Mid-Autumn Festival reunion

#中秋庆团圆 #

Mid-Autumn Festival

The fifteenth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar is the traditional Mid-Autumn Festival in China, and it is also the second largest traditional festival in China after the Spring Festival. Also known as mid-autumn festival, reunion festival, August festival, etc., it is a traditional festival of The Han nationality and most ethnic minorities in China, and is also popular in neighboring countries such as Korea, Japan and Vietnam. Because the seven, eight, and nine months of autumn (referring to the lunar calendar) are centered in August, and fifteen are in the center of the thirty days of August, it is called the Mid-Autumn Festival. Therefore, when the night is full of moons, the people are more than this night family reunion, so it is also called the reunion festival.

The Mid-Autumn Festival originated from the ancient customs of autumn worship and moon worship in China. The Book of Rites contains the words "The Son of Heaven is in the spring and the sun is in the autumn and the moon is in the autumn." The sun is rising, the moon is setting. The "sunset moon" here means to worship the moon. During the Two Han Dynasties, it had already taken shape, and during the Tang Dynasty, the custom of appreciating the moon in the Mid-Autumn Festival began to prevail and was set as the Mid-Autumn Festival. Ouyang Zhan (785 ~ c. 827 AD) in the Chang'an Play Moon Poetry Preface Yun: "August in autumn. Fifteen in the night, in the clouds of the moon. In the Heavenly Dao, then the cold and summer are both, taken from the number of months, then the toad soul is round, so it is known as the Mid-Autumn Festival. ”

On the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, the moon is bright, and the ancients regarded the full moon as a symbol of reunion, so it is also called August 15 as the "Reunion Festival". Throughout the ages, people often use "full moon" and "moon deficiency" to describe "sorrow and joy", and wanderers who live in other places use the moon to pin their affection. Tang Dynasty poet Li Bai's poems such as "Look up at the bright moon and look down at my hometown", Du Fu's "Dew is white from tonight, the moon is the hometown of Ming", and Wang Anshi's "Spring breeze and the south bank of the Green River, when will the bright moon shine on me" and other poems are all songs from ancient times.

The Mid-Autumn Festival, together with the Lantern Festival and the Dragon Boat Festival, is known as the three traditional festivals in China. The source of the Mid-Autumn Festival is closely related to myths and legends such as "Chang'e Benyue", "Wu Gang Fa Gui", "Jade Rabbit Mashing Medicine" and so on. Therefore, the folk customs of the Mid-Autumn Festival are mostly related to the moon. Moon viewing, moon worship, eating reunion moon cakes, etc., all originate from this. Ancient emperors had a spring festival day, an autumn festival of the social system, and the folk family also had the wind of the Mid-Autumn Festival, and later the moon appreciation was heavier than the moon festival, and the serious sacrifice became a relaxed entertainment. The custom of appreciating the moon in the Mid-Autumn Festival was extremely popular in the Tang Dynasty, and many poets had verses of the moon in their famous passages, and the court and folk moon worship activities of the Song Dynasty, Ming Dynasty, and Qing Dynasty were more large-scale. There are still many monuments in various parts of China that have "worshiped the moon", "worshiped the moon pavilion" and "wangyue tower". The "Temple of the Moon" in Beijing was built for the royal moon festival during the Ming Jiajing period. Whenever the moon rises in the Mid-Autumn Festival, a case is set up in the open air, and the moon cakes, pomegranates, dates and other melons and fruits are offered on the table, and after the moon worship, the whole family sits around the table, eats and talks, and enjoys the bright moon together. Now, the moon worship activities have been replaced by large-scale and colorful mass moon viewing activities.

Eating mooncakes is another custom of the festival, and mooncakes symbolize reunion. The production of mooncakes has become more and more elaborate since the Tang Dynasty. Su Dongpo has a poem that writes: "Small cakes are like chewing the moon, there are crisp and dumplings", and Yang Guangfu of the Qing Dynasty wrote: "The moon cake is full of peach meat filling, and the ice cream is sweet and cane frosting". It seems that the mooncakes at that time were quite similar to those now.

