was Sanqiu, it was called Mid-Autumn Festival. Mid-Autumn Festival, the temperature is cool, the sky is crisp and the moon is in the middle of the sky. In order to enjoy the moon in the best season, people love to enjoy the moon at this time, which has gradually evolved into a festival since the Tang Dynasty. This is the origin of Mid-Autumn Festival.

The laudatory name of the moon

The moon has many interesting reputations in China's ancient poems:

Jade rabbit (who wants to climb the stairs to see the jade rabbit, who will cover the silver que-Xin Qiji);

Luminous (luminous, why do you have children when you die? —— Qu Yuan);

Su E (Su E is another name for the moon-Youxue Qionglin);

Ice wheel (the jade hook decides who to hang, but the ice wheel is helpless-land tour);

Jade wheel (jade wheel meets wet light, Luan Pei meets a stranger in Gui Xiang-Li He);

Jade toad (cold night fog outside, three or five jade toad autumn-Fang Gan);

Gui' ao (Gui' ao flies to a sunny place and enjoys a cool day in autumn-Su Shi);

Toad (Fujian set sail, but toad lost his reunion-Jia Dao);

Ancient pictures (Yang birds don't come out of the valley, and ancient pictures are half hidden-Li Bai);

Chan Juan (I wish you a long life, take Wan Li Road * * * Chan Juan-Su Shi).

In addition, the moon has many unique nicknames, such as jade bow, jade laurel, jade plate, jade hook, jade mirror, ice mirror, Guanghan Palace, Chang 'e, jade sheep and so on.

Customs of Mid-Autumn Festival in various places

During the Mid-Autumn Festival, people's main activities are enjoying the moon and eating moon cakes.

Appreciate the bright full moon

Mid-Autumn Festival, China has the custom of enjoying the moon since ancient times. There is a record of "autumn twilight and the moon" in the Book of Rites, that is, worshipping 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 seasonal fruits such as moon cakes, watermelons, apples, plums and grapes, among which moon cakes and watermelons are absolutely indispensable. Watermelon must be cut into lotus shapes.

In the Tang Dynasty, it was quite popular to enjoy and play with the moon in the Mid-Autumn Festival. In the Song Dynasty, the Mid-Autumn Festival was more popular to enjoy the moon. According to "Dream of Tokyo", "On the Mid-Autumn Festival night, your family is dressing up and the people are fighting for the restaurant to play the moon". On this day, all shops and restaurants in Beijing have to redecorate their facades, tie silk on archways and sell fresh fruits and refined food. The night market is very lively. Many people visit The Upper Terrace, and some wealthy families enjoy the moon in their pavilions and arrange food or family dinners to reunite their children.

After the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the custom of enjoying the moon in the Mid-Autumn Festival remains the same. Many places have formed special customs such as burning incense, planting Mid-Autumn trees, lighting tower lanterns, putting sky lanterns, walking on the moon and dancing dragons.

Eat moon cakes

People in urban and rural areas of China have the custom of eating moon cakes on Mid-Autumn Festival. As the saying goes, "August 15th is full, and Mid-Autumn moon cakes are sweet and fragrant". Moon cakes were originally used to worship the moon god. The word "moon cake" first appeared in Liang Lumeng written by Wu in the Southern Song Dynasty. At that time, it was just a cake-shaped food like Ling Hua cake. Later, people gradually combined the Mid-Autumn Festival with tasting moon cakes, which symbolized family reunion.

Mooncakes were originally made at home, and the practice of mooncakes was recorded in Yuan Mei's Menu with the Garden in the Qing Dynasty. In modern times, there are workshops specializing in making moon cakes, and the production of moon cakes is becoming more and more elaborate, with exquisite fillings and beautiful appearance. There are also various exquisite designs printed on the outside of the moon cakes, such as "the Goddess Chang'e flying to the moon", "jathyapple of the Galaxy" and "San Tan Yin Yue". It has become the wish of people all over the world to show people's reunion with a full moon, to show people's eternal life with a round moon cake, to pin their thoughts on their relatives in their hometown and to pray for a bumper harvest and happiness. Moon cakes are also used as gifts to send to relatives and friends and to connect feelings.

Other Mid-Autumn Festival customs

China has a vast territory, a large population and different customs. The Mid-Autumn Festival is celebrated in a variety of ways, with strong local characteristics.

In Pucheng, Fujian, women have to cross nanpu bridge to live longer during the Mid-Autumn Festival. In Jianning, hanging lanterns on Mid-Autumn Festival night is a good omen to ask the Moon Palace for children. People in Shanghang County celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival, and most of their children are invited to visit their parents when they are in Yue Bai. When Longyan people eat moon cakes, their parents will dig out round cakes with a diameter of two or three inches in the middle for their elders to eat, which means that they can't tell the secret to the younger generation. This custom stems from the legend that moon cakes contain the message of anti-meta-killing. Before the Mid-Autumn Festival in Kinmen, Yue Bai should worship God.

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." At night, when the bright moon rises, women set up a box in the yard and balcony to pray. Silver candles burned high, cigarettes filled the air, and the table was filled with good fruits and cakes as sacrifices. 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 used taro as a homonym with "Hu tou", which looked like a human head, in order to pay homage to their ancestors and pass it on from generation to generation, and it still exists today.

Burning towers on the night of Mid-Autumn Festival is also very popular in some places. 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.

During the Mid-Autumn Festival, the folk customs in Jiangnan are also varied. Nanjing people love to eat moon cakes on Mid-Autumn Festival, so they must eat osmanthus duck, a famous Jinling dish. "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 go to the Moon Tower to play the Moon Bridge, so as to enjoy watching the Jade Rabbit. "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.

Children build a hollow pagoda with bricks during the Mid-Autumn Festival in Wuyuan County, Anhui Province. 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.

In the north, farmers in Qingyun County, Shandong Province offered sacrifices to the god of land valley on August 15, which is 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.