Food customs during the Mid-Autumn Festival on the 15th day of the eighth month of the Chinese lunar calendar. Su Dongpo, a great poet of the Song Dynasty, praised moon cakes in a poem: "Small cakes are like chewing the moon, with crispy and sweet fillings in them." From this, we can see that moon cakes in the Song Dynasty were filled with butter and sugar.
In the Yuan Dynasty, it is said that people took advantage of the opportunity to give mooncakes as gifts and put notes in the mooncakes, agreeing to act simultaneously on the night of August 15th to kill and drive away the Mongolian "Tatars". By the Ming Dynasty, the custom of eating mooncakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival became more common. "Miscellaneous Notes of Wanshu" written by Shen Bang of the Ming Dynasty records: "The furniture of the common people was made of moon cakes, which were made from moon cakes. They were of various sizes and were called moon cakes." "Zhuizhongzhi" says: "In August, begonias and hostas are enjoyed in the palace." From the first day of the lunar month, there are people selling moon cakes, and on the 15th day, every family offers moon cakes, melons and fruits. If there are any leftover moon cakes, they should be stored in a dry and cool place and used at the end of the year as reunion cakes. "After the Yuan and Ming dynasties, the custom of eating mooncakes and giving mooncakes as gifts during the Mid-Autumn Festival became increasingly popular, and mooncakes had the symbolic meaning of "reunion". From the Qing Dynasty to modern times, mooncakes have experienced new developments in quality and variety. Differences in raw materials, preparation methods, shapes, etc. make mooncakes more colorful, forming distinctive varieties such as Beijing style, Soviet style, and Cantonese style. Mooncakes are not only a unique holiday food, but also a popular pastry for all seasons.
The word mooncake was first seen in Wu Zimus "Meng Liang Lu" in the Southern Song Dynasty. The mooncakes at that time were rhombus-shaped and existed at the same time as chrysanthemum cakes, plum blossom cakes, five-nut cakes, etc., and were "four seasons". "Everything is available, you can ask for it as you please, and you won't miss any customers." It can be seen that mooncakes at this time are not only eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival. As for the origin of the term mooncake, there is no way to verify it. However, Su Dongpo, a famous scholar in the Northern Song Dynasty, left a poem that said, "Small cakes are like chewing the moon, with crispy and sweet fillings in the middle." Perhaps this is the origin of the name of moon cakes and the basis for the making of moon cakes.
Since the Ming Dynasty, there have been a lot of records about moon cakes. At this time, the moon cakes were already round and were only eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival. They were the main offerings during the Mid-Autumn Festival that became popular among the people starting from the Ming Dynasty. "A Brief Introduction to the Scenery of the Imperial Capital" says: "When offering sacrifices to the moon on August 15th, the fruit cakes must be round. ”“If the moonlight is placed in the house where the moon shines, and if one bows to the moon, the moonlight paper will be burned, the offerings will be removed, and the family members will be dispersed. Moon cakes and moon fruits are given to each other by relatives and relatives. The cakes are two feet in diameter.
Moon cakes symbolize reunion and should have started in the Ming Dynasty. If we look at the information about moon cakes and Mid-Autumn Festival folk customs from the Ming Dynasty, we should be able to see the historical trajectory of moon cakes meaning reunion: after worshiping the moon during the Mid-Autumn Festival, the whole family would sit around and share moon cakes and fruits (moon offerings). Because the moon cake is also round and combinedEvery family eats it together, so mooncakes gradually come to represent family reunion.
According to folklore, Cixi liked to eat mooncakes very much. However, because "moon cake" and "moon disease" have similar pronunciations, Cixi was a woman and thought it was indecent, so she changed the name to "moon vegetable cake". The Mid-Autumn Festival was a big day during Cixis reign and lasted for three days. August 14th is "welcoming the moon" and August 16th is "sending the moon". These three days are the Mid-Autumn Festival.
