Moon cakes are not only food, but also a symbol of reunion. Family reunion, enjoying the moon and eating moon cakes are the embodiment of a sense of ceremony. Let's see why we eat moon cakes on the Mid Autumn Festival. Welcome to check it!
Why eat moon cakes on the Mid Autumn Festival
It is said that during the Tang Dynasty, Emperor Gaozu Li Yuan (also known as Emperor Taizong Li Shimin) of the Tang Dynasty ordered his general Li Jing to personally lead his troops to the frontier fortress in order to conquer the northern Turks and calm their repeated violations. As a result, he repeatedly built miracles and returned to Beijing on August 15. In order to celebrate the victory, artillery and music were fired inside and outside Chang'an City in Kyoto, and the army and people reveled all night. At that time, a Tubo man who went to Chang'an for trade specially offered round cakes to the emperor to wish victory. Gaozu was overjoyed, took over the richly decorated cake box, took out the colored round cake, pointed to the bright moon hanging in the sky and said, "you should invite the Hu cake to the toad", and then distributed the round cake to all civil and military officials. Since then, the custom of eating moon cakes on the Mid Autumn Festival has been handed down.
Another famous legend is related to Zhu Yuanzhang. The rulers of the Yuan Dynasty levied excessive taxes and collected money, making the people miserable. Zhu Yuanzhang prepared to unite various heroes to revolt against the Yuan Dynasty, but the officers and soldiers searched closely and the information transmission was difficult. Military division Liu Bowen came up with a plan and ordered his subordinates to hide the note of "August 15 night uprising" in the cake, and then sent people to send it separately to the local uprising troops to inform them to respond to the uprising on the evening of August 15. On the day of the uprising, all rebel forces responded together.
A few years later, General Xu Da captured Yuandadu and the uprising was successful. When the news came, Zhu Yuanzhang was so happy that he quickly sent an oral order to let all the officers and soldiers have fun with the people in the upcoming Mid Autumn Festival, and rewarded the officials with the "moon cakes" that secretly transmitted information when the army was launched as festival cakes. The custom of eating moon cakes on the Mid Autumn Festival spread among the people.
Legend belongs to legend. Although the academic circles have some disputes about the origin of moon cakes, most of them believe that it is the documents of the Ming Dynasty that really explicitly mention moon cakes... Moon cakes, as the festival food of the Mid Autumn Festival, have been widely recognized since the Ming Dynasty.
This passage shows the function of moon cakes: offering sacrifices to the moon god, eating moon cakes, and giving moon cakes to each other by relatives and friends. Different functions also have different meanings.
Nowadays, the ritual sense of celebrating the Mid Autumn Festival in the book has almost disappeared. Many people sigh that, like other traditional festivals, the taste of the Mid Autumn Festival has faded. The cultural accumulation and emotional code pinned on traditional festivals will also pass, and traditional festivals will eventually lose their fresh vitality and become a dry "holiday day".
Mid-autumn Festival
"There is a bright moon on the sea, and the horizon is at this time." You might as well go back to the traditional Mid Autumn Festival today and pick up the sense of ceremony you have long lost or forgotten. Reunite with your family, eat a small piece of moon cake, enjoy the moon that shines for thousands of years, and continue the emotional memory that lasts for thousands of years. In the sense of ritual we haven't seen for a long time, we may feel the different taste of moon cakes and understand the meaning of tradition.
Why eat moon cakes on the Mid Autumn Festival 2
Another Mid Autumn Festival.
The Mid Autumn Festival is one of the most important traditional festivals in China. Influenced by Chinese culture, the Mid Autumn Festival is also a traditional festival for some countries in East and Southeast Asia, especially local Chinese and overseas Chinese. It is an ideal harbor for people to gather family affection, friendship and nostalgia.
For Chinese who love to eat, "eating" is a very important part of any festival, especially the Mid Autumn Festival. There can be no other activities for the Mid Autumn Festival, but we can't help eating moon cakes, otherwise many people will feel that this mid autumn festival has never been. Moon cakes have become a necessary element of China's Mid Autumn Festival and the main symbol of the Mid Autumn Festival.
People have eaten moon cakes, but they don't know why they eat them on the Mid Autumn Festival? How did the moon cake come from, and what kind of history and allusions does it have? In addition, more and more young people feel that the atmosphere of the Mid Autumn Festival is getting lighter and lighter. The Mid Autumn Festival is about to become a moon cake festival. How does this misunderstanding come from?
When do mooncakes appear
Just as there are many legends around New Year cakes, dumplings, zongzi and other foods, moon cakes are no exception. When did Chinese people start eating moon cakes?
