The 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar is the Mid-Autumn Festival, and the Zhuang people also attach great importance to this festival. In the Zhuang region, the activities of the Mid-Autumn Festival in addition to similar to the Han Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival, there are a series of activities rich in national characteristics, such as sacrificing the moon, so it is also known as the "Moon Festival".
The Mid-Autumn Moon Sacrifice Ceremony is an ancient ritual that expresses people's wish to pray to the moon god for blessings on earth.
Moon Sacrifice - Origin
Chinese moon sacrifice ceremony since the Zhou Dynasty, the moon sacrifice time is in the mid-autumn when the moonrise began to sacrifice, mid-autumn moon sacrifice, the key is to show respect to the moon god, mid-autumn moonless or even rain, can be sacrificed to the moon, wherever the moonlight can be irradiated, it can be held, such as cloudy, you can to the moon's direction to the sacrificial table.
The traditional Chinese moon festival is usually a family-oriented event, in which the participants choose an officiating priest (who is in charge of the work), a zanli (equivalent to a host), and a number of deacons (assistants to the officiating priest), and the older female elders or housewives generally serve as the officiating priests. According to tradition, "men do not worship the moon, and women do not worship the stove". Therefore, men generally serve as praetors and deacons to assist in the moon festival.
Moon Festival-Props
1 An altar table or table for the festival. A small table is sufficient.
2 Straw mats. For worship. Ordinary straw mats. On top of the soft cushion can be added.
3 incense burner, a number of incense. Ordinary small incense burner.
4 Plates, dishes, bowls and other offerings a number of containers.
5 red candle two. Lighting, atmosphere and incense with.
6 ordinary bottle of wine. Three wine jars. Wine glasses are also available.
Additionally: mooncakes, hunting for festive game, glutinous rice round cakes, drinking wine, fruits and melons, beans and chickpeas
Moon Sacrifice-Procedure
Moon Sacrifice
"Sitting" means that the knees are together, the hips are sitting on the heels, the backs of the feet are pressed to the ground, the hands are placed on the knees, and the eyes are looking straight ahead; "Xing" means lifting the hips, straightening the upper body, supporting the body with the knees, then slowly worshipping the hands (hands to the ground, head to hands), and then slowly getting up; "Ping" means standing up with both feet at the same time from the "sitting" position.
The incense burner is placed in front of the altar table, and on both sides of the burner, large red candles flicker with red candlelight, and watermelons, mooncakes, mandarin oranges, and grapes cut in the shape of a lotus flower are placed on the altar table. One and a half meters away from the sacrificial table, there was a red carpet, "all people turn off their cell phones to show their devotion", after the hymn announced that "the deacon of the hymn is in place", two male han-you dressed in hanboks walked slowly to the two sides of the sacrificial table, and then, led by the chief priest, the han-you came to the sacrificial table in an orderly manner. Then, under the leadership of the chief priest, the han-young people came to the front of the sacrificial table in a neat manner, and kneeled on the ground with the command of "sit".
The moon festival officially began, the main priest sat on the red carpet, from the hands of the deacon received three incense sticks, make a wish, inserted in the incense burner, repeated three times in a row, the deacon filled with wine to the main priest, the main priest will be spilled on the ground in front of the mat, and then put the wine on the sacrificial table. Then, with the help of candlelight, the officiating priest read out the benediction in the direction of the moon, which reads, "In the mid-autumn of the year Cixu, the children of the Yellow Emperor ...... hereby present this text to the gods.
Then, the chief priest puts the blessing and the moonlight paper into a small basin in front of the table and burns it.
Month sacrifice - the way
Fire dragon chasing the moon show
Strong people's "sacrifices to the moon to invite the God" every year in the middle of the eighth month of the summer calendar, some on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, the people in the village at the end of the village in the open air, set up a table for offerings and incense burner, the right side of the table erected a foot-high branches or bamboo branches, symbolizing the community tree, but also do It also serves as a ladder for the moon god to descend to the earth and heaven, preserving the ancient elements of the moon myth. The whole event is divided into four stages: inviting the moon god to descend to the earth, with one or two women as the spokespersons for the moon god; the god and the man singing to each other; the moon god divining and telling fortunes; and the singers singing the song of sending the god's mantra to send the moon god back to the sky.
Mongolian "chase the moon" Mid-Autumn Festival night, the Mongolian people love to do "chase the moon" game. People straddle the steed, in the silver-white moonlight, running on the grassland. They are facing west, the moon rises from the east and falls to the west. Persistent Mongolian riders, less than the moon in the west, "chasing the moon" more than.
