What is the Mid-Autumn day?
The Mid-Autumn day originated in ancient China, became popular in the Han Dynasty, was stereotyped in the early years of the Tang Dynasty, and flourished after the Song Dynasty. The Mid-Autumn Festival is a remnant of the ancient celestial worship of the moon—-the legacy of the custom of respecting the moon. At the autumnal equinox, it is an ancient “festival of the moon”.The Mid-Autumn Festival is derived from the traditional “Moon Festival”.
It is proved that the original “Moon Festival” was set on the day of “Autumnal Equinox” in the 24th solar month of the Ganzhi calendar, but since this day in August varies from year to year and does not always have a full moon, the “Moon Festival” was later changed from “Autumnal Equinox” to “Moon Festival”. “However, since this day is different every year in the eighth month of the lunar calendar, there is not always a full moon.
The ancient Chinese observed that the movement of the moon is closely related to changes in season and agricultural production. The moon is usually full on the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival. Although people like to say that “the moon on the 16th day of the lunar month is fuller than the moon on the 15th day of the lunar month”, and it is also the truth that comes from people’s experience. Generally speaking, the moon on the 15th day is already more round than on other days. As the development of the festival progressed, the full moon evolved into the meaning of “reunion of people”.
When the Mid-Autumn Festival comes, people who are usually far away from all over the world will come back home from all over the world to have a family reunion and have a reunion dinner together, talking about what has happened to each of them since they were separated. Reunion has become the core connotation of the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Some international friends often ask “What is the Mid-autumn day on the lunar calendar?”, the 15th day of the 8th lunar month is a traditional festival in China —–The Mid-Autumn Festival, together with the Spring Festival, the Qingming Festival, and the Dragon Boat Festival, are known as the four traditional festivals of the Chinese Han Chinese. And Mid-autumn day position is number two. On the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival, Chinese people like to look up at the bright full moon while eating sweet moon cakes and spending a warm reunion time with their families.
During the Mid-Autumn Festival, Chinese schools, enterprises, institutions, companies, and other organizations are closed, arrange holidays to give people time to reunite with their families, but the holiday usually does not last long, as the national holiday is three days, including the day of the Mid-Autumn day on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar.
What is the Mid-Autumn Festival also called?
The Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival, Zhongqiu Festival, Moon Worship Festival, Reunion Festival, Moon Cake Festival, etc., is both a traditional folk festival and a colorful and precious cultural heritage of China. Nowadays, more and more people call Mid-Autumn Festival as Moon Cake Festival. The roundness of mooncakes symbolizes the reunion of families as well as the full moon.
Why do we eat mooncakes during Mid-Autumn Festival?
Nowadays, mooncakes come to people’s minds when the Mid-Autumn Festival is mentioned. Mooncakes have been recorded in the Tang Dynasty, as described in the book “A View from Luozhong”, where Emperor Xi Zong of Tang hosted a banquet for the new graduates and gave them mooncakes on the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival. In the Ming Dynasty, moon cakes were already a necessary festival food for every household, both official and common people had moon cakes and gave them to each other as festival gifts.
people eat mooncakes together with family, or present mooncakes to relatives or friends, to express love and best wishes. In the 21st century, moon cakes have become an essential gift for visiting friends and relatives during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Nowadays, with advanced technology, moon cakes are made into various kinds and sizes and are packaged in a variety of exquisite ways.
Mooncakes are also known as harvest cakes and reunion cakes and are one of the traditional Han Chinese delicacies. Moon cakes were originally used as offerings to worship the moon god. Moon sacrifice is a very old custom in China, which is actually a kind of worship activity of the ancient people to the “moon god”. To date, eating moon cakes and enjoying the moon is an essential custom for the Mid-Autumn Festival in the north and south of China. Moon cakes symbolize the reunion and are used as festive food to offer sacrifices to the moon and as gifts to friends and relatives.
A full moon symbolizes prosperity and reunion for the whole family. On Mid-Autumn Day, the Chinese celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival by eating moon cakes together with family, and it is a long-standing custom to reunite relatives on Mid-Autumn Festival, so it is commonly known as the “Reunion Festival”. On this night, the whole family enjoys the moon while tasting moon cakes. If relatives are in a different place, they will look at the moon at the same time to express their longing.
How do you celebrate the moon festival?
During the Mid-Autumn Festival, the moon is bright and shining and it is a good time to enjoy the moon. The Mid-Autumn Festival is a traditional festival in China, and its festivities originate from the ancient sacrifice of the moon, which is a remnant and derivative of the Chinese custom of moon sacrifice. The Mid-Autumn Festival is an ancient festival, and moon worship and moon viewing is an important custom of the festival. In addition to a series of activities such as moon viewing, moon sacrifice, eating moon cakes, and blessing the reunion, some places also have activities such as grass dragon dance and pagoda building. In addition to moon cakes, a variety of seasonal fresh fruits and dried fruits, and special dishes are also the delicacies of the Mid-Autumn Festival.
There are many customs and different forms of the Mid-Autumn Festival, but all of them carry people’s infinite love for life and their aspiration for a better life. The Mid-Autumn Festival has always been described as the most humane and poetic festival. It is said that every festival is a time to miss one’s relatives, and the Mid-Autumn Festival is certainly a time to miss one’s relatives more deeply, especially when the moon hangs high in the sky.
