The meaning of eating moon cakes and appreciating the moon during the Mid-Autumn Festival. What is the meaning of appreciating the moon during the Mid-Autumn Festival?

Eating mooncakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival means reunion. Moon cakes are offerings to worship the moon god during the Mid-Autumn Festival, and to wish families a happy and safe life. Appreciating the moon during the Mid-Autumn Festival means reunion, family happiness, and expresses longing for loved ones. Moon cakes, also known as Hu cakes, palace cakes, small cakes, moon cakes, reunion cakes, etc., are offerings to worship the moon god during the Mid-Autumn Festival in ancient times. Passed down, the custom of eating moon cakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival has been formed. Mooncakes symbolize reunion and are a must-eat during the Mid-Autumn Festival. On festival nights, people also like to eat watermelons, fruits and other reunion fruits to pray for a happy, sweet and safe life.

Appreciating the moon and eating moon cakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival are actually the legacy of the lunar sacrifice as suggested by "the morning sun rises at the spring equinox and the moon falls at the autumnal equinox". Why sacrifice to the Taiyin is necessary, because from this time onwards, "yang sun decreases and yin sun grows". Nature begins to lose yang and grow yin, and people must follow nature. Correspondingly, in terms of personnel, we should start to restrain ourselves, start hiding, and start recharging our energy to prepare for the coming year.

Concubine Yang Guifei and Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty enjoyed the moon one year and ate a round, thin cake with raisins, walnut kernels, preserved fruits and other things inside. Concubine Yang liked it very much and asked what kind of cake it was. A palace maid replied that it was Hu cake. Concubine Yang thought the name of the cake was unpleasant, so Tang Xuanzong said that the concubine didn't like the name. Look at how much the cake looks like the moon in the sky. She should change the name to moon cake in the future. Concubine Yang was very happy. From then on, the name and making method of moon cakes spread from the palace, and they became a very popular moon cake for the common people.

The custom of eating mooncakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival is also related to Zhu Yuanzhang. It is said that at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, all the heroes came together, and Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to unite other resistance forces to fight against the Yuan Dynasty. However, the officers and soldiers of the Yuan Dynasty searched closely and had no way to deliver the news. Adviser Liu Bowen came up with a plan and ordered Wang Zhaoguang to make pancakes and hide a note with "uprising on August 15th" inside the pancakes. Then people were sent separately to the insurrectionary armies in various places, informing them to respond to the uprising on the night of August 15th. In order to commemorate this achievement, the custom of eating mooncakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival has been passed down. Especially in the northern region, there is a saying that "the Tatars were killed on August 15th"

"West Lake Tour Chronicles" said: "People give moon cakes to each other to symbolize reunion." Dongpo used "small cakes" Like chewing the moon, there is crispness and sweetness in the middle" to praise moon cakes. Moon cakes were originally used as sacrifices to the moon god. Later, people gradually regarded moon viewing and tasting moon cakes as a symbol of family reunion during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Moon cakes gradually became festival gifts.