The Mid-Autumn Festival is a long-standing festival in China, and it is also a folk festival full of humanistic feelings, which occupies an extremely important position in China's traditional festivals.In addition to the Spring Festival, the Mid-Autumn Festival is the most "reunion" meaning of the traditional festival, in China's Mid-Autumn Festival there are moon viewing, viewing laurel, eating moon cakes, watching the tide, playing with flower lanterns and other customs.The Mid-Autumn Festival originated from the idea of "moon festival" since ancient times, is the product of primitive thinking, since the Zhou Dynasty in China gradually changed to respect for nature, also known as the festival of the moon, the birth of the moon, the moon, the autumn festival, the mid-autumn festival, the moon worship festival, the moon festival, the moon festival, the moon festival, the reunion festival and so on.In addition to official ceremonies, folk Mid-Autumn Festival activities are mostly related to folk beliefs and myths and legends, especially in modern times, the Mid-Autumn Festival as a reunion festival and the myths and legends of "Chang'e Running Moon" have become inseparable.However, the Mid-Autumn Festival did not have the color of "reunion" at the beginning of its appearance, but only through the development of politics and economy and the transformation of humanistic thought did it have the humanistic significance of today.After the tang and Song poets' pen and ink polishing, the image of "Chang'e" changed from a negative role of stealing medicine to a wife forced to be separated from her husband, and this change also greatly increased the "reunion" feelings of the Mid-Autumn Festival, making the Mid-Autumn Festival a reunion festival for Chinese people at home and abroad.

The origins of the Mid-Autumn Festival – from nature worship to independent festivals

For the term "Mid-Autumn Festival", it was first seen in the "Zhou Li", and the "Li Ji Yue Ling" recorded that "the mid-autumn moon nourishes the elderly and eats porridge".For the formation of the Mid-Autumn Festival, it can basically be traced back to the worship of the moon and the "moon sacrifice" ceremony of the ancients in the pre-Qin period, the "moon sacrifice in the Zhou Dynasty", and the moon god in the Spring and Autumn Warring States period was also known as the "Queen Mother of the West".During the Qin and Han dynasties, this ritual was still one of the important royal institutions, and subsequently the Northern Wei, Sui, Tang and even The Ming and Qing dynasties all had ceremonies at the autumn equinox.Similarly, the moon festival is not only a worship of nature, but also closely related to the harvest festival in an agrarian society.

Since the beginning of the Han Dynasty, in addition to the official attention to the "moon", liu an of the Western Han Dynasty has in the "HuainanZi" has the "Chang'e Running Moon" and "Wu Gang Fa Gui", two folk legends that are closely related to the Mid-Autumn Festival in later generations.During the Wei and Jin dynasties, under the influence of political economy and culture, the literati and scholars gradually increased their moon-viewing drinking and recording of moon chants, but at this time, the time of moon appreciation did not have the specific node of "August 15th", and "Mid-Autumn Festival" was not a festival in the modern sense, but represented the second month of autumn, that is, "Mid-autumn", which was also used in poetry to mean "autumn is more than halfway".

The custom of appreciating the moon in the Wei and Jin Dynasties became more and more prosperous in the Tang Dynasty, and the worship and appreciation of the "moon" by the literati class of the Tang Dynasty was reflected in many poems.For the specific origin of the Mid-Autumn Festival, it basically began in the Tang Dynasty, mainly because it is believed that there are many poems in the Mid-Autumn Festival of the Tang Dynasty, so the Tang Dynasty literati have regarded August 15 as an independent date with certain significance.

