China Mid-Autumn Festival
August 15th of the lunar calendar is the traditional Mid-Autumn Festival in China. The mid - Autumn Festival is the second most important festival after the Spring Festival for the Chinese people. Every year when the holiday comes, people return home from all over the world to meet their families and have dinner with them.
The mid-Autumn Festival in China is traditionally celebrated on the 15th day of the eighth lunisolar month. The festival is the second most important festival after the Spring Festival for the Chinese people. Every year when the holiday comes people return home from all over the world to meet their families and have dinner with them.
Mid-Autumn Festival in China
Why is the Mid-Autumn Festival so important? It is connected with the moon and the Chinese people are very fond of the moon. In Chinese culture, the full moon is a symbol of peace and prosperity for the whole family. Its roundness symbolizes the integrity and unity. In the middle of the eighth month of the Chinese calendar, the moon is full. The number eight is also a popular figure in Chinese culture, which symbolizes wealth and prosperity. In such a way people believe in auspicious.
Celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival
Mid-Autumn Festival has a history of 2000 years. In a lot of the Mid-Autumn holiday traditions during these 2000 years, it has been invented by the Chinese people. All celebrations show happiness and joy to people (Liu, 2010).
The main events during the Mid-Autumn Festival are the moon praise: people eat cake together and make the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival lanterns. These three celebrations were handed down from generation to generation. Chinese people think that Mid-Autumn Festival will not come if they do not do these three traditional things.
In the Song Dynasty the festival became widely celebrated and as an official holiday for the first time was held at the early Tang Dynasty. It became as important as the New Year in the times of the Qing dynasty. The history of the origin of the moon festival, like any other holiday, passed on from one generation to another. It is associated with the moon maiden Chang'e.
Chinese legend tells that there was a time when the sky had 10 the suns shining at the same time, scorching the earth and depriving people of water and all forms of life. The hero whose name was Hou knocked down nine suns out of ten using the bow and arrow, so to save the people. He received from the Queen Mother's an immortality elixir, which could transform a mortal man into an immortal and allowed to live in heaven. Howe gave his wife Chang'e the elixir for storage. A neighbor heard about it and tried to take away the precious drink. In desperation, Chang'e drank an elixir and becoming a goddess who flew to the moon.
Hou did not find his wife when he came back home. He raised his eyes to heaven, to call her, he saw that moon was especially bright and full that night. Hou wife sends a glimpse of him. He took a round cake that Chang'e loved and prayed, asking for her blessing of heaven. Until those times, people worship the heavens and eat around the "lunar" gingerbread on this day.
Many of those things have been changed to mark the Feast and most traditions are now forgotten, except for the fact that many are buying and eating a Moon cakes (round sugared cakes with seeds and spices). While some traditions remain, some move away with time.
In some places in China, people celebrate the holiday in different ways. In Tsontso, Guangdong, people eat taro, to celebrate the festival, because the taro harvest takes place at the same time as the festival. They eat taro and hope that the harvest will be good next year. In Nanjing, people cook a duck with fragrant flower of the cinnamon tree, because people think, flower of the cinnamon tree is a symbol of peace. In some places, people make fires inside the tower to celebrate, because they think that the fire is a symbol of good business.
In modern urban tradition, this evening is admiring the full moon, followed by refreshments and "moon cakes." Ritual celebration party is most widely displayed in the lighting of incense Chang'e - mythical inhabitant of the moon (Siu, 1998). In terms of importance, this holiday is second only to the Chinese New Year, marking the mid-year cycle in the representation of the peoples of East Asia.
It is approximately in the second half of September. It is believed that on this day of the lunar disc "the brightest and the roundest of the year." The image of "completeness" appears in several ways: it is the end time of harvest; the moon is a symbol of the feminine, and thus its fullness - as a symbol of fertility. According to Chinese tradition, the satellite Chang-e in the Moon is a rabbit that crushes in a mortar drug of immortality sitting under a cinnamon tree and a toad - a symbol of femininity (Lemei, n.d.). In addition, the holiday is celebrated with the whole family, and the semantics of the "family circle" is present in the separation of gingerbread at all, and in eating pomelo (in the southern regions), followed by games with a round skinned, easily removed from the fruit.
The Moon is also connected and the main holiday treat - moon cakes (Yuebin). Gingerbread can be round, diamond-shaped or square shaped with rounded corners. They portrayed characters with different wishes and holiday symbols - the goddess Chang-e, the lunar hare and Jin Chan. Gingerbread is prepared with a variety of fillings. These are fruits, mix nuts, sesame, Lotus or bean paste, and even the meat. However, the most symbolic is stuffed egg yolk because that their shape and color reminds all of the same moon (Wei-pang, n.d.).
