About the Mid-Autumn Festival
The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the traditional Chinese festivals, usually celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar. This festival has a long history, starting from the Han Dynasty and has a history of more than 2000 years. The Mid-Autumn Festival was an important festival for family reunions, moon appreciation, mooncakes and other traditional activities. The origin of the Mid-Autumn Festival can be traced back to the Han Dynasty, when the imperial court banned merchants from trading on the 15th of August because that day was when the moon was the brightest and the weather was the hottest, which was not conducive to trade. Later, people began to gather on the fifteenth day of August to enjoy the moon and eat mooncakes to celebrate the reunion and pray for health, peace and happiness. There was another legend about the Mid-Autumn Festival, which was that Chang'e flew to the moon. According to the legend, a long time ago, there was a Chang'e who lived on the moon and married Hou Yi. Houyi was an archery expert. His arrow hit the "Moon Elder" on the moon, allowing Chang'e to obtain the immortal medicine of immortality. However, Chang'e wanted to return to Earth, but she didn't want to fly back to Earth with the elixir. So, she swallowed the elixir and flew to the moon. There were many activities to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival, and the most famous one was eating mooncakes. Mooncake was a traditional Chinese pastry shaped like a round cake with a golden outer skin and a rich variety of fillings, such as lotus paste, bean paste, salted egg yolk, etc. Eating mooncakes was one of the traditional activities of the Mid-Autumn Festival. Not only could one taste delicious food, but it could also symbolize reunion and pray for health and peace. In addition to eating mooncakes, there was another traditional activity during the Mid-Autumn Festival, which was to admire the moon. When the moon was at its brightest, people would go to parks, lakes, and other places to admire the beautiful moonlight and feel the reunion and peaceful atmosphere. The Mid-Autumn Festival is a beautiful and peaceful festival with a long history and rich cultural content. It is also an important moment for family reunion and to express love and feelings.