The Mid-Autumn Festival is a traditional festival popular among many ethnic groups in China. It falls on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month. Because it happens to be in the middle of the three autumn months, it got this name. China gives one day off at this time to celebrate. Together with the Spring Festival, Qingming Festival, and Dragon Boat Festival, it is known as one of China's four major traditional festivals.
Over thousands of years of inheritance, the The Mid-Autumn Festival has undergone many changes and been infused with many elements of traditional Chinese culture. In the end, the spiritual orientation of "family reunion" became the main cultural connotation of today's Mid-Autumn Festival.
Origin of the Mid-Autumn Festival
The Mid-Autumn Festival originated in ancient times, spread during the Han Dynasty, took shape in the early Tang Dynasty, and became popular after the Song Dynasty. The Mid-Autumn Festival is a synthesis of autumn seasonal customs, and most of its festival elements have ancient origins.
The Mid-Autumn Festival uses the roundness of the moon to symbolize human reunion. It expresses longing for one's hometown and relatives, and hopes for harvest and happiness, making it a rich and precious cultural heritage.
Since ancient times, The Mid-Autumn Festival has had customs such as worshiping the moon, admiring the moon, eating mooncakes, playing with flower lanterns, enjoying osmanthus, and drinking osmanthus wine. These have been passed down to this day and continue without end.
Traditional Customs of the Mid-Autumn Festival in China
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1. Admiring the Moon
The custom of admiring the moon during the Mid-Autumn Festival became popular in the Tang Dynasty. By the Song Dynasty, the trend of moon admiring was even stronger, with scenes of "wealthy families decorating terraces and pavilions, while common people competed to occupy wine houses to enjoy the moon."
In the Ming and Qing dynasties, court and folk moon worship and moon admiring activities became even larger in scale. Many historic sites such as "Moon Worship Altars," "Moon Worship Pavilions," and "Moon Viewing Towers" still survive across China.
During this period, many places in China formed special customs such as burning bucket incense, tree Mid-Autumn, lighting pagoda lamps, releasing sky lanterns, walking the moon, and dancing with fire dragons. To this day, the trend of admiring the moon during the Mid-Autumn Festival has not disappeared.
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2. Eating Mooncakes
Admiring the moon and eating mooncakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival are essential customs in all parts of China. Mooncakes are the exclusive food and symbol of reunion for the Mid-Autumn Festival.
As the saying goes: "On the 15th of the 8th month, the moon is perfectly round; Mid-Autumn mooncakes are fragrant and sweet." The word "mooncake" comes from Wu Zimu's Mengliang Lu in the Southern Song Dynasty. At that time, it was only a kind of snack food. Later, people gradually combined moon admiring with mooncakes, implying family reunion and expressing longing. -
3. Guessing Lantern Riddles
"Guessing lantern riddles" is also called "hitting lantern riddles." It is a unique entertainment form in China with a strong ethnic style. Some people write riddles on slips of paper and paste them on colorful lanterns for people to guess. Because riddles can inspire wisdom and also cater to the festival atmosphere, many people respond to them. Guessing lantern riddles gradually became a specific custom of the festival.
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4. Releasing Sky Lanterns
Releasing sky lanterns during the Mid-Autumn Festival is also an important ceremony for welcoming and celebrating the moon. It is said that the main way to make a sky lantern is to first paste a small lantern-like sky lantern about the size of a bucket using bamboo strips and white paper. Then these sky lanterns are connected vertically with ropes into a "fire dragon" and hung high.
🍂 If you want to make reunion-themed sky lanterns or mooncake-shaped baked decorations at home, an air fryer and an oven are both great helpers. An air fryer can quickly reheat mooncakes or make small baked snacks with less oil, while an oven is more suitable for baking mooncakes, cookies, and reunion desserts in batches. For families who want to enjoy Mid-Autumn food at home, an air fryer and an oven are really worth considering. Air fryer and oven bring modern convenience to traditional festival flavors.
Mythological Stories of the Mid-Autumn Festival
Chang'e Flying to the Moon
In ancient times, ten suns appeared in the sky at the same time, scorching the crops to death and making life impossible for the people. A hero named Hou Yi was immensely strong. He sympathized with the suffering people, drew his divine bow, and shot down nine suns in one go. He also strictly ordered the last sun to rise and set on time to benefit the people. Hou Yi's wife was named Chang'e. Apart from teaching archery and hunting, Hou Yi spent all his time with his wife. Many people with lofty ideals came to seek apprenticeship because of his fame, and the wicked Peng Meng also mixed in.
One day, Hou Yi went to Kunlun Mountain to visit friends and seek the Way. He asked the Queen Mother of the West for a packet of elixir of immortality. It was said that whoever took this medicine could immediately ascend to heaven and become an immortal. However, Hou Yi could not bear to leave his wife, so he temporarily gave the elixir to Chang'e for safekeeping. Chang'e hid the medicine in a treasure box on her dressing table.
Three days later, Hou Yi led his followers out hunting. The scheming Peng Meng pretended to be sick and did not go out. Soon after Hou Yi and the others left, Peng Meng broke into the inner courtyard with a sword and forced Chang'e to hand over the elixir of immortality. Chang'e knew she was no match for Peng Meng. In the crisis, she turned, opened the treasure box, took out the elixir, and swallowed it in one gulp. As soon as Chang'e swallowed the medicine, her body immediately floated off the ground, rushed out the window, and flew toward the sky. Because Chang'e cared about her husband, she flew to the moon, the place closest to the human world, and became an immortal.
In the evening, Hou Yi returned home. The maidservants tearfully told him what had happened during the day. Hou Yi was both shocked and angry. He drew his sword to kill the villain, but Peng Meng had already fled. Hou Yi was so angry that he beat his chest and stamped his feet, overwhelmed with grief.
Looking up at the night sky and calling out to Chang'e, he found that the moon was especially bright and clear that day, and there was a swaying figure that closely resembled Chang'e. Missing his wife, Hou Yi sent people to the back garden that Chang'e loved. They set up an incense table, placed the honey foods and fresh fruits Chang'e usually loved, and made offerings to Chang'e in the moon palace from afar.
After the common people learned the news that Chang'e had flown to the moon and become an immortal, they one after another set up incense tables under the moon and prayed to the kind Chang'e for good fortune and peace. From then on, the custom of worshiping the moon during the Mid-Autumn Festival spread among the people.
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