Mid-autumn Festival

Mid-autumn Festival is also known as Moon Sacrifice Festival, Moon Night, Autumn Festival, Saluting the Moon Festival, Moon Goddess Festival, Moon Festival, Reunion Festival, etc. It is a traditional Chinese Festival. Mid-autumn Festival originated from celestial phenomena worship. It was gradually transformed from the moon sacrifice on an autumn night in ancient times. The earliest Moon Sacrifice Festival happened on the day of the autumn equinox of the 24 solar terms on the sexagenary cycle calendar. Then it was moved to the fifteenth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar. In some places, the Mid-autumn Festival is on the sixteenth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar. Since ancient times, customs has it that on the Mid-autumn Festival, people should make sacrifices to the moon, appreciate the moon, eat moon cakes, play with decorative lanterns, appreciate laurel, and drink laurel wine. These customs remain till today and will be carried forward.

Mid-autumn Festival originated from ancient times, became widely recognized in the Han Dynasty, standardized in the early years of the Tang Dynasty, and gained popularity after the Song Dynasty. Mid-autumn Festival is a combination of customs in autumn. Most of the customs can trace back to ancient times. In Mid-autumn Festival, the fullness of the moon symbolizes the reunion of families. People express their homesickness and sentiment of missing families on this day while praying for a good harvest and happiness. All these made the Mid-autumn Festival a rich, colorful, and precious cultural heritage.