How does a small moon cake become a ＂reunion cake＂？ The Origin and Customs of Mid-Autumn Festival

　　In three days, it will be the traditional Mid-Autumn Festival in China. Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as Reunion Festival, August Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival and Autumn Festival. Because it is just half the value of Sanqiu, it is named Mid-Autumn Festival. Therefore, the moon is bright and round at night, so people take family reunion to enjoy the moon as the main activity, hoping for a happy reunion. Although it is a relatively late custom to extend family reunion from the Mid-Autumn Festival with the full moon, it is an ancient tradition in Chinese to pray for family reunion. Then let’s take a look at the origin and customs of the ancient Mid-Autumn Festival.

　　□ Sun Xiaoming Sun Chenlong

　　The origin of Mid-Autumn Festival

　　And that custom of eate moon cakes.

　　The origin of Mid-Autumn Festival can be traced back to the autumn worship and Yue Bai custom in the pre-Qin period. "The Book of Rites and the Moon Order" said that the Mid-Autumn Festival, "raise old age, give a few sticks, and eat porridge." There is no explicit reference to a certain day here, when it includes looking at the sun (15th). Mei Cheng’s "Seven Hair" explicitly mentioned the matter of making friends and watching Tao on August 15, and there was a sentence that "I will make friends with the governors from afar and go to watch Tao in Qujiang, a straight place". Autumn is the harvest season, and every family worships the land god. Over time, a series of customs have been formed around autumn worship. At that time, people also believed in the moon god, accompanied by a series of activities to worship the moon. Autumn Festival and Yue Bai custom laid the foundation for the Mid-Autumn Festival.

　　In the Jin Dynasty, there was a Mid-Autumn Festival to enjoy the moon, and in the Tang Dynasty, it was quite popular to enjoy and play with the moon. Moon cakes appeared in the Tang Dynasty. According to the literature, once Tang Xizong ate delicious moon cakes in the Mid-Autumn Festival, he ordered them to be given to the new Jinshi. However, there was no such thing as "moon cake" in the Tang Dynasty, and it was not until the Song Dynasty that the name of moon cake came into being. In addition, people in the Tang Dynasty also like to eat a kind of food called "Playing Moon Soup" during the Mid-Autumn Festival, which is a special dessert made of longan, lotus seeds and lotus root starch.

　　Watching the moon on the Mid-Autumn Festival night is the favorite of the Tang people, as evidenced by poems. "Mid-Autumn Festival" by Si Kongtu: "Everything feels leisurely outside autumn scenery. If there is no moon in this night, a year will be empty. " Cao Song’s Mid-Autumn Festival to the Moon: "Cloudless world in the autumn of March 35, watching the toad plate in Shanghai." Until the end of the day, I never took a private photo of a family. " It is a pity not to see the moon in the Mid-Autumn Festival. "A Tale of Sui and Tang Dynasties" said: "Li Su is hiding in shouyangshan, and he looks at the moon with his friends in mid-autumn and evening. He said,’ If there is no bright moon, don’t worry about killing people! "Enjoy the full moon in the Mid-Autumn Festival, think of relatives and friends, and have an elegant night. "The Legacy of Kaitianbao" records: "Su Xiang and Li Heng wrote letters to each other, and Xuanzong cared deeply for them. On the night of August 15, I stayed in the forbidden city for all the scholars to play with the moon and prepare a banquet of words. When the sky is cloudless and the moonlight is like day, Su Yue said,’ It’s clear and lovely, why use lamps and candles!’ So I removed it. "When enjoying the moon, the moonlight and the shadow of the moon are the most lovely, and there is no need for lights and candles to compete for glory.

　　In the Song Dynasty, the court officially designated August 15th of the lunar calendar as the Mid-Autumn Festival. Su Dongpo enjoyed drinking in the Mid-Autumn Festival, and when he was drunk, he expressed his feelings for his younger brother, and wrote "Water Tune Songs", which is a masterpiece throughout the ages. "When will there be a bright moon, ask the sky for wine?" "People have joys and sorrows, and the moon is full of rain and shine. This matter is difficult to complete in ancient times. I hope that people will last for a long time, and they will be together for thousands of miles. " These sentences have become eternal songs. As a formal seasonal food, moon cakes also began in the Song Dynasty. In the Song Dynasty, mooncakes were already a snack variety operated by shops. Su Dongpo wrote a poem that "small cakes are like chewing the moon, with crispness and flavor in them", and the "crispness" and "flavor" in the poem revealed the main taste characteristics of moon cakes. Meng Liang Lu is a note written by Wu Zimu in the Song Dynasty, and it is a book dedicated to introducing the city features of Lin ‘an, the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty. According to this book, there were many kinds of snacks sold in Lin ‘an market at that time, such as hibiscus cake, chrysanthemum cake, plum cake, moon cake and so on.

