Why is the moon rounder during the Mid-Autumn Festival? What are the traditional customs of the Mid-Autumn Festival?

Why is the moon rounder during the Mid-Autumn Festival? What are the traditional customs of the Mid-Autumn Festival?
Introduction: Mid-Autumn Festival is a festival of reunion, and moon-viewing is one of its customs. So why is the moon rounder during Mid-Autumn Festival? What are the traditional customs of Mid-Autumn Festival? Autumn has truly arrived in the eighth month of the lunar calendar. Let’s go to Shuimoxiansheng.com to learn more about the eighth month of the lunar calendar in 2019.

Why is the moon rounder during Mid-Autumn Festival?

The Mid-Autumn Festival is on the 15th day of the eighth month in the lunar calendar. At the 15th hour of every lunar month, the earth moves between the moon and the sun. On this day, when the sun sets in the west, the moon rises in the east, and a round moon is seen on the earth. This phase of the moon is called "wang". The moon at this time is called "wangyue", also called full moon, so it looks round.
On the first day of each lunar month, when the moon moves between the sun and the earth, the moon faces the earth with its dark side and rises and sets with the sun, so people cannot see it.
Around the eighth day of the lunar calendar, the moon has moved 90° east of the sun as seen from the earth. At this time we can see the bright half of the moon in the west, and this phase of the moon is called "waxing moon".
The waxing moon can only be seen in the first half of the night and sets in the west at midnight. After the first quarter, the moon becomes fuller day by day, and we can see most of the bright hemisphere of the moon. The moon phase at this time is called a "gibbous moon".
On the 15th or 16th day of the lunar calendar, the moon moves to the opposite side of the sun on the celestial sphere. The sun and the moon are 180° apart, that is, the earth is located between the sun and the moon. From the earth, the entire brightness of the moon faces the earth. This phase of the moon is called "full moon" or "full moon".
The full moon rises in the east at dusk and sets in the west at dawn.

What are the traditional customs of Mid-Autumn Festival?

Mid-Autumn Festival customs: eating mooncakes
As the saying goes: "The moon is full on the 15th day of the eighth month, and the Mid-Autumn mooncakes are fragrant and sweet." Mooncakes were originally used as offerings to the moon god. The word "mooncake" was first seen in "Dreams of the Southern Song Dynasty" by Wu Zimu in the Southern Song Dynasty. At that time, it was just a cake-shaped food like the diamond-shaped cake. Later, people gradually combined the Mid-Autumn Festival moon-watching with mooncake tasting, which symbolizes family reunion.
Mid-Autumn Festival Customs: Moon Viewing
my country has a long tradition of appreciating the moon. The "Book of Rites" records "Autumn Evening Moon", which means worshiping the moon god. In the Zhou Dynasty, the Mid-Autumn Festival was celebrated every year with the welcoming of the cold and the worship of the moon. A large incense table is set up, and moon cakes, watermelons, apples, plums, grapes and other seasonal fruits are placed on it. Moon cakes and watermelons are absolutely indispensable.
Mid-Autumn Festival Customs: Watching the Tide
In Zhejiang, besides moon-watching, tide-watching is another great Mid-Autumn Festival event. The custom of watching the tide during the Mid-Autumn Festival has a long history. As early as the Han Dynasty, there was a very detailed description of it in Mei Cheng's "Seven Hairs". After the Han Dynasty, the custom of watching the tide during the Mid-Autumn Festival became more popular. There are also records of watching the tide in Zhu Tinghuan's "Supplement to Wulin Old Stories" in the Ming Dynasty and Wu Zimu's "Dreams of the Southern Song Dynasty" in the Song Dynasty.
Mid-Autumn Festival Customs: Moon Worship
Under the moon, the statue of the moon god is placed in the direction of the moon, red candles are lit, and the whole family worships the moon in turn. Then the reunion moon cakes are cut by the housewife. The person who cuts the cake should calculate in advance the total number of people in the family, including those at home and those away. The cake should not be cut too much or too little, and all should be of the same size.
Mid-Autumn Festival customs: lighting lanterns
On the night of Mid-Autumn Festival, candles are lit in lanterns tied with ropes to bamboo poles and hung high on the eaves or terraces. Small lanterns are also used to form words or various shapes and hung high up in the house, commonly known as "tree Mid-Autumn Festival" or "vertical Mid-Autumn Festival".

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