而中秋节真正作为一个节日被大众百姓所重视是在宋代的时候，随着宋代商品经济的发展，“赏月”这一风俗增添了许多娱乐活动，中秋时节的娱乐习俗自上而下建立起来。至南宋时期，宋宁宗赵扩颁布假宁令，文武百官休假一天，至此，“中秋节”才作为一个独立的节日，并在时代的更替中一直延续至今。

Chang'e's "change" - the re-creation of the literati and inkers

关于“嫦娥奔月”的现存文字记载，最早出现在西汉刘安编著的《淮南子》中，“羿请不死之药于西王母，羿妻嫦娥窃之奔月，托身于月，是为蟾蜍，而为月精。”由此可见，“嫦娥”作为一个角色，一开始出现在文学著作中的身份其实不算光彩，在这个神话传说中，嫦娥的丈夫后羿向西王母求得了一颗不死灵药，但却被他的妻子嫦娥偷走了，嫦娥吃了灵药后，飞去了月宫变成了一只蟾蜍。在这个故事中我们同样可以看出，在秦汉时期，人们已经开始追求对“永生”的渴望，所以才会有嫦娥此类宁愿偷取仙丹违背天意抛弃丈夫也要成仙飞升以追求永生的角色。除此之外，“月”在人们心中也不全是先秦时期那样威严了，凡人通过神仙和灵药的帮助也可以登上月亮；“月”也不再是神秘的面孔，人甚至可以在月亮上像在陆地上一样的生活。

自汉代以后，嫦娥奔月的神话传说不断被人们增添自己的理解，但是对于传说最根本的改编是来自唐宋文人群体的。对嫦娥形象的改写起源自唐朝文人阶层，而其中最广为人知的当数李商隐的《嫦娥》，一句“嫦娥应悔偷灵药”将嫦娥从“偷药”的负面形象转化成如今人们所熟知的与丈夫分离的可怜妻子。这种对嫦娥形象的二次改变同样也出现在白居易的诗中，白居易在《东城桂三首》中写道“遥知天上桂花孤，试问嫦娥更要无”，借天宫上种的桂树表达嫦娥在天宫的孤独。唐代诗人常用嫦娥来借代自身的境遇，宋代的文人阶层也跟随此基调，如苏轼著名的《水调歌头》就是借用嫦娥的分离之苦来表达对人们的祝福。而辛弃疾的《木兰花慢·可怜今夕月》更是将嫦娥、玉兔、蟾蜍、广寒宫等巧妙地编织进诗里，以反问的形式诉说着嫦娥对家乡的思念，也烘托自己对国家命运的忧思。

通过唐宋诗人的笔墨点缀，嫦娥的人文形象发生了改变，影响深远。

花好月圆人长久——中秋节的人文情怀

嫦娥形象的改变，同样也影响了中秋节的人文情怀。正是后续诗人们对嫦娥形象的改写，使得原本“嫦娥奔月”的神话传说变得悲凉，与中秋节“团圆”的情怀恰恰相反，和中秋节紧密相关的传说“嫦娥奔月”则是代表着分离与孤独。嫦娥从“偷药贼”变成远在月宫孤独的妻子，这实际上是一种情感的转变，而嫦娥也因此能被世人谅解以及怜悯。在这个过程中，中秋节关于宗教祭祀的神秘基调被逐渐淡化，随之取代的则是世人普遍怜悯的神话故事。事实来讲，分离和孤独是人们生活的主要状态，也因此，团圆对人们来说更加珍贵；所以“嫦娥奔月”的神话传说才能广为传颂，也因此，中秋节“团圆”的人文意义逐渐成为其最重要的意义。

唐朝时期，中秋多是文人阶层的娱乐，在这种情况下的中秋是高雅的，是清冷的。而中秋从宋朝起则变成了有假期的节日，北宋时期的中秋多为轻松娱乐，到南宋时期才逐渐有了思念家人期盼团圆的氛围，特别是在靖康之战和南宋灭亡后，“团圆”的思想在中秋节中更加凸显，并延续至明清成为中秋节的核心情怀。时至今日，现代经济取代了小农经济，农耕文明已再不是社会的主基调，中秋在农耕方面的作用已经逐渐减小，同样，随着科技的普及和发展，人们也不再需要古老的祭祀仪式，中秋节其他方面的意义逐渐被人文意义所取代。现如今，中秋节的核心思想依旧是“团圆”，但因为国家的发展和富强，中华儿女逐渐走出中国，前往海内外各个地方，所以中秋节也是身在海外的游子们表达思念的时节，“海上生明月，天涯共此时”，也因“团圆”的人文情怀，中秋节也成为全球华人心中重要的中国传统节日之一。

Source: Nanjing Daily