There are several famous legends surrounding moon cakes:
First, in the Tang Dynasty, Li Yuan, the emperor of the Tang Dynasty (also known as Li Shimin, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty), in order to conquer the northern Turks and calm their repeated violations, ordered his senior general Li Jing to personally lead his troops to the frontier fortress. As a result, he repeatedly made miracles and returned to Beijing on August 15. In order to celebrate the victory, artillery and music were fired inside and outside Chang'an City in Kyoto, and the army and people reveled all night. At that time, a Tubo man who went to Chang'an for trade specially offered round cakes to the emperor to wish victory. Gaozu was overjoyed, took over the richly decorated cake box, took out the colored round cake, pointed to the bright moon hanging in the sky and said, "you should invite the Hu cake to the toad", and then distributed the round cake to all civil and military officials. Since then, the custom of eating moon cakes on the Mid Autumn Festival has been handed down.
Another famous legend is related to Zhu Yuanzhang. The rulers of the Yuan Dynasty levied excessive taxes and collected money, making the people miserable. Zhu Yuanzhang prepared to unite various heroes to revolt against the Yuan Dynasty, but the officers and soldiers searched closely and the information transmission was difficult. Military division Liu Bowen came up with a plan and ordered his subordinates to hide the note of "August 15 night uprising" in the cake, and then sent people to send it separately to the local uprising troops to inform them to respond to the uprising on the evening of August 15. On the day of the uprising, all rebel forces responded together.
A few years later, General Xu Da captured Yuandadu and the uprising was successful. When the news came, Zhu Yuanzhang was so happy that he quickly sent an oral order to let all the officers and soldiers have fun with the people in the upcoming Mid Autumn Festival, and rewarded the officials with the "moon cakes" that secretly transmitted information when the army was launched as festival cakes. The custom of eating moon cakes on the Mid Autumn Festival spread among the people.
Legends are mostly made up by ancestors in order to meet their own or children's curiosity. They repose some of their ancestors' emotions and demands, which are mostly unreliable. Although the academic circles have some disputes about the origin of moon cakes, some scholars have proposed that moon cakes appeared in the Ming Dynasty, because there are accurate records about eating moon cakes on the Mid Autumn Festival in the Ming Dynasty. Before that, although there are poems and articles describing eating moon cakes on the Mid Autumn Festival, it is not clear that this is moon cakes. For example, Su Shi's "small cakes are like chewing the moon, with crispness and Yee" and "small cakes" are not necessarily moon cakes. Therefore, in the chapter "Mid Autumn Festival" of Chinese traditional festival culture, Yang Lin briefly commented on several views on the emergence of mid autumn moon cakes, discriminated several relevant historical documents, and believed that: "it is the documents of the Ming Dynasty that really clearly mention mid autumn moon cakes... Moon cakes, as the festival food of the Mid Autumn Festival, have been generally recognized since the Ming Dynasty."
A large number of records about mid autumn moon cakes appeared in the literature of the Ming Dynasty. For example, under the item "moon cakes fed in August" in the miscellaneous notes of the Wanshu Department · folk customs written by Shen bang, it says: "the furniture of scholars and common people is left over from moon cakes, which vary in size. They are called moon cakes. The market places take fruit as stuffing, which has a strange name. One cake is worth hundreds of money." The moon cakes here are very similar to modern moon cakes.
After generations of development, today's moon cakes are colorful. According to the origin, there are: Beijing style, Guangzhou style, Soviet style, desktop style, Yunnan style, Hong Kong style, Chao style, etc; In terms of taste, it has sweet, salty, salty and sweet taste and spicy taste; In terms of stuffing, there are five kernels, bean paste, rock sugar, sesame, ham moon cake, etc; There are three kinds of pastry and pastry, which are suitable for eating pastry and pastry.
Moon cakes are not just for eating 3
Liu Dong and Yu Yizheng's "a brief view of the imperial capital" describing the customs of Beijing in the Ming Dynasty describes the customs of the Mid Autumn Festival at that time:
On the fifteenth day of the eighth month, the fruit cake will be round; When you divide melons, your teeth will be wrong, and your petals will be engraved like lotus flowers. The moonlight paper in the paper shop is like a full moon. Those who fall on the lotus flower will shine the moonlight all over the Bodhisattva. There is a rabbit pestle and a man standing in the laurel hall under the moon, pounding medicine in a mortar. The paper is three inches small, and the paper is ten feet large, and the worker is golden and colorful. The home is set with a moonlight position. When the moon goes out and worships the moon, the moonlight paper will be burned and the offering will be withdrawn. Those who leave the home will be everywhere. Moon cakes and moon fruits are reported by relatives. The cake has a diameter of two feet. When a woman goes back to her husband's house, she must return to her husband's house on the day of reunion.
Here is the function of moon cakes: offering sacrifices to the moon god, eating moon cakes, and giving moon cakes to each other by relatives and friends. Different functions also have different meanings.
