Chinese holidays. mid-autumn festival moon gingerbread moon day chinese holiday
Competition for those who are interested in China, its culture, traditions and language. Watching the videos will introduce you to the legend of the origin of the Mid-Autumn Festival and the traditions of its celebration.
The duration of the competition is 1 hour. .
All competitions and olympiads are free.
Preparing for the competition!
mid autumn festival in china
Falls on the 15th day of the 8th month. In 2017, it is celebrated on October 4th. It is an ancient Chinese holiday, has its own legend of origin and celebration traditions.
Cards
1) 中秋节 - Mid-Autumn Festival
2) 后羿 - Hou Yi, shooter, hero of Chinese myths
3) 嫦娥 - Chang'e, beauty, heroine of Chinese myths
4) 月饼 - moon cake, literally "moon cake"
5) 吃月饼 - eat mooncakes
6) 月亮 - moonlight, moonlight
7) 看月亮 - to admire the light of the moon
8) 全家一起 - with the whole family
9) 太阳 - sun, sunlight
10) 月饼甜 - sweet mooncakes
11) 月饼香 - fragrant moon gingerbread
Tips for preparing for the competition
1. Watch the Mid-Autumn Festival cartoon without Russian translation. Try to understand what it says.
2. Then watch the same cartoon with a translation into Russian, so that you better remember the legend of the appearance of the Mid-Autumn Festival.
3. For a better understanding of the traditions of celebrating this day in China, watch a short report from one of the Russian news channels.
4. According to Chinese ideas, the moon (beauty Chang E) symbolizes the female part of the population, and the sun (arrow Hou Yi) is a symbol of the male part of the population. During the Mid-Autumn Festival, Chinese people sing many songs with their children. Listen to two of them, try to understand their meaning with the help of cards and previous videos.
Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!
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Participants who scored 91% points or more, become winners and receive 1st degree diploma.
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Competition Organizing Committee
Institute of Foreign Languages FSBEI HE "Volgograd State Socio-Pedagogical University"
Leontovich Olga Arkadievna
Head of the Department of Intercultural Communication and Translation, Ph.D. PhD, Professor, Volgograd
Simonenko Natalya Yurievna
Associate Professor of the Department of Intercultural Communication and Translation of the Institute of Foreign Languages of the Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education "VGSPU", Ph.D. n, Volgograd
Merezhko Ekaterina Alekseevna
Postgraduate student of the Department of Modern European Languages, Russian State Pedagogical University named after A. I. Hercena, participant of international projects AIESEC 2010-2014, St. Petersburg
Shoikhet Galina Yanovna
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Zhongqiujie, or (Chinese exercise 中秋节, pinyin: zhōngqiūjié) is also known as the Mooncake Festival. It is celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month according to the lunar calendar. Despite the fact that this event has its roots in antiquity, Zhongqiujie is still an official holiday in China.
On the Mid-Autumn Festival, Chinese families gather at the family table, always set outside, admire the Moon, because on this day it is brighter and most of all and rejoice at the end of agricultural work.
The Legend of the Mid-Autumn Festival
Like all Chinese holidays, the Mid-Autumn Festival has its own origin story. She tells about a shepherd who lived many, many years ago. From a very young age, he worked for the owner. He worked tirelessly from day to day and was very tired. So twenty years passed, but he could neither earn money for all this time, nor start a family.
One day a misfortune happened to the shepherd. He fell ill and could not work, so the owner kicked him out of the yard. It happened on the 15th of the 8th month.
The shepherd had no one to whom he could turn for help, and he had nowhere to go. He just lay down under a tree and looked at the moon, it was unusually bright and so close that it seemed you could reach it with your hand. And suddenly the shepherd saw a girl, an inhabitant of heaven, come out of the lunar house. She went down to the poor shepherd and asked why he was so sad. After listening to his story, she waved the sleeve of her wide beautiful dress, and a small house appeared nearby, a piece of plowed land and various peasant tools.
The shepherd's happiness knew no bounds. He settled in this house, cultivated the land, planted grain and vegetables, and harvested.
Since then, it has become customary to go out at night every year on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar, bring treats and wait for the mercy of the moon.
Festive cakes
On the Mid-Autumn Festival in China, a special treat is prepared - moon cakes. Symbolizing the Moon, they are round, plump, smaller than the palm of a flour product, which is baked in special molds. Moon cakes can be with or without filling.