The ancient Chinese believed that the moon consists of a ghostly and very unstable substance - aqueous ester-like in quality fog. Since the opposition activity and heat are cold and omissions attributed to the Moon qualities such as sadness, loneliness, contemplation, love longing.
Jennifer was interviewed by me about how to say the Chinese name for the Mid-Autumn Festival which is中秋节 Zhōngqiū jié. According to my friend, China has been celebrating this festival for a very long time, probably more than two millennia. According to my research, the Mid-Autumn Festival probably started during the Shang Dynasty (~1500 B.C.). In the ancient times, people in China celebrated after bountiful harvests. An important tradition during those times was the worshiping of the moon, specifically the full moon, which happens after harvests (Siu, 1998).
During this research, I interviewed Jennifer Chin. I visited China only once.
Conclusion
The history of the autumn festival is inextricably linked to the moon and back to the ancient rites of sacrifice if the spring in China worshiped the sun, the moon in the fall sacrifices. The holiday is celebrated on the full moon. In China, we believe that the moon on that day is the round, bright and beautiful.
In China, it is a holiday, which all love without exception. At night during the festival people admire the full moon and remember loved ones. The older generation likes to feast because they have special attention and gifts presented. Young people - for what may be fun to walk until the morning, and gourmands - because only these days can eat moon cakes.
Tradition has it that on this day to admire the roses - that is an attribute of the holiday. Millions of sky lanterns rise into the night sky and fill in their warm light that warms those who are far from each other.
The most important content is hidden in these simple traditions of the Mid-Autumn Festival. In China, people believe that the fall is beautiful, but sad time of the year. It's goodbye to the bright summer, it's time to decay, the extinction of life. Nevertheless, looking at the beautiful moon, reflecting on the fact that the full moon will change the new cycle and at the same time say to one another: "Look, the new moon is born! So life goes on! ". New moon instills in the hearts and souls of all people hope for new meetings, new initiatives, and achievements, hope that all will be well.
If the Chinese people cannot be reunited with their family at holiday time, they do not lose heart. After all, even if they are separated from their families and loved ones, people can enjoy simultaneously with the moon, feast on the same cakes and think about each other.
References
Liu. L. (2010). When the Moon Is Perfect [Review of the article Beijing Review]. When the Moon Is Perfect:The Mid-Autumn Festival Is a Time for All Chinese People to Enjoy the Moon While Making Family Reunion, 1-3.
Lemei, Yang. (n.d.). China’s Mid-Autumn Day. Indiana University Press.
Siu, K. W. (1999). Lanterns of the Mid-Autumn Festival: A Reflection of Hong Kong Cultural Change. J Popular Culture, 33(2), 67-86.
Wei-pang, Chao. (n.d.). Games at the Mid-Autumn Festival in Kuangtung. JSTOR.
Siu, K. W. (1998).The Mid-Autumn festival Lantern in Contemporary HongKong. Massachusets Istitute of Technology. Volume 14,Number 3.
Appendices
Field Work & Field Notes
(What is the social importance of Mid-Autumn festival for China? )
Interview Questions
1) What is the Mid-Autumn festival in China also known as?
2) What does this festival celebrate?
3) How long has this festival been celebrated for?
5) When did the festival begin to gain popularity?
6) How is moon worshipping related and meaningful to the festival?
7) How are lanterns used as a part of the festival’s celebrations?
8) What is the significance of moon cakes in regard to the festival?
9) How is courtship and matchmaking activities practiced during the celebrations?
10) What other customs take place at the festival other than the sacrifice to the moon?
Field Notes
In China, one of the most celebrated festivals is known as the Mid-Autumn Festival. Similar to other festivals, it is believed that the Mid-Autumn Festival affects the social setting within communities in China, especially because it is one of the most celebrated festivals. To understand the social relevance of the Mid-Autumn Festival, I interviewed a person who is knowledgeable about the festival. On Friday, February19, 2016 at 4:46pm I met up with Jennifer Chin at her house. She is a 25 year old, Chinese friend of mine who has spent her childhood growing up in China. When I asked Jennifer that I wanted to interview her about the Mid-Autumn Festival, she smiled and told me that she will try to answer the questions as best of her knowledge on the topic. We made ourselves comfortable by sitting down on the couch while I asked the interview questions and took notes.
