Learn about Chinese Mid-Autumn Day中秋节Zhōngqiūjié
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The Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋节Zhōngqiūjié), together with the Spring Festival(春节Chūnjié), Dragon Boat Festival(端午节Duānwǔjié), Qing Ming Festival(清明节Qīngmíngjié) are four of China’s major traditional festivals. It was celebrated on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar moon, around the time of the autumn equinox. In the Western calendar, the day of the festival usually occurred sometime between the second week of September and the second week of October.
This day was also considered a harvest festival since fruits, vegetables and grain had been harvested by this time and food was abundant. It was a time for relaxation and celebration. Special foods for the festival included moon cakes, cooked taro, etc. Of all these foods, it could not be omitted from the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Origin
The Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋节Zhōngqiūjié) is a traditional festivity for both the Han and minority nationalities. It becomes very prevalent in the Tang Dynasty (618-907 A.D.) that people enjoy and worship the full moon. In the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279 A.D.), however, people send round moon cakes to their relatives as gifts in expression of their best wishes of family reunion. Since the Ming (1368-1644 A.D.) and Qing Dynasties (1644-1911A.D.), the custom of Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋节Zhōngqiūjié) celebration becomes unprecedented popular. Together with the celebration there appear some special customs in different parts of the country, such as burning incense, planting Mid-Autumn trees, lighting lanterns on towers and fire dragon dances. Whenever the festival sets in, people will look up at the full silver moon, drinking wine to celebrate their happy life or thinking of their relatives and friends far from home, and extending all of their best wishes to them.
Moon Cakes (月饼Yuèbǐng)
There is this story about the moon-cake (月饼Yuèbǐng). During the Yuan dynasty (A.D. 1280-1368) China was ruled by the Mongolian people. Leaders from the preceding Song dynasty (A.D. 960-1280) were unhappy at submitting to the foreign rule, and set how to coordinate the rebellion without being discovered. The leaders of the rebellion, knowing that the Moon Festival was drawing near, ordered the making of special cakes. Backed into each moon caked was a message with the outline of the attack. On the night of the Moon Festival, the rebels successfully attached and overthrew the government. Today, moon cakes are eaten to commemorate this legend.
For generations, moon cakes (月饼Yuèbǐng) have been made with sweet fillings of nuts, mashed red beans, lotus-seed paste or Chinese dates, wrapped in a pastry. Sometimes a cooked egg yolk can be found in the middle of the rich tasting dessert.
Nowadays, there are hundreds varieties of moon cakes on sale a month before the arrival of Moon Festival.
You can say the following sentences to your friends and family:
中秋节快乐！
Zhōngqiūjié kuàilè!
Happy Mid-Autumn Day!