Tibetan "moon" Tibetan compatriots in some areas of Tibet to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival custom is to "find the moon". It is the night, young men and women and dolls along the river, followed by the reflection of the bright moon in the water, the surrounding river ponds in the shadow of the moon to find all over, and then go home to eat moon cakes reunion.
Herzhe "moon festival" in the northeast of China's Herzhe settlement, every Mid-Autumn Festival, people want to pick grapes, moon festival. Legend has it that this is in honor of a smart, hardworking Herzhe daughter-in-law. She couldn't stand her mother-in-law's abuse and ran to the river to ask the moon for help, and finally ran to the moon.
The De'ang "string of the moon" Yunnan Luxi De'ang young men and women, whenever the Mid-Autumn Moon hangs high, exceptionally bright time, the end of the village, from time to time, came a melodious melodious gourd sheng, men and women in the young people together "string of the moon," confiding in their feelings. Some also through the "string moon" send betel nut, send tea engagement.
Moon Festival-meaning
Mid-Autumn Moon Festival, moon festival is an important part of Mid-Autumn activities, when the moon rises in the east, people will set up cases in the courtyard, worship the moon, offerings to the moon cake, plus fruits and such, especially pomelo is indispensable, offerings more round, is to take the meaning of reunion. After the sacrifice, family members sit together, drink osmanthus wine, eat mooncakes, enjoy the moon, and tell stories about the moon, such as the Cowherd and the Weaving Maiden and Wu Gang's felling of trees.
Some places, young men and women, after worshiping the moon, will ride the bright moonlight, groups of people to the night of the beautiful wild song, often all night long, all night long, after the song with the dew in pairs whispering, and some from then on to form a hundred years of love.
A fine people "jumping moon" A fine people over the Mid-Autumn Festival is the traditional habit of "jumping moon". On the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, from all the villages gathered to the open space in the mountain village, the girl with the veil jumped up, and the young man with the big three strings jumped up. However, especially attractive or the kind of young men and women to express their love for the song, as if the moon also heard for the feelings of emotion.
The alpine "moon" alpine compatriots in the mid-autumn moon, clear light sprinkled over the earth, dressed in national costume, sitting around together to drink wine and enjoy the moon, *** enjoy the happiness of heaven and family.
2, Hangzhou Su Causeway
Hangzhou Su Causeway is the Northern Song Dynasty Yuanyou five years (1090), the poet Su Shi (Dongpo) as Hangzhou governor, dredging the West Lake, the use of dredged mud construction and through the evolution of the formation of later generations, Hangzhou, Hangzhou, the people of the West Lake to commemorate the merits of the governance of the Su Dongpo, named it "Su Causeway". The people of Hangzhou named it "Su Causeway" in honor of Su Dongpo's achievements in governing West Lake. Since the Southern Song Dynasty, the Spring Dawn of Su Causeway has been the first of the Ten Scenes of West Lake. The long embankment connects the south and north mountains, adding a charming scenery to the West Lake. In the Southern Song Dynasty, the spring dawn of the Su Causeway was listed as the first of the ten scenic views of the West Lake, and in the Yuan Dynasty, it was called "six bridges and smoky willows" and was included in the ten scenic views of Qiantang, which shows that she has been loved by the people since ancient times.
Su Causeway from the south to the foot of Nanping Mountain, north to the Qixia Ridge, nearly three kilometers long, causeway width of an average of 36 meters. Along the embankment planted willows, peaches and other ornamental trees, as well as a large number of flowers and plants, but also built six single-hole stone arch bridge, the name of the bridge from the south to the north of the Yingbo, lock Lan, Wangshan, Pressing the embankment, the East (Shuang) Pu, across the rainbow.
Whenever the spring breeze blows, the willow on the Su Causeway spitting green, colorful peach burning, the long embankment extension, six bridges undulating. In the morning when the sun first appears, the lake is like a mirror, the bridge shadow shines on the water, the birds chirp, the willow scrolls and flutters, and the peach blossoms welcome with a smile. In the embankment, the lake and mountain scenery such as painting unfolding, multi-faceted grace, ten thousand kinds of flavor, let a person enjoy.
After the winter, the Su Causeway is like a messenger of spring, willows and peaches, but also the lake waves like a mirror, reflecting the shadow, infinite tenderness. The most heartwarming, no better than the morning sun, the moon sinks to the west when the wind blew slowly, willow scrolls fluttering, in the embankment, the soul of the soul.