Each part of China has its own specific recipe for making mooncakes. However, in all provinces, cakes are necessarily imprinted on top in the form of a beautiful pattern. These can be hieroglyphs with good wishes, whole phrases from literary works, or even paintings with images of famous heroes.
The filling of moon cakes can be either sweet, for example, from nuts, red beans or dates, or salty - from meat, fish, vegetables.
The Chinese are preparing to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival long before its date. Shops are full of various cakes and products for their production in bright and unusual packages.
Lunar "Mr. Hare"
Another ritual on the Mid-Autumn Festival in China is to give figurines of bunnies to children. There is a legend that a bunny lives on the moon, which constantly stirs a magic potion in a small mortar.
On the "lunar" holiday, all women performed special rituals and read prayers. They needed something to keep their children busy during this time. Therefore, it was invented to give the babies clay figurines in the shape of a hare, so that they, together with their mothers, could perform the rite of worship. The children came up with a polite address for the figurine - "Mr. Hare."
For the children's ritual, adults usually bought pictures that depicted a Buddha sitting on a lotus, a moon palace and a bunny. An altar was set up, decorated with flowers, with treats and scented sticks. The bunny at the party was very smart. He wore a white cape and a golden helmet. Often the bunny was placed in a beautiful chair with many children's drawings or on a stand resembling a lotus flower.
After the ceremony was carried out, the bunny turned into an ordinary toy.
Zhongqiujie or mid-autumn festival celebrated on the 15th of the 8th month of the lunar calendar. It is also called the harvest festival. On this day, it is customary to eat and give each other "moon gingerbread" yubin ( yuebing, 月饼) round shape with sweet or salty filling.
The history of the holiday originates in the ancient rites of sacrifice: princes and rulers made sacrifices to the Sun in spring, and in autumn to the Moon. The first mention of the Mid-Autumn Festival refers to (approximately XI century BC - 256 BC). Over time, the intelligentsia also adopted the tradition of worshiping the moon, and later ordinary people began to admire the clear and round moon and arrange sacrifices.
The holiday finally took shape by the time (618-907), and in the period (960-1279), the festive events organized in honor of Zhongqiujie became even more solemn. During the period of dynasties and (1368-1911) this festival became one of the most important Chinese holidays.
In modern China, millions of people in the evening during Zhongqiujie go to the shores of reservoirs and release flying rice paper lanterns into the sky, on which wishes are first written. A thousand lanterns fly across the sky, representing an unforgettable, beautiful sight.
An equally romantic legend is associated with this holiday, according to which Chang E, the beautiful wife of the famous hero Hou Yi, lives on the moon.
Tradition says that Chang E was a kind, beautiful, cheerful woman who loved adventure. She was married to Hou Yi, a famous hero who saved people from drought and flood more than once.
At that time, there were ten suns in the sky, which took turns traveling around the earth. However, one day, for unknown reasons, the sequence was broken, and the suns began to simultaneously illuminate the earth during the day, and at night they set over the horizon together. This led to terrible consequences: the heat of the ten suns was so strong that it not only destroyed crops and people, but also threatened to melt stones and metals. Then the men gathered for a council and chose Hou Yi - as the strongest and most dexterous archer - to shoot at the suns from a giant bow made by common efforts. Hou Yi, having climbed the Kunlun Mountains, destroyed nine of the ten suns, sending his arrows into them, leaving only one, which shines to this day.
However, the disasters did not end there. Soon, the god of the Yellow River - Hebo, causing wind and waves, spilled the waters of the river, destroying many villages. Hou Yi decided that Hebo had lost the right to remain a god, bringing misfortune to people. From his long bow, Hou Yi sent an arrow and hit Hebo's eye, punishing him for his cruelty to the people.
The goddess Sivanmu learned about the heroic deeds of Hou Yi. Deciding to thank him for his courage, she gave him a cure for immortality. It was enough to swallow one grain to live forever and not grow old, and two grains to ascend to heaven or the moon.
Returning home, Hou Yi told his wife about the gift, who had long dreamed of visiting the moon. On August 15, according to the lunar calendar, Chang E, having gathered wild berries in the forest, came home and, finding that her husband was not at home, ate two grains of a magic potion. So Chang'e ended up on the moon.
There she saw a palace, next to which grew a huge cinnamon tree, emitting an unusual aroma. A white hare was sitting under a tree.
