中国文化 The Mid-Autumn Festival.doc

the mid-autumn festivalthe mid-autumn festival is the chinese traditional festival, and it celebrated on the august 15th on the lunar. it coincides with the autumn equinox and it is the middle month of autumn, so does the name come. whats more, the moon on this day is plenilune, indicating the reunion of families, so it also called the reunion day.origin and historythe earliest record of the mid-autumn festival history is on the book of documents. it described: on the mid-autumn festival, the night equal to the day and the star occur in the south. in the early year of the dang dynasty, the mid-autumn festival became the traditional festival.the origin of the mid-autumn festival has three stories. firstly, people worshiped the moon. secondly, there was a custom which people danced and sang to find his soul mate on this day. thirdly, in ancient time, people sacrificed the god of the earth on this day.the mid-autumn festival associated with the legend of change. according to the myth, change was the wife of houyi. houyi begged the immortal to give him a pill which can make people never died, but the pill was stole by change. after eating the pill, she could not stay on the ground but flied to the moon. she wanted to catch something to let her stay, so she caught the rabbit beside her hurriedly. the rabbit lived on the moon with change forever. when houyi found change missed, he raised his head to call on the change aggrievedly, suddenly he found someone who liked change on the moon. in order to express his miss to change, he put his wife favorite moon cakes and fruit on the table. when people knew the story of change, they also put the moon cake on the table to pray change for blessing them. hence praying for the moon became popular.different consuetudesacrificing the moon is the oldest consuetude. the sacrifice places include day altar, earth altar, moon altar, sky altar; they are located in the different directions: east, west, south, and north. this day was also considered as a harvest festival since fruits, vegetables and grain had been harvested by this time and food was abundant. food offerings were placed on an altar set up in the courtyard. apples, pears, peaches, grapes, pomegranates, melons, oranges and pomelos might be seen.appreciating the moon is the entertainment for public. on the mid-autumn festival day, bookmen often write the poems about the moon. in song dynasty, the mid-autumn festival was a day without sleep, and people played and appreciated the moon. hanging the lantern on the high place and enjoying the beauty is another consuetude. children can hold the little colorful lantern made by their parents to play with the companies or tried to make lanterns by themselves.having a big dinner with family is the most common way to celebrate the mid-autumn festival. the dishes are ample and delicious. after the dinner, people will accord the number of the family to divide the moon cake into several parts, and everyone eat one part. this activity is called eating the reunion moon cake. moon cake is the necessary of the mid-autumn festival, and it also the gift to give to the people we are solicitous about. the moon cake is roundish, so it is endowed the meaning of reunion. these cakes were made with melon seeds, lotus seeds, almonds, minced meats, bean paste, orange peels and lard. a golden yolk from a salted duck egg was placed at the center of each cake, and the golden brown crust was decorated with symbols of the festival. traditionally, thirteen moon cakes were piled in a pyramid to symbolize the thirteen moons of a complete year, that is, twelve moons plus one intercalary moon. for generations, moon cakes 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. people compare moon cakes to the plum pudding and fruit cakes which are served in the english holiday seasons.nowadays, there are hundreds varieties of moon cakes on sale a month before the arrival of moon fe