中秋节是流行于中国众多民族与汉字文化圈诸国的传统文化节日，为每年农历八月十五；因其恰值三秋（孟秋、仲秋、季秋）之半，由此得名。也有些地方将中秋节定在八月十六。中秋节以月之圆兆人之团圆，为寄托思念故乡、思念亲人之情，祈盼丰收、幸福。它与端午节、春节、清明节并称为中国四大传统节日。

The Mid-Autumn Festival is a popular traditional holiday celebrated by ethnic Chinese and the countries of the Chinese cultural sphere. The festival is held on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month.  It takes its name from the fact that it is always celebrated in the middle of the three months in the autumn season (the first month, the second month and the third month in autumn). In some places, the Mid-Autumn Festival is scheduled on the 16th day of the eighth lunar month. As the round full moon on the Mid-Autumn Festival night symbolizes completeness, tends to inspire people's anticipation for a family reunion, the festival is a day for the nostalgia for home and families and prayer for a bumper harvest and future happiness. It is one of the four major festivals in China, together with the Dragon Boat Festival, the Spring Festival, and the Qingming Festival. 

节日来源

历史起源

关于中秋节的起源，说法较多。中秋一词，最早见于《周礼》。

一说它起源于古代帝王的祭祀活动。《礼记》上记载：“天子春朝日，秋夕月”。夕月就是祭月亮，说明早在春秋时代，帝王就已开始祭月、拜月了。后来贵族官吏和文人学士也相继仿效，逐渐传到民间。

Origins

Historical Origins

There are many stories about the origin of the Mid-Autumn Festival. The term mid-autumn first appeared in Rites of Zhou (Zhou Li).

One version of its origin records that it was originated from the sacrificial ceremonies of the moon by the ancient emperors. According to Book of Rites, an ancient Chinese book recording customs and ceremonies, “ the Emperor should offer sacrifices to the sun in spring and the moon in autumn,” which indicates that the emperors started the sacrificial ceremonies and worship of the moon during the Springand Autumn Period. Later aristocrats and literary figures helped expand the ceremony to common people.

二是中秋节的起源和农业生产有关。秋天是收获的季节。“秋”字的解释是：“庄稼成熟曰秋”。八月中秋，农作物和各种果品陆续成熟，农民为了庆祝丰收，表达喜悦的心情，就以“中秋”这天作为节日。“中秋”就是秋天中间的意思，农历的八月是秋季中间的一个月，十五日又是这个月中间的一天，所以中秋节可能是古人“秋报”遗传下来的习俗。

Another version explains that its origin is related to the agriculture. Autumn is a harvest season. “Autumn” is explained as “the very moment of crop maturity”. It is the time when the crops and fruits can be reaped. So farmers set the middle day of the August as the day to celebrate the harvest and to express their joy and delight. “Mid-Autumn” is the middle of autumn. As August is the middle month of the Autumn according to the Chinese lunar calendar, and the fifteenth is the middle day of the month, the Mid-Autumn Festival is possibly an old tradition of “telling the coming of autumn”.

也有历史学家研究指出，中秋节起源应为隋末。大业十三年八月十五日，唐军裴寂以圆月为启发，成功发明月饼，并广发军中作为军饷，成功解决因大量吸收反隋义军而衍生之军粮问题。

 Some historians believe that the Mid-Autumn Festival started by the end of the Sui dynasty. On the 15th day of the eighth lunar month, the 13th year of the Daye reign period of the Sui dynasty, PeiJi, a general in the Tang army, who was inspired by the round moon, invented the moon cake and used it as payment for the soldiers, solving the problem of food shortage caused by the excessive anti-Sui rebel forces.

奔月传说

远古时候天上有十日同时出现，晒得庄稼枯死，民不聊生，一个名叫后羿的英雄，力大无穷，他同情受苦的百姓，拉开神弓，一气射下九个多太阳，并严令最后一个太阳按时起落，为民造福。后羿妻子名叫嫦娥。后羿除传艺狩猎外，终日和妻子在一起。不少志士慕名前来投师学艺，心术不正的蓬蒙也混了进来。

后羿于西王母处求得不死药，据说服用可飞升成仙。他不忍嫦娥在人间孤单一人，于是让嫦娥将不死药收藏起来。一天，后羿带弟子外出狩猎，只有蓬蒙称病不去。趁后羿不在，蓬蒙持刀闯入后羿家中，逼迫嫦娥交出不死药。危急之下，嫦娥吞下不死药，身子离地，向天空飞去。因为挂念后羿，嫦娥留在了离人间最近的月亮上。等后羿赶回家查明一切，为时已晚，蓬蒙早已逃之夭夭。那天的月亮格外皎洁明亮，他发现月中出现酷似嫦娥的人影，就在后花园中摆上嫦娥喜爱的糕点果品，以此遥祭嫦娥。百姓听闻此事后，也纷纷摆下香案，向月中嫦娥祈求平安。从此，中秋拜月的习俗就流传下来。

The Legend of Flying to the Moon

There were ten suns in the sky during the ancient times, scorching the crops and causing drought and death. Hou Yi, a hero with infinite strength, had much sympathy with the suffering people. To save the world from the misery, he used the magical bow to shoot down nine of the suns. Thenhe ordered the only one to rise and fall on time to serve people. The wife of Hou Yi was Chang’ e. After teaching and hunting, he stayed with his wife. Hou Yi’ s extraordinary deeds won the love and respect of many common people, some of whom came to him to seek instruction, including PengMeng, an evil man.

