August 15 of the lunar calendar is the Mid Autumn Festival, an ancient festival in China that has been handed down for thousands of years. Do you know why August 15 is called the Mid Autumn Festival? What is the origin of the name of Mid Autumn Festival? Today we will talk about the origin of the name of the Mid Autumn Festival.
The term "Mid Autumn Festival" was first used in Zhou Li. According to the ancient Chinese calendar, August 15 of the lunar calendar, in the middle of August in the autumn of a year, is called "mid autumn". There are four seasons in a year. Each season is divided into three parts: Meng, Zhong and Ji. The second month of the three autumn festival is called the Mid Autumn Festival, so the Mid Autumn Festival is also called the Mid Autumn Festival. In the Wei and Jin Dynasties, there were records of "Yu Shang Shu Zhen Niu Lu, mid autumn Eve and Weifu Pan Jiang". It was not until the early Tang Dynasty that the mid autumn festival became a fixed festival. In the book of Tang Dynasty, there is a record of the Mid Autumn Festival on August 15. The popularity of mid autumn festival began in Song Dynasty and became one of the major festivals in China as well as new year's day in Ming and Qing Dynasties. This is also the second largest traditional festival after the Spring Festival in China.
According to the Chinese calendar, August in the middle of autumn is the second month of autumn, which is called "mid autumn", and August 15 is also called "mid autumn". There are many other names for the Mid Autumn Festival: because the festival is on the 15th day of August, it is called "August Festival" and "August half"; because the main activities of the Mid Autumn Festival are all around the "Moon", it is also known as "Moon Festival" and "moon evening"; the moon of the Mid Autumn Festival is full, symbolizing reunion, so it is also called "reunion festival". In the Tang Dynasty, the Mid Autumn Festival was also known as the 'end of the first month'. The earliest record of reunion festival was found in Ming Dynasty. "More than a tour of the West Lake" said: 'August 15 is the Mid Autumn Festival, and people send each other moon cakes, which means reunion'. "A brief introduction to the scenery of the imperial capital" also said: 'on the 15th day of August, when sacrificing to the moon, the cakes will be round, the melons will be toothed wrongly, and the petals will be carved like lotus flowers. &Hellip; & hellip; those who return home are bound to return to their husband's home, which is called reunion day.