It has become an important custom in our country to eat moon cakes on the Mid Autumn Festival. What's the origin of eating moon cakes on the Mid Autumn Festival? Moon cakes, originally a kind of offerings for sacrificing the moon, later become gifts from the people. The initial rise of moon cake eating in Mid Autumn Festival is due to the end of Yuan Dynasty. Let's have a detailed understanding of the origin and meaning of moon cake eating in Mid Autumn Festival together with Xiaobian.
What is the origin of eating moon cakes on Mid Autumn Festival?
In the Jin Dynasty, there was also the Mid-Autumn Festival, but it was not very common. Until the Tang Dynasty, the Mid-Autumn Festival was combined with the mythological stories of chu'e running to the moon, Wu Gang cutting the laurel, jade rabbit making medicine, Yang Guifei changing into the moon god, Tang Ming emperor visiting the Moon Palace and so on, which made it full of romance and the wind of playing the moon just came into full swing.
Eating moon cakes on Mid Autumn Festival
"West Lake Tour records" said: 'people feed each other with moon cakes, taking the meaning of reunion. Dongpo praised mooncakes with small cakes like chewing the moon, including crispy and Yi. It is said that in ancient China, emperors had the ritual of sacrificing the sun in spring and the moon in autumn. In the folk, every Mid Autumn Festival in August, there is also a custom of worshipping the moon or sacrificing the moon. "The moon is round on August 15, and the moon cakes are sweet in mid autumn". This proverb says that people in urban and rural areas eat moon cakes on the night of Mid Autumn Festival. The moon cake was originally used as a sacrifice to worship the moon god. Later, people gradually took the Mid Autumn Festival to enjoy the moon and taste the moon cake as a symbol of family reunion. Slowly, the moon cake became a festival gift.
August 15 of the lunar calendar is the Mid Autumn Festival. According to legend, at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, people couldn't bear the domination and enslavement of the Mongols. They wanted to revolt against the yuan one after another, but they couldn't deliver the news. At this time, Prime Minister Liu Bowen had a plan to buy mooncakes to eat to avoid the plague. When they bought mooncakes, they cut them open, but there was a note hidden in them. They called for the uprising on August 15 night, and the people responded in succession, so they overthrew the Yuan Dynasty at one stroke. Therefore, mooncakes became the scene food of the Mid Autumn Festival.