Usually many people tell that the Mid-Autumn Festival originated from the story of Chang'e Running Moon. According to the historical records: "Xi Chang'e took the medicine of the Immortal Mother of the West, and then ran to the moon as the moon essence." The price Chang'e paid for this move was to be punished with hard labor and never return to the human world for the rest of her life. Li Bai was quite sad about this, and wrote a poem: "The white rabbit pounds medicine in autumn and spring, and who is the neighbor of the female qi'e lonely perch?" "Although Chang'e herself felt that the Moon Palace was good, she could not bear the loneliness, and returned to the human world to reunite with her husband every year at the full night of the fifteenth month of August, but she had to return to the Moon Palace before dawn. Every Mid-Autumn Festival, future generations not only want to land on the moon to meet with Chang'e, but also look forward to Chang'e's next glance. Therefore, when many people burn incense and worship the moon, they pray that "men are willing to walk early in the Toad Palace, and climb high and climb the Immortal Gui... The woman wishes to look like Chang'e, round as Haoyue. "Year after year, people celebrate this day as a holiday.

Some people believe that the Mid-Autumn Festival began with the Tang Ming Emperor's moon appreciation. The Tang Dynasty's "Kaiyuan Testament" book records: On the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, Emperor Tang Ming and Yang Guifei played under the moon, swam to Xing, and the two of them went straight to the Moon Palace, and Emperor Tang Ming also learned half of the "Neon Dress Feather Song" in the Moon Palace, which was later completed and became a work passed down from generation to generation. Emperor Tang Ming never forgot his trip to the Moon Palace, and every year at this moment, it was necessary to appreciate the moon. The people also came to follow suit, and gathered together at the full moon to enjoy the beauty of the world. Over time, it has become a tradition that has been passed down.

Some have suggested that the Mid-Autumn Festival was originally the anniversary of an uprising to overthrow the yuan dynasty. In the last year of the Yuan Dynasty, the common people could not bear the rule of the government, and in the middle and autumn festivals, they hid the note with the words "Kill the Tartars, destroy the Yuan Dynasty; on August 15, the families work together" in small round cakes and passed them on to each other. On the evening of August 15, every household moved together to overthrow the Yuan Dynasty in one fell swoop. Later, every Mid-Autumn Festival, mooncakes were eaten to commemorate this historic victory.

It has also been suggested that the origin of the Mid-Autumn Festival is related to agricultural production. Autumn is the season of harvest. The word "autumn" is interpreted as follows: "The crops are ripe for autumn." In august, in the mid-autumn festival, crops and various fruits are ripening, and farmers take the day of "Mid-Autumn Festival" as a festival in order to celebrate the harvest and express their joy. "Mid-Autumn Festival" means the middle of autumn, the eighth month of the lunar calendar is the middle of autumn, and the fifteenth day is the day in the middle of the month.

The word Mid-Autumn Festival appears in the Zhou Li, but it does not refer to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but to the second month of autumn. The Han Dynasty had the "Autumn Festival", the time was on the day of the establishment of autumn, not August 15, the Tang Dynasty's book has a record of four hours and twelve festivals, and there is no Mid-Autumn Festival, but the "Mid-Autumn Moon" has appeared in Tang poetry. "In August, the moon is round in the mid-autumn, send Jun Yin to the Mulan boat" (Wei Zhuang", "Send Li Xiucai back to Jingxi"). The first time a clear record of the Mid-Autumn Festival was made by Wu Zihui, a Southern Song Dynasty man, who said in his book "Dream LiangLu": "The Mid-Autumn Festival on August 15, the third autumn day is halfway, so it is called 'Mid-Autumn Festival'. On this night, the moon is brighter than the usual time, also known as the 'moon and night'. The book also describes the grand situation of the Southern Song Dynasty Kyoto Lin'an (now Hangzhou) to enjoy the moon and visit the night market.

Bijie Mid-Autumn Festival has the following folk customs:

1. Lamp: The Mid-Autumn Festival night lamp is tied to a bamboo pole with a rope, high on the tile eaves or terrace, or a small lamp is used to form a glyph or various shapes, hanging on the height of the house, commonly known as 'tree Mid-Autumn' or 'Vertical Mid-Autumn'.

