恒毅图书馆恭祝各位读者中秋节快乐！
Heng Ee Library wishes all our readers a happy Mid-Autumn Festival!
The Mid-Autumn Festival revolves around the moon and there are many traditional stories concerning the moon. It is believed that the Mid-Autumn Festival originated more than 2,000 years ago and in the old days the festival was devoted to praying to the gods. Because China is largely an agricultural society, the 15th day of the eighth lunar month happens to occur after the autumn harvest. That day the sky is generally clear and the weather fine and the people celebrate with post-harvest feasts, signifying the principle that "the divine and the human are one". During the Song Dynasty, due to the influence of learned people, praying to the moon became widespread. The eating of mooncakes started towards the end of the Yuan Dynasty because of a folk story of that time and later the observation of the Mid-Autumn Festival became important.
Read The Story of Chang-e and The Story of Mooncakes in the "Origins of Chinese Festivals".
Asiapac Books, Singapore
[ E/F/C ]
Text adapted from: Origin of Chinese Festivals
Photo courtesy of: www.mary91.com
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