Zhongqiujie 中秋节 19th September 2013

contents

Abstract

Origin

Legend

Mooncakes

Moon

The joyous Mid-Autumn Festival was celebrated on the fifteenth day of the eighth moon ， around the time of the autumn equinox（秋分） . The Mid-autumn Festival is a little like Thanksgiving. It is celebrated at the end of the harvest season. This year it falls on the 19th September.

Mid-autumn Festival

Mid-autumn festival celebrations date back more than 2000 years. In ancient times, Chinese emperors prayed to heaven for a prosperous year. They chose the morning of the 15th day of the second lunar month to worship the sun and the evening of the 15th day of the eighth lunar month to hold a ceremony in praise of the moon.

Origins

The Legend of Mid-autumn Day

CHANG'E-The Moon Goddess

According to legend, in ancient times, one year, ten suns appeared in the sky, the water in the planet dried, people couldn’t live any longer.

The earth was saved when a strong archer, Hou Yi, succeeded in shooting down 9 of the suns.

Yi stole the elixir of life but to save the people from his tyrannical rule, his wife, Chang-E drank it. Thus started the legend of the lady in the moon to whom young Chinese girls would pray at the Mid-Autumn Festival.

In the 14th century, the eating of mooncakes at "Zhong Qiu Jie" was given a new significance. The story goes that when Zhu Yuanzhang, the first Ming dynasty (1368-1644) emperor, was plotting to overthrow the Yuan dynasty started by the Mongolians, the rebels hid their messages in the Mid-Autumn mooncakes. Zhong Qiu Jie is hence also a commemoration of the overthrow of the Mongolians by the Han people.

ANOTHER LEGEND

On this day, Chinese families get together. They tell the story about a lady who lived in the moon. They give each other small round moon cake. Some moon cakes have a yellow egg yolk in the middle. The yolk looks like a bright, full moon .

mooncakes

It is said "Hou Yi" missed his wife, so he made mooncakes. They looked like the moon. There are many kinds of mooncakes. They are small round cakes with meat, nuts or something sweet inside .

Nowadays, the mooncakes come in all kinds of shapes .

The moon cakes sometimes look like the round bright moon.

Different Kinds of Mooncake

The round shape of moon cakes just symbolizes not only the moon but also the unity of the family.

The most important thing is looking at the moon. On that day, the moon appears brighter and rounder. We call this moon the full moon.

Mid-autumn Festival

Family reunions

Confucius Institute

Leo Liu Dongqing

The endThanks