Su Causeway also planted magnolia, cherry blossoms, hibiscus, mignonette and other ornamental flowers and trees, all year round, beautiful flowers, colorful. The seasonal changes, morning and evening, rain and shine, the atmosphere is different, the scenery is different. The picturesque scenery makes Su Causeway a place for people to visit and enjoy all year round. During the Southern Song Dynasty, the market in the lake was once formed here. The Old Story of Wulin recorded the Qingming Festival around the lake when the scene wrote: "Su Causeway area, peach and willow shade, red and green interlaced, walking rope, hussar, flying money, throwing balls, kicking wood, sand, swallowing knives, spitting fire, jumping circle, catty bucket and all kinds of colorful birds and insects of the game, a variety of clusters. There are also buying and selling fairs, fragrant tea and fine fruits, which are needed in wine. And colorful puppets, lotus boat horses, molasses pith and drums, trivial theater equipment to entice the children Cao, in the city.
Su embankment to play the moon
Su Dongpo donated funds to repair the embankment, is sympathetic to the people of Huizhou boat wading in the water, but also in the Pinghu Fenghu Lake built a channel to view the scenery of the West Lake, especially every to the middle of the month, the moon starry night, embankment to enjoy the moon is often refreshing. more than 900 years, the Su embankment West Bridge has been constructed a few times, the embankment on the lake, the moon is still the color of the change of history, the vicissitudes of life The color of the moon remains on the embankment and the lake. Whenever the moon stars are scarce, the water surface is sparkling with golden waves, and the lake and the moon are in the same color as the Yao Island. Wu Qian, a writer in the Qing Dynasty, has a poem: "The vast water and moon ripple the lake sky, people in the Su Causeway thousands of hectares of the side; how many tube peeping boasts of seeing the moon, know that the moon is full in this room." The Su Causeway is said to be a wonderful scene in the thousands of West Lake scenery, and after the liberation, the surface of the causeway was enlarged. Stroll Su Causeway, you can look at the Pinghu Lake, Fenghu Lake, feel the beautiful scenery of the two lakes. The bright moon, Chinese lights and water shadows of the night, the lake reflecting the lonely mountain, tower shadow, Zhu building, blue trees, flower boat ...... scenery is even more fascinating.
3, Wuxi, Jiangsu Huishan Spring, known as "the world's second spring". The author, Hua Yanjun, named the piece "The Second Spring Reflecting the Moon", which not only introduces people to the quiet of the night and the coldness of the spring, but also makes them feel as if they are seeing a person - a straight and tenacious blind artist pouring out his difficult life to the people.
4. There are a lot of handicrafts, Chinese knots, cell phone pendants, alarm clocks and so on.
5, Chang'e to the moon
Legend has it that one year in ancient times, there were ten suns in the sky, baking the earth smoke, seawater dry, the common people can no longer live to see.
This event alarmed a hero named Hou Yi, he climbed to the top of the Kunlun Mountain, the power of God, pull open the bow, shot down nine excess sun.
Hou Yi made a great achievement and was honored and loved by the people, many of whom came to learn from him. The treacherous Peng Meng was also involved.
Soon, Hou Yi married a beautiful and kind wife named Chang'e. In addition to teaching hunting, Hou Yi also taught the art of hunting. Hou Yi, in addition to the art of hunting, and his wife together all day long, people envy this pair of talented and loving couple.
One day, Hou Yi went to the Kunlun Mountains to visit friends and seek Taoism, and coincidentally met the Queen Mother who passed by, and then asked the Queen Mother for a packet of immortality medicine. It was said that by taking this medicine, one could instantly ascend to heaven and become immortal.
However, Hou Yi couldn't leave his wife behind, so he temporarily gave the immortality pill to Chang'e to cherish. Chang'e hid the medicine in the treasure box of her dresser, but Pengmeng saw it.
Three days later, Houyi led his disciples to go out hunting, but Pengmeng pretended to be sick and stayed behind.
Shortly after Hou Yi left, Peng Meng broke into the backyard of the mansion with a sword in his hand and forced Chang E to hand over the immortality pill.
Chang E knew that she was no match for Peng Meng, and in a moment of crisis, she made a split-second decision, turned around, opened the treasure box, and took out the Pill of Immortality and swallowed it in one gulp.
Chang E swallowed the medicine, the body immediately floated off the ground, rushed out of the window, flying toward the sky. Because Chang'e attached to her husband, they flew down to the closest to the earth on the moon became immortal.
In the evening, Hou Yi returned home and his maids cried about what happened during the day. Hou Yi was shocked and furious, and drew his sword to kill the villains, but Peng Meng fled. The company's newest product is a new product, which will be available in the market in the near future. Houyi, who was devastated, looked up at the night sky and called out the name of his beloved wife. At this time, he was surprised to find that today's moon is exceptionally bright and clear, and there is a swaying figure like Chang'e.
