中国文化TheMid-AutumnFestival

1、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. What smore, the moon on this day is plenilune, indicating the reuni

2、on 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

3、-Autumn Festival became the traditional festival.The originof the Mid-AutumnFestival has three stories. Firstly, peopleworshiped the moon. Secondly, there was a custom which people danced and sang tofind his soul mate on this day. Thirdly, in ancient time, people sacrificed the god ofthe earth on th

4、is day.The Mid- Autumn Festival associated with the legend of Chang e. According tothe myth, Chang e was the wifof HouYi. HouYi begged the immortal to give him apill which can make people never died, but the pill was stole by Chang e. After eathe pill, she could not stay on the ground but flied to t

5、he 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 Chang forever. When HouYi found Chang emissed, heraised his head to call on the Chang e aggrievedly, suddenly he found someone wholiked Chang e on the moon. In ord

6、er to express his miss to Chang e, he put his wifefavorite moon cakes and fruit on the table. When people knew the story of Changthey also put the moon cake on the table to pray Chang e for blessing them. Hencepraying for the moon became popular.Different ConsuetudeSacrificing the moon is the oldest

7、 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 abund

8、ant. 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 Dy

9、nasty, 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 lant

10、erns 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 ca

11、lled 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

12、, 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,

13、" 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 F