　　At the latest in the Ming Dynasty, mooncakes began to have the meaning of "reunion". In Ming Tian Rucheng’s "Journey to the West Lake", there is a record that "August 15th is called Mid-Autumn Festival", and people take mooncakes as their heritage and take the meaning of reunion. In the Ming Dynasty, the significance of mooncakes as symbolic food for the Mid-Autumn Festival was even more prominent. It was recorded in Liu Ruoyu’s "Deliberation in Records" in the Ming Dynasty: "On the fifteenth day, every family offered mooncakes and fruits, and after burning incense on the moon, they drank heavily, and most of them ended up at night. If there are any moon cakes left, they should still be collected in a dry and cool place, and they will be used by the family at the end of the year, which is also called’ reunion cake’. "

　　There is also a folk legend about the "moon cake uprising" in the late Yuan Dynasty. According to legend, in order to consolidate its dominant position, the rulers of the Yuan Dynasty arranged a slave owner’s minion in every ten households, and only ten households were allowed to use a kitchen knife. The tyranny of the rulers of the Yuan Dynasty made the people unbearable, so the people secretly connected in series, wrote the uprising call of "August 15th, everyone should start work together" on a piece of paper, and hid it in a moon cake as a contact signal to hold an uprising, which overthrew the rule of the Yuan Dynasty in one fell swoop. Since then, moon cakes have become a must-eat food for the Mid-Autumn Festival.

　　Tao Zongyi, a litterateur in the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, wrote "The Night of Mid-Autumn" in yuanshi county Yeting Ji. When the moon is bright and colorful, Emperor Nai holds a banquet in Zhang Le to recommend the preserved wings, the catfish in the autumn wind, the wine in Xuanshuang and the cake in Kazuki Watanabe musician. Among them, the cake in Kazuki Watanabe musician is similar to the moon cake. In the Ming Dynasty, "A Brief Introduction to the Scenery of the Imperial Capital" said: "On August 15th, when the moon is sacrificed, the fruit cake will be round; If you divide a melon, you must carve it with the wrong petals, such as lotus flowers. The moon cake bears fruit, and the relatives feed back, and the cake has a diameter of two feet. When a woman returns to Ning, she will return to her husband’s house one day, which is also called’ Reunion Festival’. " Moon cakes are also called "reunion cakes", and "Deliberate Records" says: "On the 15th of August, every family provides moon cakes, melons and fruits, and after burning incense on the moon, they drink a lot, and most of them end up at night. If there are any moon cakes left, they should still be collected in a dry and cool place, and they will be used by the family at the end of the year, which is also called’ reunion cake’. "

　　In the Qing Dynasty, the people inherited the customs of ancient Yue Bai, enjoying the moon and eating moon cakes and fruits for the whole family. "Yanjing Years Old" also said: "Mid-Autumn moon cakes … the largest ones are more than a foot long, with the shape of a toad and a rabbit painted on the moon palace. Those who eat after the sacrifice and those who eat until New Year’s Eve are called’ reunion cakes’. " In the Qing Dynasty, there was a custom that "men don’t go to Yue Bai, and women don’t sacrifice stoves", so most activities in Yue Bai were attended by women and children. Before worshipping the moon, people first offer moon cakes, melons and other foods to the moon. After worshipping the moon, they cut the cakes for worshipping the moon into several pieces according to the number of people. The moon cake mold of the Qing Dynasty collected by the National Museum of China is engraved with the Guanghan Palace, half of which is exposed under the crescent moon. Next to the platform and under the laurel tree, there is a jade rabbit with a pestle. Outside the center of the circle, surrounded by fairy mountains, with osmanthus branches between them. Moon cake molds and cake molds are all common things in Qing Dynasty, and dim sum shops and steamer shops are both necessary, so they have their own line of "mold making". The exquisite mold is not only beautiful in pattern, but also extremely painstaking in depth and size.