Hou Yi hurriedly sent people to Chang'e's favorite garden, set up incense, put on her favorite honey and fresh fruits, and sacrificed to Chang'e, who was fond of herself in the Moon Palace.
When the people heard the news of Chang'e's journey to the moon, they set up incense under the moon and prayed to the kind Chang'e for good luck and peace. From then on, the custom of moon worship on the Mid-Autumn Festival spread among the people.
The story of running to the moon glorifies and praises Chang'e with a distinctive attitude and brilliant colors. Comparing with the ancient documents about Chang'e, it is evident that people have done a lot of processing and modification to the story of Chang'e's running to the moon to make the image of Chang'e as beautiful as that of the moon, which is in line with people's pursuit of beauty. Contrary to the widely circulated "Chang'e Runs to the Moon" in modern times, "All the Ancient Writings", a collection of "Spirit Constitution", recorded the story of "Chang'e turning into a toad": "Chang'e, Yi's wife, also stole the Queen Mother's Immortality Pill and took it to run to the moon. When she was about to go to the moon, she took the medicine and occupied it with Yau Wong. There is yellow occupation: said: 'auspicious, fluttering return sister, alone will be traveling west, meet the sky obscure mang, do not be alarmed and fear, after and great prosperity.' Chang'e then took refuge in the moon and became a toad." After Chang'e turned into a toad, she was punished for pounding immortality pills all day long in the Moon Palace, leading a lonely and miserable life. Li Shangyin once wrote a poem lamenting Chang'e: "Chang'e should regret stealing the elixir, and the green sky of the blue sea and the blue sky are in her heart all night long."
Wu Gang Fell the Laurel
One of the Legends
Legend:There is a laurel tree in the moon which is five hundred feet high. During the Han Dynasty, there was a man named Wu Gang, who was drunk on the Tao of Immortality instead of concentrating on his studies, so the Heavenly Emperor was enraged and detained him in the Moon Palace, where he was ordered to cut down the laurel tree, and said, "If you cut down the laurel tree, you will be granted the magic of Immortality." Wu Gang started to cut down the laurel tree, but every time Wu Gang cut an axe, the axe would rise and the tree would heal immediately, day after day, Wu Gang's wish to cut down the laurel tree was still not realized, so Wu Gang cut down the laurel tree in the Moon Palace for many years, but he could not cut down the tree, and thus people in later generations were able to see Wu Gang's image of cutting down the laurel tree in the moon endlessly. See Tang Dynasty - Duan Chengshi - Youyang Miscellany Chopper - Volume 1 - Tianzhang (天咫).
Legend No.2
Wu Gang, also known as Wu Quan, was a native of Xihe. The grandson of Emperor Yan, Bo Ling, took advantage of Wu Gang's three years away from home to learn the Way of Immortality, and fornicated with Wu Gang's wife, and gave birth to three children. Wu Gang killed Bo Ling in anger, thus angering the Sun God, Emperor Yan, who sent Wu Gang to the Moon, ordering him to cut down the laurel, the tree of immortality. The laurel was 500 feet tall and would close as soon as it was cut, and it was this never-ending labor that Emperor Yan used as punishment for Wu Gang.
Wu Gang's wife, feeling guilty about what happened to her husband, ordered her three sons to fly up to the moon to accompany Wu Gang, one of whom became a toad, one a rabbit, and one "unknown". See The Classic of Mountains and Seas
Legend No. 3
Wu Gang of the Southern Heavenly Gate was very close to Chang'e in the Moon, but he was often too preoccupied with meeting Chang'e to perform his duties. When the Jade Emperor found out about this, he punished Wu Gang to cut down a big tree called laurel in the moon, and if Wu Gang didn't cut down the tree, he couldn't go back to the South Heavenly Gate and couldn't meet Chang E.
Wu Gang was very good friends with Chang E in the moon, but he often missed the meeting with Chang E, and was too busy to do his duty.
Wu Gang chopped, chopped, chopped from winter to summer, a full half a year, saw the tree will soon be chopped up, but the Jade Emperor sent crows came to the moon tree, "swish" sound, the Wu Gang hanging in the tree's shirt gripped away. Wu Gang immediately put down his axe and went after the crow. After recovering the clothes, Wu Gang went back to the tree and saw that all the branches and leaves that had been cut down had grown back into the tree. From then on, whenever Wu Gang was about to cut down the tree, the crow would stand on the tree and wail, and Wu Gang would stop the axe and look at it, and the tree would grow back.