Even before I started the interview, I knew that the Mid-Autumn Festival goes by many names, such as the Moon Cake Festival, the Harvest Moon Festival, or simply as the Moon Festival. It took Jennifer awhile to answer my first question because she was trying to remember how to say the Chinese name for the Mid-Autumn Festival which is中秋节 Zhōngqiū jié. She was happy when she finally remembered. According to my friend, China has been celebrating this festival for a very long time, probably more than two millennia. According to my research, the Mid-Autumn Festival probably started during the Shang Dynasty (~1500 B.C.). In the ancient times, people in China celebrated after bountiful harvests. An important tradition during those times was the worshiping of the moon, specifically the full moon, which happens after harvests (Siu, 1998). I continued with the interview question. I asked my friend what the moon symbolized for the ancient Chinese people, and she told me that the moon was associated with healing or rejuvenation. In addition, she told me that the primitive tradition of worshiping the moon during the festival was to honor the Moon Goddess, known as Chang'e. I responded by saying “ohhh I remember reading about that.The article mentioned how it all started out as a myth.” Then, it got me curious if Jennifer ever believed in the Moon Goddess so, I asked her if she followed this tradition because she believes in it. Perhaps everybody in her family were involved in it? She responded by saying a little of both. That moment, I knew how Jennifer felt because I also celebrate Korean traditions because of my family members.
Moving on, Jennifer told me that even though the festival was celebrated more than two millennia ago, it probably gained popularity in China after the Chinese sensationalized the serving of the moon cakes during the festival. When the topic moon cake came up she got excited because I told her I never tried one before. So Jennifer said she will make me one next time. My friend knew that the worshiping of the moon during the mid-autumn of the year existed a long time ago but she was not sure when it was popularized so she called her mom on the phone. Ms. Chin said that it was probably during the Yuan Dynasty that the moon cakes became popular. Then, it popped in my head that the moon cakes were a typical food during the festival as early as the Tang Dynasty, but after overthrowing the Yuan Dynasty, serving moon cakes became a patriotic tradition. According to historians, rebels would secretly communicate by attaching letters to the moon cakes that will then be sent to their friends, which then ultimately led to the massacre of the Mongol overlords. Since then, serving moon cakes during the festival became a tradition (Liu, 2010).
Furthermore, while I continued to write down Jennifer’s response, it seemed Jennifer started to get bored so she went on reading the interview questions out loud. Then, when she saw that the next question was on the lantern celebration, Jennifer said: “That’s the best part!” When I heard her excitement it made me wonder what is so special about the lantern festival. She started to describe that the festival evolved into a colorful street festival, where every street was decorated with colorful lanterns of all sizes. When I asked her what the lanterns meant during the festival, she told me that the lanterns had no connection to the worshiping of the moon but may have been popularized because hanging lanterns was a typical tradition to most Chinese festivals. Various Chinese festivals feature decorating the streets, homes, and rivers with lanterns, such as the Lantern Festival and the Ghost Festival. I thought in my head I wish there was a big lantern festival here so I can light up the lanterns into the sky. Jennifer also stated that the lanterns add a romantic ambiance to the festival. In some areas, the Mid-Autumn Festival becomes a popular dating tradition. Most couples celebrate marriages during the festival because the full moon symbolizes fertility. I found out through research that the festival symbolizes the opportunity of the guys to woo the girls (Siu, 1999). I said to Jennifer with a sarcastic voice, “now I get why you like the lantern festival” then she laughed.
Finally, I asked Jennifer about any other tradition that carries out during the festival, aside from the moon, the moon cakes, and the lanterns. According to her, the festival usually features the serving of dishes that symbolize reunion because the festival is also known as the Reunion Festival. These dishes include lotus roots and watermelons in the shape of a lotus. I read that the timing of the Mid-Autumn festival coincides with the harvesting of the cassia wine, which is also known as the "reunion wine" (Liu, 2010).
In the final moments of our interview, I told Jennifer that I am interested in seeing the festival so she said to me that when we both save enough money we should go visit China together. We said it in a half serious and half joking way. But, Jennifer sounded confident that if I ever see the festival in China, it would be the best Mid-Autumn Festival experience. After the interview, I thanked Jennifer and bought her dinner to show my appreciation.
References
Siu, K. W. (1999). Lanterns of the Mid-Autumn Festival: A Reflection of Hong Kong Cultural Change. J Popular Culture, 33(2), 67-86.
Liu. L. (2010). When the Moon Is Perfect [Review of the article Beijing Review]. When the Moon Is Perfect:The Mid-Autumn Festival Is a Time for All Chinese People to Enjoy the Moon While Making Family Reunion, 1-3.