　　Through the continuous exploration of ancient pastry masters, many kinds of moon cakes with different flavors have been formed in various parts of China, among which Beijing-style, Soviet-style, Guangdong-style and Chaozhou-style moon cakes are the most famous. Beijing-style moon cakes often use plain oil, among which the red and white moon cake skins are the most distinctive; Su-style moon cakes are characterized by heavy oil and polysaccharide, and rose moon cakes and bean paste moon cakes are among the "outstanding"; Cantonese-style moon cakes are heavy on sugar and light on oil. Most of them are filled with bean paste, coconut paste and five kernels. They are fragrant and soft. Chaozhou moon cakes are heavy in oil and sugar, and soft in texture. In modern times, there are many kinds of moon cakes, and the fillings are colorful, especially the moon cakes with meat stuffing in the south.

　　Derived from mid-autumn festival

　　Recreational eating activities

　　In the Song Dynasty, Meng Yuan-shen’s "Dream of Tokyo" recorded: "Before the Mid-Autumn Festival, all the shops sold new wine, re-knotted the facade with colorful buildings, painted flowers and painted poles, and people in the city competed for drinks. By noon, every family had no wine, so they dragged down their children. It’s time for the crab to come out, and pomegranate, cuttlefish, pear, jujube, chestnut, grape and orange are all on the market. On the Mid-Autumn Night, your family decorated the terrace, and the people competed for the restaurant to play with the moon, making a lot of noise. Residents near the inner court heard the sound of sheng Yu in the middle of the night, just like outside the cloud. Children in the valley play all night, and the night market is busy. As for familiarity. "

　　On the eve of Mid-Autumn Festival, restaurants in the Northern Song Dynasty began to sell new wine. Everyone redecorated the colorful building in front of the store, repainted the pole carrying the wine flag and hung a new banner with the words "Drunken Fairy". Residents rushed to drink new wine, and by noon, all the hotels sold out and pulled down the wine flags. At this time, crabs have just come into the market, and pomegranates, avocados, pears, dates, chestnuts, grapes, oranges and oranges have also come into the market. On the night of Mid-Autumn Festival, the pavilions and pavilions of wealthy families are decorated with lanterns, while ordinary families come to restaurants one after another, all in order to have a good place to enjoy the moon. This night, music is melodious everywhere in Beijing. If you live near the palace, you can still vaguely hear the sound of sheng Yu coming from far away in the palace, as if it were coming from outside the cloud. The children in the streets and lanes played all night, and the night market was full of people, and it was lively until dawn.

　　Mid-Autumn Festival diet, in addition to moon cakes, there are moon cakes, osmanthus wine and so on. Playing with moon soup can be found in the Qing Yi Lu of Tao Gu in the Five Dynasties and the early Song Dynasty, and it can also be found in the Book of Eating Husband of Song Zhengwangzhi: "Go on a diet in the middle of the year and play with moon soup in the Mid-Autumn Festival." It’s hard to know what it’s like to play with moon soup. Maybe it’s egg soup or something, maybe it’s moon-like, or at least it’s egg cake with sauce. However, according to the research of culinary experts, playing with moon soup is cooked with longan, lotus seeds and lotus root starch as raw materials. It is said that playing with moon soup was still popular in Lingnan area a hundred years ago. A famous dish in Jiangsu cuisine, "Xi Shi plays with the moon", may have the flavor of playing with the moon soup in ancient times. It is to put ham slices, bamboo shoots, mushrooms and green leafy vegetables into a soup pot where fish balls are cooked, boil them out, and put them on the fish balls. The soup is clear and the balls are white and flawless.

　　For osmanthus wine, see "Ji Sheng at the age of Emperor Jing": "In addition to Mid-Autumn osmanthus cakes, there are steamed chives with a little wheat, south-baked ducks, roasted piglets, and roasted meat, accompanied by bad dough and osmanthus frozen wine."

　　Mid-Autumn Festival food activities, mostly carried out in the family unit, to enhance the affection between the young and the old; We should also give gifts to each other between relatives and neighbors to connect with each other’s feelings. "Beiping Custom Class Sign" quotes the cloud of "Moon Order Generality": "Yan Dou is a scholar, and the Mid-Autumn Festival is a genus of moon cakes and watermelons, named’ Moon Watching’." In the Jurong area of Jiangsu Province in the Qing Dynasty, a cake feast was held in the Mid-Autumn Festival in August to meet relatives and friends. "Kyoto Customs Records" refers to the family feast of enjoying the moon in Beijing in the Qing Dynasty. After Yue Bai’s ceremony in the mid-autumn night, "there is a salty gathering of fruits and vegetables at home, and it is called’ reunion wine’ when people gather in the court to drink".