In this way, year after year, Wu Gang could not cut down the moon tree. Only on the sixteenth day of the eighth month every year did a leaf fall from the moon to the ground. Whoever picks up this leaf of the laurel tree will get an inexhaustible supply of gold and silver jewels.
Fourth of the Legend
Wu Gang cut down the laurel tree to make the world's first wine - osmanthus wine
Wu Gang cut down the tree more than every day, and ten million years later, the magical osmanthus tree was still as old as ever, full of life, and every time in the middle of the autumn, it was overflowing with fragrant aroma. Wu Gang knew that there was no osmanthus tree on earth, so he passed the seed of the osmanthus tree to the earth.
Anciently, in Hangzhou, under the two mountains, there lived a widow who sold mountain grapes, she was generous and kind, and brewed wine that was so flavorful and sweet that people respected her and called her the fairy wine lady. A winter, frozen, early in the morning, the fairy wine lady just open the door, suddenly saw the door lying a bone-thin, clothes do not cover the body of a middle-aged man, looks like a beggar. Fairy wine lady touched the man's nose and mouth, but also a little breath, on the compassionate heart, regardless of how to talk about her, back him home, first irrigation hot soup, and fed half a cup of wine.
The man slowly woke up, excitedly said: Thank you for saving my life. I am a paralyzed man, out is not freezing to death, but also to starve to death, you have the goodness to stay with me a few days.
The fairy wine lady was in a difficult position, because as they say, there are many things in front of the widow's door, and if a man like this lives in the house, people will gossip. But on second thought, we can't watch him freeze to death and starve to death! I finally nodded my head and agreed to stay with him for a while.
As expected, gossip about the Wine Lady soon spread, and people distanced themselves from her, with fewer and fewer coming to the hotel to buy wine.
But the woman with the wine endured the pain and did her best to take care of the man. Later, when people stopped coming to buy wine, she couldn't keep it up, and the man left without saying goodbye, not knowing where he was going.
The woman was so relieved that she looked for him everywhere, and then she came across a gray-haired old man on a hill, carrying a load of dry wood and struggling to walk. She was about to help when the old man suddenly fell down, scattering the dry wood all over the ground. The old man closed his eyes, his lips trembling, weakly shouting: water, water ...... where is the water on the barren hillside? Fairy Wine Lady bit through the middle finger, at once, the blood flow, she put her finger to the old man's mouth, the old man suddenly disappeared.
A gust of wind, the sky flew a yellow cloth bag, the bag is full of many small yellow paper bag, another yellow paper note, which reads:
The Moon Palace to give cinnamon, reward the good family. The moon palace gives laurel to reward the good families. The first thing to do is to pick flowers and make cinnamon wine, and send it to your father and mother. Wu Gang helps those who are good, and brings disaster to those who are treacherous and slippery.
Then the lady realized that the paralyzed man and the old man carrying firewood were both transformed by Wu Gang. The story spread, and people from near and far came to ask for Gui Zi.
The good people planted the osmanthus, and soon the osmanthus tree grew and blossomed, filling the courtyard with sweet fragrance and unlimited beauty.
For those whose hearts were not right, the planted osmanthus just would not take root and sprout, so that they were embarrassed and henceforth washed their hearts of goodness.
Everyone is grateful to the fairy wine lady, it is her good deeds, moved the moon palace in the management of the osmanthus tree Wu Gang Da Xian, only to the osmanthus wine to the earth, and from then on the earth has osmanthus flowers and osmanthus wine.
That year, Wu Gang's wife edge of the woman due to inner guilt, they called three sons, one called drum, one called Yan, one called Shu Shu, flew to the moon, accompanied by their nominal father, spend that long endless years of cold. Wu Gang's three sons called Drum became a toad, called Yan became a small rabbit, called Shu Shu became called "unknown" Tian Jie. From then on, Shu Shu began to make arrow targets, drums, Yan began to make bells, chimes, and develop the rules and regulations of music. So the lonely Guanghan Palace often fairy music.
In later times, Emperor Tang Ming Huang recorded the music while roaming in the Moon Palace, and then returned to the earth and composed the "Nishang Qu" (The Song of Neishang). Legend has it that when Emperor Tang Ming Huang roamed the Moon Palace, Wu Gang even received him! Only at that time his face was tired, and his axe was covered with black rust, and his worn-out sleeves were tattered because no one had mended them.
This is what happened to Wu Gang, the first person to make the world's first wine, osmanthus wine, in the ancient Chinese era of the Five Emperors!