In such a society, Chang E quickly became bored and homesick. She wanted to return to the earth to people and her husband, but there was no way back. Since then, every year on August 15, according to the lunar calendar, Chang E lights a lamp and brightly illuminates the earth with it in the hope of seeing her husband there, whom she constantly thinks about.
According to another version of the legend, the brave hero Yi had a treacherous student, Pengmeng, who accidentally found out about the elixir of immortality and saw how Chang E put it in a drawer. When Yi was not at home, Pengmen came to Chang E and, threatening with a sword, demanded to give him a magic potion. Frightened, Chang E understood that Pengmeng was stronger than her and she had no choice but to drink the elixir herself. Chang E lifted off the ground, flew out the window and rushed to the moon, and Pengmeng ran away empty-handed.
Left on Earth, Yi was heartbroken when he discovered what had happened. He desperately peered into the sky and called his beloved, and suddenly noticed that on this night the moon was brighter than usual. It seemed to him that a shadow flashed over her, similar to his dear Chang E. The shooter wanted to catch up with the moon, but no matter how hard he tried, his attempts were in vain.
Hou Yi desperately missed his wife and ordered to set up a table for an incense burner in Chang'e's beloved garden and put sweets and fruits on it as a sacrifice. The news spread throughout the village and people, having learned that Chang E now lives in the sky, one by one began to install incense burners under the moon and ask her for happiness and prosperity. Since then, the custom has spread among the people on Mid-Autumn Day to worship the Moon.
Autumn has begun, and along with this incredible time, the time to prepare for one of the most significant celebrations of Chinese culture - the Mid-Autumn Festival. It is held according to the Chinese calendar on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month. This year the celebration will take place on October 4 - very soon. Jongchiujie (中秋节 - Mid-Autumn Festival) dates back to ancient times, but in the modern world, this event is very significant for the Chinese people. Even now, during the celebration, no one works, everyone walks and has fun. Preparations for the celebration are carried out in advance, as this is one of the most beloved holidays of Heaven.
Let's dive into the history of the origin
The Mooncake Festival, as it is commonly called, originated about 3,000 years ago during the reign of the Zhou Dynasty. Not surprisingly, this holiday is shrouded in various myths and legends. Ancient Chinese emperors worshiped the Moon, brought offerings to her and her ancestors, for the benefit of the future harvest. Therefore, this celebration is also considered a harvest festival. It is also known that earlier this event was inaccessible to ordinary working people. Around the same holiday, the autumn solstice falls, and many offerings are combined.
A little later, the tradition of offerings was transferred to the day of the winter solstice, at the time when the ruler, leaving the Forbidden City, went to the Temple of Heaven to ask for prosperity for the country from Heaven. For commoners, the celebration of the festival became available during the Sui and Tang dynasties. For many, this is a double holiday, since at this time the closest full moon occurs, as well as the equality of day and night.
As mentioned earlier, there are many myths about the origin of the Holiday. The most romantic story about the girl Chang Yi tells that in the old days people had a very difficult time, as 10 suns shone above the earth at once. This made life very difficult for the common people. And there was a guy named Hou Yui, who managed to destroy 9 luminous discs from the bow at once, leaving only one that gives warmth. This act attracted many people to the young man who wanted to learn such a gift.
A little later, the archer fell in love with the beautiful Chang Yi and they sealed the union by marriage. One day, the guy visited Wan Mu (Empress of Heaven), who was his old girlfriend. She presented him with a gift of a miraculous elixir that gives eternal, divine life and provides life in the kingdom of heaven. Hou Yui gave the drug to his wife, and he went hunting. At this time, a bad man named Pen Menu came to their house, who intended to take away the elixir in order to receive eternal life. The poor girl understood that she could not defeat the villain and took the drug. After that, Chang Yi became a deity, but she could not reach heaven, because she loved her husband so much. The girl stayed on the moon, because this is the closest planet located to the Earth. In this way, she could be closer to her beloved husband.
Hou Yui learned about the incident and wept bitterly. Looking longingly at the pale disk, he said the name of his beloved. At that moment, the moon flared brightly. Hou Yui saw the silhouette of Chang Yi sadly looking at her husband. After that, the grief-stricken young man began to make offerings to the moon, which consisted of the most favorite dishes of his beloved. Other people followed suit. Thus was born a new tradition that lives on to this day.
And now I would like to tell you about the traditions and rituals of this wonderful celebration.
