Happy Mid-Autumn Festival 🌕

🌕 Origins and History of the Mid-Autumn Festival

📜 Origins: Ancient Chinese Moon Worship

The origins of the Mid-Autumn Festival date back around 3,000 years to the Zhou（周）Dynasty.
In ancient China, people practiced moon worship as part of rituals honoring nature and celestial bodies.

During the Zhou period, it was customary to admire the full moon in autumn and offer prayers of gratitude and wishes.

In agrarian society, autumn symbolized the harvest season, and the full moon represented abundance and prosperity.

📚 Historical Development

The festival as we know it today took shape during the Tang（唐）Dynasty (618–907 AD).
This was a flourishing cultural era when moon-viewing (shangyue) became a refined pastime among nobles and poets.

The term “Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋節)” first appeared in Song（宋）Dynasty (960–1279 AD) records and gradually spread to the general public.

📅 Date and Symbolism

The Mid-Autumn Festival falls on the 15th day of the 8th month in the lunar calendar, which is considered the night when the moon is at its roundest and brightest.

It symbolizes reunion, completeness, and family togetherness.

🌙 Famous Legend of the Mid-Autumn Festival

Chang’e’s Ascent to the Moon

This is the most well-known legend associated with the Mid-Autumn Festival.

In ancient times, ten suns appeared in the sky and scorched the earth.

The hero Hou Yi （后羿）shot down nine of them, saving humanity.
As a reward, he received an elixir of immortality.

According to legend, Hou Yi’s wife, Chang’e（嫦娥）, drank the elixir to protect it from a villain who tried to steal it. As a result, she ascended alone to the moon.
Hou Yi, heartbroken, would look up at the moon and offer prayers every year on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month, remembering his beloved wife.

📌 In honor of this legend, it is still customary to gaze at the moon and think of Chang’e during the Mid-Autumn Festival.
📌 Inspired by the same story, China’s lunar exploration program and its spacecraft are named “Chang’e”.

🥮 The Origin and Meaning of Mooncakes

📜 The Origin of Mooncakes

Mooncakes（月餅）became associated with the Mid-Autumn Festival during the late Yuan（元）Dynasty (13th–14th century).

🐉 Historical Anecdote: Mooncakes with Hidden Messages

At that time, China was ruled by the Mongol-led Yuan（元）Dynasty.
Han（漢）Chinese rebels (including Zhu Yuanzhang（朱元璋）, who later founded the Ming Dynasty) used mooncakes to conceal secret messages.

These messages were passed around in mooncakes to organize a successful uprising, which led to the fall of the Yuan and the rise of the Ming（明）Dynasty.

Since then, eating mooncakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival has become a tradition.

🍵 Cultural Symbolism of Mooncakes

Mooncakes carry various symbolic meanings:

• The full moon = family reunion and togetherness
• The round shape = harmony and happiness within the family
• Gift-giving = expressing gratitude to relatives, friends, and business partners

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🧧 How the Mid-Autumn Festival is Celebrated Today (in Mainland China)