Mid-autumn Festival
2013-09-17 19:57:32
(Chinaculture.org)
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One of the most important traditional Chinese festivals, the Mid-Autumn Festival falls on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month, September 19 this year. This day was also considered as a harvst festival since fruits, vegetables and grain had been harvested by this time and food was abundant. Full of joy and happiness, friends and loved ones gather to celebrate a time when the moon is at its fullest and brightest of the whole year, and everyone gathers together to delight in eating moon cakes and appreciating the spectacular beauty of the full moon.
The Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival, is a popular harvest festival celebrated by Chinese people, dating back over 3,000 years to moon worship in Shang Dynasty. >>more
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Celebration of Mid-autumn festival has a long history. In ancient times, the emperors had the tradition of worshiping the Sun in spring, and the Moon in autumn. The word "Mid-Autumn" first appeared in the famous ancient book "Zhou Li" (The Zhou Rituals, a book telling the rituals in the Zhou Dynasty). However, it was not until the early Tang Dynasty that the day was officially celebrated as a traditional festival. It became a established festival during the Song Dynasty, and has become as popular as the Spring Festival since the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Celebrations have continued ever since and more customs for marking this occasion have been formed.
There are several explanations on why the festival is so popular and some of the most convincing versions are as follows:
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Nanjing and Mid-autumn Festival
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Season and Climate
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Moon Cake
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The Legend of Wu Yan
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Long ago there used to be 10 suns in the sky. Each day, one of the suns would travel around the sky on a carriage. One day, all 10 suns simultaneously appeared in the sky, which caused disaster to the people on earth. A hero named Hou Yi pulled his supernatural bow and shot 9 needless suns down on the peak of Mount Kunlun. >>more
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It tells about three sages who transformed themselves into pitiful old men. One day they met a fox, a monkey and a rabbit, and they begged for food. The fox and the monkey shared their food with the old men; but the rabbit, with nothing to share, jumped into a blazing fire to offer his own flesh instead. >>more
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When we look up at the bright moon, we can see a black shadow on the moon, which is the legendary Wu Gang who is trying to cut down the sweet osmanthus tree. Wu Gang was an ordinary woodcutter who was obsessed with becoming an immortal. He went to mountains and asked an immortal as his teacher and sought instructions from him. >>more
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In the Yuan Dynasty, the common people couldn’t bear the brutal reign of the ruling class and they began to resist and rebel. A leader named Zhu Yuanzhang decided to gather all the resistance forces and prepared to rebel together by putting a slip of paper with the words of rebelling in each moon cake and then try to send these moon cakes to insurrectionary armies. >>more
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Gazing at the Moon
In Fujian province
In the south of Yangtze River valley
Eastern China
The moon worshipping of Dai People, Xinping, Yunnan
"Burning tower", Chaocan, Guangdong
Dragon Lantern Dance, Wuyuan, Jiangxi
Why Mid-Autumn Festival to Eat Moon Cakes?
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Eating Moon Cake
In Guangdong province
In Sichuan province
Moon dance, Pingtang, Guizhou
"Stealing moon vegetables", Xinhuang, Hunan
Shihu Lake Moon String, Suzhou, Jiangsu
"Inviting the moon”, Tangshan, Hebei
Moon in Chinese Celestial Cosmology
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马克: 卡洛琳, 你 知道 今天 是 中秋节 吗?
Mark: Caroline, did you know that today is the Mid-Autumn Festival?
卡洛琳: 中秋节 是 什么?
Caroline: What is the Mid-Autumn Festival?
马克: 中秋节 是 中国 的 传统 节日, 在 每年 的 农历 八月 十五日。 这是 一个 团圆 的 节日。
Mark: The Mid-Autumn Festival falls on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month. It’s a traditional holiday and a time for family reunions. >>more
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Produced by Liu Fang
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