"local comments" donghu comments: the bright moon shines on the chu rhyme for thousands of years
2024-09-23
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moon-watching during the mid-autumn festival originated from ancient moon worship. as one of the most important traditional festivals in china, the mid-autumn festival was formed in the early tang dynasty. in the new book of tang dynasty, there is a record of "mid-autumn festival on august 15", but the formation of the mid-autumn festival is related to the autumn sacrifice and autumn community of the chu people, which can be traced back to the grand celebration of the four solar terms and the custom of worshiping and appreciating the moon during the warring states period.
historical documents show that the people of chu during the warring states period had the custom of setting up tents and building houses in the water to watch the moon in the middle of autumn. the "good time" in qu yuan's "nine songs·lady xiang" and "set up on the evening of the good time" refers to the mid-autumn festival. the "chu customs" says that "setting up tents and building houses in the water to worship female gods on the evening of the mid-autumn festival are several basic factors that constitute the more primitive customs of watching the moon and worshipping the moon in later generations." during the warring states period, the king of chu established his capital in jingzhou, so the finalization and maturity of the mid-autumn festival in the later period "is related to the nurturing and nourishment of the culture and folk customs of the old land of jingchu." some scholars believe that the ancient customs and concepts of worshiping the moon "first realized partial cohesion, supplementation and organization in the chu state during the warring states period, and then continued to suck the abundant milk of chu culture in the old land of jingchu, and completed its mid-term generation process in the liang dynasty of the southern dynasties."
since the tang and song dynasties, the eighth month of the lunar calendar has been a moon-worshipping festival, with a series of moon-worshipping and moon-offering activities. later generations gradually enriched the myths and legends about the moon, adding customs such as worshiping the moon and praying for a good harvest, praying for offspring, and eating mooncakes to celebrate family reunions. in jingzhou, there are customs such as worshiping the moon, eating mooncakes, "touching autumn", avoiding diseases, and collecting moon dew during the mid-autumn festival.
moon worship is called "moon worship" in folklore. according to historical records, the myth of the jade rabbit originated in the state of chu. some scholars speculated that "the myth of chang'e stealing medicine and flying to the moon recorded in huainanzi was originated and made up by the people of chu during the warring states period" based on the content of "qian wangshu sent a pioneer" in "li sao" and the annotations of the ancients. therefore, there has always been a custom of moon worship in chu. for thousands of years, people in jingzhou have set up incense tables in their courtyards on the night of mid-autumn festival, with candlesticks, incense burners, moon cakes, lotus roots, chestnuts, fruits and other offerings on them. when the moon rises, the family looks at the moon and worships together, worshiping the moon god and chang'e. after the moon worship, the whole family has a reunion dinner together, and a mid-autumn delicacy must be served - "chicken fried with chestnuts".
moon-watching is an important custom of the mid-autumn festival in jingzhou. after worshiping the moon, it is time to enjoy the moon. throughout the ages, people in jingzhou have also been very fond of moon-watching. when emperor yuan of the southern dynasty of liang was in power, he built a mingyue tower between the xiaobei gate and the dongmen of jingzhou city. he often watched the moon and chanted poems with his ministers on the full-moon night. later, although the mingyue tower was destroyed by war, literati and poets of all dynasties regarded climbing the jingzhou city wall to watch the moon as a great pleasure during the mid-autumn festival. zhang jiuling, a poet of the tang dynasty, once climbed the south tower of the ancient city of jingzhou on the night of the mid-autumn festival to watch the moon and reminisce about the past, leaving behind the eternal masterpiece "the bright moon rises from the sea, and the world shares this moment". the bronze mirror with a heavy circle inscription unearthed from a western han tomb in jinan, jingzhou in 1992, "mirror as bright as the sun", also confirms from one side that jingzhou has always had the folk custom of watching the moon during the mid-autumn festival. there are 42 characters of inscriptions in the inner and outer circles of this bronze mirror, among which "the bright mirror is folded and given to you, it is as beautiful as the light and shines with beauty", "the clear and brilliant sun" and "the shining light welcomes the beauty", which are records of people in jingzhou welcoming beauties and appreciating the bright moon in the western han dynasty.
eating mooncakes during the mid-autumn festival is an important part of worshipping and appreciating the moon. the traditional specialty food of jingzhou, "sanchu mooncake", originated from the five dynasties and ten kingdoms period, and has a history of more than 1,000 years. in honghu, fishermen used to have the custom of worshipping and appreciating the moon during the mid-autumn festival with "fa cakes". legend has it that chen youliang, the leader of the huangpeng fishermen in honghu at the end of the yuan dynasty, secretly contacted the rebellious fishermen in order to overthrow the rule of the yuan dynasty, and wrapped the date of the uprising on august 15 in the fa cake, cleverly avoiding the inspection of the rulers. later, after chen youliang became king in jiangzhou, he ordered people to make a lot of fa cakes and gave them to the fishermen in his hometown to eat during the mid-autumn festival. as a result, fa cakes have also become a unique festival pastry for the mid-autumn festival in honghu.
in jingchu, there are also customs such as "sending a child by touching autumn", avoiding diseases and collecting moon dew during the mid-autumn festival. people believe that the goddess of childbirth descends to the earth every mid-autumn festival, and some married women who have not yet given birth go to steal fruits at night. if they "steal" fruits without being discovered, it means that they will soon have a child. the fruits that are picked by touching autumn are mostly pumpkins, winter melons, grapefruits, etc. with many seeds. "seed" and "son" are homophones, which also symbolizes giving birth to many sons.
in jingzhou, the people also regard the 14th day of the eighth lunar month as the "tianjiu day". on this day, people use "red water" to put a dot on the forehead of children to ward off evil spirits and cure diseases, which is called "tianjiu". to this day, it is still popular in jingzhou to put a round red dot on the forehead of children on festive days. at the same time, the people of jingzhou also like to use eye bags to collect dew from hundreds of herbs to wash their eyes on the morning of august 14, and give each other eye bags as gifts. according to legend, this can make people's eyes bright. folklore experts believe that the people of jingzhou in the liang dynasty of the southern dynasties used "chengbaishu dew" to wash their eyes, which is a modified relic of the pre-qin chu customs.
source: jingchu.com (hubei daily)
author: zhang weiping (jingzhou, hubei)
editor: ding chufeng