2. Enjoy osmanthus flowers and drink osmanthus wine: Bijie people often eat mooncakes to appreciate osmanthus flowers in the Mid-Autumn Festival, and eat various foods made of osmanthus flowers, most common in pastries and candies.

3. Eat taro: There is also a local habit of eating taro in the Mid-Autumn Festival, and there is a proverb: "The river is to the mouth, and the taro is eaten".

Festival Introduction: The Mid-Autumn Festival celebrates the reunion of the people with the full circle of the moon, in order to miss the hometown, miss the love of relatives, pray for a good harvest and happiness, and become a colorful and precious cultural heritage. The Mid-Autumn Festival, along with the Dragon Boat Festival, the Spring Festival and the Qingming Festival, is known as the four traditional festivals in China.

Bijie is located on the roof of the Guizhou Plateau, which is a prosperous place of ancient Yelang culture, inhabited by ethnic minorities such as Han, Yi, Miao, Hui, Bai, Buyi, and Qilao. Because the locals in the alpine area are accustomed to eating hot food, and according to the local unique ingredients, many traditional dishes have been created, among which, Weining ham, grass sea fish, Yi wine, Night Lang Bagua chicken, Nayong torch fish, Bijie stinky tofu, tangyuan, bitter buckwheat and so on are the most distinctive.

Dried tofu Bijie Dried Tofu, or stinky tofu, is a traditional local snack. Its preparation method was first created in the Daoguang years of the Qing Dynasty, grilled with charcoal fire, and then served with spiced pepper noodles. Eat, crispy skin, crispy meat, overflowing with flavor, known as "stinky and fragrant"

Bijie Tangyuan Bijie people especially like to eat tangyuan. The filling has dates, sauerkraut, orange cakes, roses, ham and other varieties, each with a different taste, and is a famous flavor snack in Guizhou.

Weining fried buckwheat rice is made with buckwheat grains and rice, chili cooked ham, etc., the taste is very authentic, is a more popular flavor snack in Weining area

Weining ham is a famous traditional food in the Bijie area, which has a history of more than 600 years. Weining belongs to the alpine mountains, has always been very developed animal husbandry, the local Yi compatriots, every year to apply bacon storage, until the next year to eat, these unique bacon, for the production of Weining ham to provide a wealth of raw materials. Because Weining is close to Yiwei, Yunnan, it is also called Xuanwei ham

Weaving Gold Gong Bao Chicken Ding Gong Bao Chicken Ding is a dish created by his descendants in honor of Ding Baozhen (also known as Ding Gong Bao), the minister of the late Qing Dynasty, who created a dish - spicy fried chicken, named after him. Ding Bao, a native of Zhijin County, Bijie City, Guizhou Province, was awarded the title of "Prince Shaobao" by the imperial court at the end of the Qing Dynasty, known as Ding Gongbao. Since he had served as an official in Sichuan, Shandong, and was a native of Guizhou, all three provinces had the dish of Kung Pao Chicken Ding.

Night Lang Bagua Chicken The ancient Night Lang people were known for the custom of using poultry bones to predict good luck and misfortune. ト卦 must kill chicken, they cook the chicken after the ト卦 into a gourmet dish, that is, Bagua chicken, which is a famous dish with the characteristics of local ethnic culture.

Nayong Torch Fish is a kind of dried fish with a unique flavor grilled over a wood fire, commonly known as torch fish. There is a river in the southeast of Nayong County, rich in fish, because the river is clear and pollution-free, the fish here mainly rely on eating insects and stone pulp to live, therefore, the meat is fatty and delicious, fragrant and attractive, famous far and wide

Weining grass sea fine fish is also known as shrimp fish, yellow spicy ding, small yellow fish. This fish is not large, the meat is thick and fresh, and it is famous in Guizhou. Grass sea fish has a shrimp flavor, it turns out that the caught fish has a complete red shrimp in the belly or mouth, this is because the fish is very greedy, often the shrimp in the stomach has not been digested, and the mouth contains another shrimp.