Moon cakes are first related to sacrifice. It can be said that most Chinese traditional festivals are related to sacrifice. In ancient times, the level of productivity was low, and the ancestors' understanding of nature was still in a state of ignorance. They worshipped nature and worshipped some of the natural forces that had the most influence on mankind. Celestial bodies were the first objects worshipped by mankind, especially the sun and moon. The ancestors made a speculative explanation and anthropomorphic description of them. As a celestial body, the moon was personified and became the moon god. For practical utilitarian purposes (such as praying for happiness and a good harvest), the worship custom of the original personified God is also stereotyped and sacred.
Therefore, after sacrificing the moon, our ancestors would sit around and enjoy the moon and eat moon cakes. Yuan Jinglan, a poet of the Qing Dynasty, wrote in his "moon cake chanting": "the bright moon, the Jade Pool and the bowl are full of blue light. Jade food are all imported, and this cake is unique. It is stained with towel and silver silk, and raises its head in love and sorrow. The children sit together, and the cups and plates are scattered in disorder."
The Ming Dynasty attached great importance to the human exchanges between relatives and friends. Moon cakes, together with seasonal melons and fruits, also became gifts for relatives and friends during the Mid Autumn Festival. Sending moon cakes represented a blessing of perfection. In the Qing Dynasty, there was a bamboo word that said, "red and white wool is turned to make essence, and gifts are given all over the capital during the Mid Autumn Festival." The Mid Autumn Festival poem by Shi Jingchen, a modern poet, also chanted: "the round cake is like the moon, which is more auspicious. There is more than enough food. I feel the love of outsiders, and I eat Pisces every year."
Change and invariance of moon cakes 4
But nowadays, the ritual sense of Mid Autumn Festival in ancient poetry has almost disappeared.
Many people sigh that, like other traditional festivals, the taste of the Mid Autumn Festival has faded. With the improvement of living standards, there are a wide range of moon cakes in large supermarkets. For children, it has not been an attractive food for a long time. Adults who pay attention to health care have to be careful about how much fat and calories there are in moon cakes. In the city of cement forest, you can see haze or neon lights at night, but you may not see the moon. Moreover, in the fast-paced life, people have not looked up at the stars for too long. Many people still live the mid autumn festival because it is a legal holiday.
The atmosphere of the festival has faded, but it is not just the atmosphere that has disappeared. Traditional festivals are not only a special time node, but also carry the common cultural memory and emotional identity of a nation. Like moon cakes, they are not only food, but also a symbol of reunion. They embody the Chinese people's attachment to their hometown, longing for the happiness of their family, and sigh about the change of time sequence; The integrity of the moon cake, the perfection of the moon and the reunion of people also deeply reflect the harmony between people and themselves, people and others, people and families, people and society, people and nature. However, when the ritual sense of traditional festivals disappears, the cultural accumulation and emotional code pinned on traditional festivals will also pass, and traditional festivals will eventually lose their fresh vitality and become a dry "holiday day".
Be an anachronism, some people will say that nowadays, the Internet plus era has penetrated into our lives. It will inevitably change the form of festivals, and still pursues the traditional ritual sense of traditional festivals. They believe that with the advent of the Internet era, a new festival culture based on the Internet will gradually take shape. So is the Mid Autumn Festival. There is no need to go outdoors to enjoy the moon. Take a picture outside the window and send it to the circle of friends. Once you brush the circle of friends, there will be countless moons; It's not necessary to get together to eat moon cakes. Just say it on wechat
Indeed, with the continuous changes and progress of the times, the forms of festivals are constantly updated and enriched, because tradition is not stagnant water or still life. However, no matter how the form changes, the only thing that cannot change is the spiritual core of traditional festivals, which is the tenacity of culture. But the problem now is to build on the basis of modernization and the Internet Can a new form of festival bear the sense of massiness and history of traditional festivals?
If a custom wants to precipitate into a culture, it needs not only extensive participation, but also time deposition, so that it can finally solidify into a culture and collective memory. However, in the Internet era with highly developed materials, people seek innovation and speed in everything. Can some so-called new holiday forms finally precipitate into a culture that can stand the test of time? If not, a few years later, children who grow up in the infiltration of the Internet will have scattered and broken collective memories of festivals.
The awe of nature, the desire for perfection and the yearning for heaven and ethics placed in the moon cakes, and the spiritual pursuit of the unity of family, country, heaven and man and the pursuit of virtue and goodness contained in the Mid Autumn Festival still have strong vitality and appeal at present. No matter how the form of the festival changes, its core must be "invariable in all changes". However, in a mid autumn festival without moon cakes, reunion, visiting friends or appreciating the moon, where should the cultural feelings related to reunion, harmony and feeling for relatives and hometown be placed?
"There is a bright moon on the sea, and the horizon is at this time." You might as well go back to the traditional Mid Autumn Festival today and pick up the sense of ceremony you have long lost or forgotten. Reunite with your family, eat a small piece of moon cake, enjoy the moon that shines for thousands of years, and continue the emotional memory that lasts for thousands of years. In the sense of ritual we haven't seen for a long time, we may feel the different taste of moon cakes and understand the meaning of tradition.