The most important dish of this holiday are cakes, they are also called "moon cookies". They come in a wide variety of flavors, and the recipe for making cakes is the most diverse. Each town has its own cooking secret. This dish is baked in a round shape, small diameter. May be with or without filling, sweet or savory. For every taste, you can taste the symbol of this wonderful holiday. Surprisingly, each small cookie is imprinted on top in the form of a beautiful pattern or ornament. Even eating such a beauty is a pity. Cookies are sold on every corner in abundance.
Long before the festival itself, the shops are filled with a festive atmosphere - the sale of cookies, beautiful packaging materials and other attributes begins.
Everything that happens on this day is related to the moon. Residents of towns decorate the streets with lanterns, all kinds of bright decorations. Cities are immediately filled with incredible warmth, bright light and immersed in an incredible atmosphere of peace. People unite and bring offerings not only in the form of symbolic moon cakes, but also in the form of various round-shaped fruits and vegetables. After all, they are also outwardly somewhat similar to the moon and symbolize the harvest.
The Mid-Autumn Festival in China is accompanied by folk festivals with songs and dances. The traditional Chinese dragon dance is a mesmerizing sight. This dance is very significant for the Chinese people, but not in all corners on this day you can see it. The celebration lasts all night. Everyone gives each other nice gifts, eat cakes and look at the full moon. An indescribable atmosphere of love and unity. The older generation especially loves this day, because they are given special attention and honor. However, the entertainment program in different cities may differ, but they are all combined into one - the worship of the majesty of the moon. In Chinese villages, it is a spiritual tradition to gather all relatives in the fresh air. The hostess sets the festive table with all kinds of treats. Relatives can have long conversations, remember those who could not be with them that evening and admire the full moon. Very warm and welcoming.
The Moon Festival, also called the Mid-Autumn Festival, is considered one of the major traditional festivals celebrated by the Chinese. It falls on the 15th day of the eighth month of every year in the Chinese lunar calendar. This year it falls on September 30, 2012.
For the first time as an official holiday, the festival was held at the beginning of the Tang Dynasty and became widely celebrated in the Song Dynasty. During the Qing Dynasty, it became as important as the New Year (Yuan Dan). The story of the origin of the Moon Festival, like any other holiday, has been passed down from one generation to the next. She is associated with the moon maiden Chang'e.
According to Chinese legend, there was a time when 10 suns shone in the sky, burning the earth and depriving people of water and life. A hero named Hou Yi knocked down nine suns out of ten with a bow and arrow and thereby saved the people. He received from the queen mother the elixir of immortality, which could turn a mortal person into an immortal and would allow him to live in heaven. Hou gave the elixir to his wife Chang'e for safekeeping. The neighbor found out about this and tried to take away the precious drink. In desperation, Chang'e drank the elixir and, turning into a goddess, flew to the moon.
When Hou Yi returned home, he did not find a wife. When he raised his eyes to the sky to call her, he saw that the moon that night was especially bright and full. He caught a glimpse of his wife. He took out the round gingerbread that Chang'e loved and prayed, asking for heaven's blessing for her. Since then, people worship the sky and eat round “moon” gingerbread on this day.
Many things the Chinese do to celebrate the Moon Festival, but most of the traditions are now forgotten, except for the fact that many people buy and eat Mooncakes (round gingerbread filled with sugar, seeds and spices). However, these legends formed the basis of many anime of oriental culture, the animation of which is so loved by both children and adults.
The first time I learned about the Moon Festival, I was 7 years old. My grandmother, following ancient traditions, wears traditional Chinese button-down shirts. On the night of the Moon Festival, she quietly slipped out of the room. I became curious to see what she was doing, so I tried to follow her. But my grandmother sent me away and told me to go home.
Restless, I followed her to the end of the courtyard of our house. I saw that she laid out dishes of fruits and mooncakes. Grandmother placed the incense on the light and knelt down to pray. I looked at her and then quickly left.
Later, I learned that my grandmother prayed to Heaven and Earth, because the Moon Festival not only worships the goddess of the Moon, but also expresses gratitude to Heaven and Earth. On this day, families come together to celebrate the holiday in unity.
After fruit and mooncakes are offered to the Earth God and the Moon Goddess, people share the mooncakes among themselves. Traditionally, they are divided into many parts, one part for each family member. If a family member is missing, then a piece should be left for him.
