In the minds of the ancient Chinese, the moon was not an icy world, but a magical planet with life, and it was believed that there was a building on the moon called Guanghan Palace, in which Chang'e and Jade Rabbit lived.
There is a Guanghan Palace on the moon, is there any in the human world?
During the Yuan Dynasty, Kublai Khan set the capital of the Yuan Dynasty in Beijing, and built a Guanghan Hall in the current Beihai Park, which is the location of the Great White Pagoda on Qionghua Island. According to historical records, this is also the place where Kublai Khan climbed high and looked far away, admired the moon and drank.
Looking at the starry sky and seeing a bright moon hanging in the sky, the ancients began to reverie, thinking that there were "three things" on the moon, one was a figure, the other was an animal, and the third was a plant.
The character refers to two people living on the moon, a female Chang'e, a male Wu Gang, one representing the yang is a positive character, and the other representing the yin is a negative character.
In addition to the jade rabbit, there are also toads, one is a thermostatic animal on land, and the other is an amphibian cold-blooded animal.
The plant refers to the laurel tree on the moon palace, so the ancients also called the moon ya laurel or guilun.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > Wu Gang Fa Gui</h1>
The legend of Wu Gang Fa Gui was first formed in the Tang Dynasty, and it is recorded in the "Youyang Miscellaneous Tricks": "The surname of the person is Wu Minggang, a Xihe person, a scholar who has a fairy, who orders to cut down trees." It is said that Wu Gang made a mistake in the process of learning immortals to visit the Dao and was punished to live in the Moon Palace and cut down laurel trees.
Historical records record: "laurel height of five hundred zhang", a zhang is 3 meters, and the regeneration ability of laurel tree is particularly strong, "tree creation with the combination", so Wu Gang in this laurel tree never ends, this is the legend of Wu Gang in the moon palace.
The prototype of Wu Gang is also called Wu Quan in the Classic of Mountains and Seas, and there are folk legends about him. Wu Quan was also a native of Xihe, who went out to study Taoism for three years, and Boling, the grandson of the Sun God Yan Emperor, took advantage of Wu Gang's three years away from home to learn The Tao, had an affair with Wu Gang's wife, and also gave birth to three sons, one named Drum, one called Yan, and one called Yan Xu.
When Wu Quan returned from his studies, he killed Boling in a fit of rage, thus angering the sun god Emperor Yan, who sent Wu Gang to the cold moon and ordered him to cut down the immortal tree, the laurel, and this tree would never die, and would grow up after cutting.
Wu Gang's wife, Yuanmu, because of her inner guilt, let the eldest son and youngest son fly to the moon, turning into a toad and a jade rabbit, accompanying her father through the cold and boundless years, which is the folklore of Wu Gang.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > rabbit grandpa</h1>
The Mid-Autumn Festival cannot but mention that the rabbit grandfather, about the rabbit grandfather came to the human world, there are also stories.
It is said that a long time ago, there was a year when the plague spread in the human world, and many ordinary people were sick, and no famous doctor could cure it, and no medicine worked. Some people said that only the medicine made by the jade rabbit in the Moon Palace could save sentient beings.
So the people worshiped the moon one after another and asked the Lady of the Moon Palace to rescue the people from the water and fire. On this day, it was august 15th, the moon was bright and round, and Chang'e in the Moon Palace saw that the people had suffered disasters, and also heard the cries of the people, so she sent the moon rabbit down to help the people treat their diseases.
After receiving the order, Yutu turned into a young girl and walked the streets from the city to the countryside, administering medicine to eliminate the plague for the people. In order to thank the Jade Rabbit Girl for saving her life, she did not want to send money, and she refused to give various gifts.
When she cured the last patient, she was probably too tired, so she fell asleep unconsciously against a large locust tree, and the people quietly gathered around, guarding this beautiful and kind girl. At this time, people suddenly found that two long rabbit ears popped out of the girl's head, revealing their true appearance.
In order to thank Chang'e and the Jade Rabbit Girl, people make offerings of incense on August 15 every year to worship the moon.
Later, according to the image of the jade rabbit girl, he created a half-human, half-rabbit rabbit grandfather, wearing a big red robe like a mighty general, and the mounts underneath were lions, tigers, elephants, unicorns and other beasts. It is said that when she treated the people, her foot strength was too slow, and all the gods and immortals lent him their mounts, which allowed her to quickly save sentient beings.
One of the props in the hands of The Rabbit Is a pestle and the other is a moxibustion, which is also the standard image of the Rabbit Grandfather. Moreover, it is also a custom to offer rabbits in Beijing, and it is also recorded in the Qing Dynasty's "Records of the Yanjing Years": "Every Mid-Autumn Festival, the clever people of the city use loess to make the image of the toad rabbit for sale, called the rabbit grandfather." "
The "Ji Sheng in the Age of Emperor Jing" records: "The Beijing master uses yellow sand soil as a white jade rabbit, decorated with colorful makeup, thousands of strange shapes, gathered in the sky street under the moon, the city is easy." "
There is also a kind of rabbit in the folk called the mouth of the rabbit, the mouth is active, you can pull a line behind the head, the mouth will be clicking and clicking, now it is not common.
But the good news is that now Rabbit Grandpa has produced a lot of versions, in addition to the traditional, there are cartoon versions, kawaii versions and so on. The return of Grandpa Rabbit also reflects that the people are paying more and more attention to China's own traditional festivals.