The Mooncake Festival is the second most important festival in China after the Chinese New Year. Various customs and habits of the Mid-Autumn festival have been handed down to the present day and have lasted for a long time. Not only is the Mid-Autumn Festival a traditional festival for Chinese people, but it is also celebrated in many countries around the world. Different cultures have different customs. Different cultures have different Mid-Autumn festivals.
Why do schools organize activities to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival?
In order to effectively strengthen the education of excellent Chinese culture and tradition and to educate students about the traditions of the Chinese nation, schools also hold Mid-Autumn Festival activities on the occasion of the traditional festival, the Mid-Autumn Festival. Every year, in the north and south of China, there are countless schools that make their campuses shine with creative activities that are not only fun and interesting, but also beneficial to students.
For this year’s Mid-Autumn Festival, UV Tableware joined hands with the kindergartens around the factory, and held a culturally attractive and creative Mid-Autumn Festival celebration, in order to let the children feel the festive atmosphere in the kindergartens as well and to enhance the children’s understanding of traditional festivals through the activities and spend a meaningful Mid-Autumn Festival with them.
During this wonderful festival of reunion, in order to make the children feel the beauty of national traditional culture, UV Tableware public welfare provided some disposable environmentally friendly bagasse dinner plates, and the multi-talented teachers led the children to do some creative crafts and beautiful coloring. The original plan was for families, schools, and enterprises to join together and participate in the event, but due to the epidemic of covid, UV Tableware was responsible for delivering the compostable disposable bagasse plates to the school, and teachers were responsible for the main activity. So, let’s take a look at the children’s wonderful work.
First, the teachers led the children to make moon cakes and told them why they should eat moon cakes in Mid-Autumn Festival. At the same time, the teacher also led the children to paint on the eco-friendly bagasse dinner plates, and everyone was immersed in the joy of the activity.
In addition to moon cakes, moon-viewing and lanterns, there is another role in the Mid-Autumn Festival that should not be forgotten, and that is the Jade Rabbit beside Chang E (the lady in the moon). It is said that when Chang E’s body became lighter and began to ascend into the sky, she picked up the white rabbit she had been feeding in fear. The white rabbit then went with her to the moon. The Jade Rabbit had a mortar and pestle in the moon palace and pounded the elixir of immortality in the mortar at night. Over time, the Jade Rabbit became synonymous with the moon, and ancient writers often used the Jade Rabbit to symbolize the moon when they wrote poems and lyrics. When the myth reached Japan, it was transformed into the Jade Hare pounding rice cakes.
Look at the Jade Rabbit lying on the eco-friendly bagasse plate, isn’t it particularly cute?
Next to the Jade rabbit, that’s Chang E flies to the moon, is carved out of fresh watermelon, do you think this work is magical? Then a legend about the Mid-Autumn Festival —— Chang E flying to the moon, will make you feel even more magical, the following is a brief introduction about the legend of Chang-E flying to the moon.
Hou Yi shot down the nine suns in the sky, eliminating harm for the people, deeply respected and loved by the people. Then he married the beautiful and kind Chang-E as his wife. One day, Hou Yi went to Kunlun Mountain to visit friends and seek Taoism, and coincidentally met the Queen Mother who was passing by, so he asked the Queen Mother for two immortal pills for immortality, taking one pill can live forever, taking two can ascend to heaven and become immortal, Hou Yi could not bear to leave his wife to ascend to heaven by himself, so he gave the two immortal pills to Chang E to treasure up.
Hou Yi had a disciple, named Feng Meng, who was a villain. When Chang E hid the elixir in a treasure box, he peeped into it and began to think of it. Three days later, Hou Yi led his disciples to go hunting, Feng Meng claimed to be sick and did not go, and after Hou Yi left, he forced Chang-E to hand over the elixir with a sword. Chang E knew that she was no match for Feng Meng, so she opened the treasure box quickly and swallowed the two pills in one gulp. After swallowing the elixir, Chang E immediately felt her body was light and able to fly, so she flew out of the window and into the sky. Because she was concerned about her husband Hou Yi, Chang E landed on the moon, the closest to her family.
After Hou Yi returned home, the maids told him what had happened during the day. Hou Yi was shocked and angry that the villain Feng Meng had fled. Hou Yi was so grief-stricken that he pounded his chest and looked up to the sky to call out his wife’s name. Misty found that the moon was exceptionally bright that night, which happened to be the 15th of August, and there was a swaying figure in the moon, resembling Chang E.
So Hou Yi sent someone to Chang E’s favorite back garden and set up a joss stick to paying tribute to Chang E in the Moon Palace. From then on, every August 15th, the people also set up an incense table under the moon to worship Chang E and pray for the good fortune and peace for the beautiful and kind Chang E.
“The moon is full, the moon cake is sweet, everyone celebrates the reunion together.” As one of the four most important traditional festivals in China, the Mid-Autumn Festival, with the full moon signifying the reunion of people, not only carries a strong hometown feeling but also reflects the long history and traditional culture of the Chinese nation.
In general, the Mid-Autumn Festival is a symbol of people’s desire for a better life and their infinite love. On this day, we look forward to a better and better life for a family, and the mood of this day is extraordinarily satisfying.
Finally, all the staffs of UV Tableware wish everyone: Happy Mid-Autumn Festival and a happy family.
For more details, please contact UV Tableware for an in-depth discussion, thank you.