Spicy bamboo stew chicken Bamboo thorn is a famous specialty of Zhijin County, is a kind of cryptoflora fungus parasitic at the root of dry bamboo, because its shape is slightly similar to the mesh dry white snakeskin, it is known as "snow skirt fairy", "flower of mountain treasures", "queen of fungi", etc., since ancient times has been listed as one of the "eight treasures of grass". It is stewed with bamboo and chicken, which has a delicious taste and a very high nutritional value.

Three Wines of the Yi Nationality The Yi people of Weining Yi Hui and Miao Autonomous County are warm and sincere in their hospitality, and whenever a guest arrives, they will entertain the guests with their own brewed wine and salute the "three wines", which is the highest etiquette for the Yi people to receive VIPs. The first is the barricade wine, that is, to greet the guests at the door, the Yi family blows the trombone, screams, plays the moon piano, sings and dances, sings the "welcome tune", and the Yi girl in full costume holds a cup of fine wine to toast the guests; the second is the blessing wine, that is, to toast the guests with two glasses of fine wine at the banquet, and at the same time to offer a toast; the third is the guest wine, that is, when the host sends the guest to the door, invite the guests to drink the last cup of wine when they leave, when toasting, the Yi family blows the trombone, the sigh, and plays the "stay guest tune", The host holds a glass of wine and sings the song of sending off the guests, and guests must drink the glass of wine before they can say goodbye and set off. Yijia liquor, also known as pole wine, because of the use of different raw materials and different tastes, there are prickly pear wine, splash wine, etc., is a drink with strong national characteristics, sweet and sour moderate, luscious and fragrant, unique taste, is the Yi family perennial essential wine.

Lian Zhaoluo, also known as The Bean Flower, is the most common home-cooked snack in Guizhou. The production method is very simple, boil the soy milk, put in the chopped cabbage, and then put a little sour soup or vinegar into the pot, stir while ordering, so that the soy milk becomes tofu, all stick to the cabbage. When eaten, it is dipped in dipping water made with various spices, which is light and sweet, and is particularly refreshing.

Bitter buckwheat Weining Yi Hui and Miao Autonomous County belongs to the alpine mountains, rich in bitter buckwheat, sweet buckwheat, bitter buckwheat taste bitter, but the buckwheat cake made of bitter buckwheat powder is sweet and fragrant. "Qianxi, generous one flower, WeiNing, Bijie bitter buckwheat." This is a folk proverb of the locals praising the bitter buckwheat crisp. According to legend, during the Ming Dynasty, the famous Yi female toast in Guizhou, Lady Xiangxiang, once paid tribute to the Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, and the emperor even claimed praise after tasting: "Southern relics, southern relics." And listed soba as a royal tribute.

Other famous foods

Dried fish in the sea of grass, dafang stinky tofu, wang pig's foot, Hezhang Xujia taipo fragrant bean flower, Zhao Lao wu huang rice, sandy mutton powder, bad pepper, dafang tempeh rice dumplings, Yijia pig rice intestines, chicken farm tofu, Nayong new cat farm casserole dish weaving golden blood tofu king stupid roast chicken, Zeng Sanxingjia brine beef, Qianxi tea dumplings, spicy stinky tofu dried, crisp whistle bean sand nest, etc

Bijie specialties

Guizhou Three Treasures (Eucommia, Tianma, Ganoderma lucidum), as well as weaving gold batik embroidery, Miao horsetail embroidery, weaving gold casserole, Dafang walnut handicrafts, Jinsha Wenjia vinegar, Qixingguan Qingchi Cui tablets tea, Weining Dang Ginseng, Banxia, Dafang Haima Palace Tea, Nayong Fu Mingxiang Cuilong Tea, BijieShi Aunt Vegetable Leaf Tofu Milk, Woven Gold Stone Carving, Yijia Splash Wine, Prickly Pear Wine, Nayong Raw Lacquer, Nayong Gu Gong Tea, Woven Gold Marble Crafts, Bijie Daqu Wine, Dafang Lacquerware, etc