Hou Yi obtained an elixir of immortality from the Queen Mother of the West. Unwilling to leave his wife, he gave the elixir to Chang’ e for safekeeping. One day, Hou Yi and his disciples went hunting except PengMeng who pretended to be ill. While Hou Yi was away, PengMeng broke into his house with a sword and forced Chang’ e to give the elixir to him. Chang’ e swallowed it and immediately floated upwards into the sky. With her heart on her husband, she settled down on the moon, the nearest residence from the earth. When Hou Yi returned home and learned what had happened, it was too late since PengMeng already escaped. Bathing in the silver moonlight, he found a shadow on the moon resembling Chang’ e. Therefore, Hou Yi set a memorial table in the yard and laid out a spread of her favorite food. People followed suit and prayed to Goddess Chang’ e for their safety. Since then, the custom of worshiping the moon on the Mid-Autumn day has been widespread.

节日习俗

祭月

中国自古就有“秋暮夕月”的习俗。夕月，即祭拜月神。到了周代，每逢中秋夜都要举行迎寒和祭月。农历八月十五是汉族传统的中秋节，少数民族祭月的活动内容除了与汉族的中秋节相似外，还有极富民族特色的一系列活动，比如壮族的祭月亮，所以也叫“祭月节”。

中秋祭月仪式是一种古老的祭祀礼仪，表达人们祈求月神降福人间的一种美好心愿。

Traditions

Sacrificing to the Moon

In ancient times, Chinese people had the tradition of “worshiping the moon in the autumn twilight”, which indicated offering sacrifices to the Moon Goddess. In the Zhou dynasty, people held ceremonies to greet winter and worship the moon whenever the Mid-Autumn set in. The festival on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month is held by the Han Chinese. Whilst the ethnic minorities celebrate the festival in similar ways, others also have their unique customs and celebrations on this day, such as, the activity of “sacrificing to the moon” of Zhuang people, which is called the “Festival of Sacrificing to the Moon”.  

The moon-worshiping ceremony is an ancient sacrificial rite to pray for the blessings from the Moon Goddess.

赏月

赏月指八月十五中秋节观看满月。该风俗来源于祭月，严肃的祭祀变成了轻松的欢娱。民间中秋赏月活动约始魏晋时期，但未成习。到了唐代，中秋赏月、玩月颇为盛行，许多诗人的名篇中都有咏月的诗句。待到宋时，形成了以赏月活动为中心的中秋民俗节日。

Appreciating the Moon

Appreciating the moon refers to the customs of watching the full moon on the night of the 15th day of the eighth lunar month. This tradition originates from offering sacrifices to the moon and the serious worship turned into light-hearted entertainment. During the Wei and Jin dynasties, the activities of appreciating the moon made an appearance. Celebrating the moon on Mid-Autumn Festival was very popular in the Tang dynasty and some distinguished poets wrote masterpieces about the moon. The Mid-Autumn became an established festival as related celebrations of a full moon became prevalent in the Song dynasty.

拜月

拜月由祭月而来，中国的祭月仪式从周代起就有，祭月时间是在中秋月出时开始祭祀，中秋祭月，关键是向月神示敬，中秋无月甚至下雨，都可以祭月，凡是月光能照射之处，都可以举行，如遇阴天，可以向月亮的方位摆放祭桌。

Honoring the Moon

Celebrating the full moon is an inherited custom of moon sacrificial ceremonies. The custom can be traced back to as far as the Zhou dynasty, which was held at the moon rising time of the Mid-Autumn Festival. It is essential to honor the Moon Goddess during the Mid-Autumn moon worshiping. The offerings should be set on a memorial table that the moonlight can reach, or facing the general direction of the moon on cloudy or rainy nights.

吃月饼

月饼是久负盛名的中国传统小吃之一，中秋节节日食俗。其中广式、京式、苏式、潮式，滇式等月饼被中国南北各地的人们所喜爱。月饼圆又圆，又是合家分吃，象征着团圆和睦，在中秋节这一天是必食之品。古代月饼被作为祭品于中秋节所食。据说中秋节吃月饼的习俗于唐朝开始。北宋之时，在宫廷内流行，但也流传到民间，当时俗称“小饼”和“月团”。发展至明朝则成为全民的饮食习俗。时至今日，月饼品种更加繁多，风味因地各异。

Eating Moon Cake

The moon cake is a renowned traditional Chinese pastry typically eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Sharing moon cakes is one of the hallmark traditions of this festival. Chinese people favored many regional variants of the moon cakes, including Cantonese-style, Beijing-style, Suzhou-style, Chaoshan-style and Yunnan-style moon cakes. The moon cakes are round shaped, therefore, the sharing and eating of round moon cakes among family members signifies the completeness and unity of families. The moon cake is regarded as an indispensable delicacy. On that day, people sacrifice moon cakes to the moon as an offering and eat them for celebration. In the Tang dynasty, moon cake was introduced as a tradition for the first time. By the time of the Song dynasty, although at first the moon cake was limited to the royal families and emperors, as time went on, it was popular among the common people, which the cake was named as “small cake” or “moon dumpling”. It was not until the Ming dynasty, that the custom of eating moon cake became nationwide. Up to now, there are many types of moon cakes in China, and the recipes vary between different areas.

饮桂花酒

桂花不仅可供观赏，而且还有食用价值。每逢中秋之夜,人们仰望著明月,闻着阵阵桂香,遥想吴刚砍桂,喝一杯桂花蜜酒,欢庆合家甜甜蜜蜜,欢聚一堂,已成为节日的享受。桂花不仅可供观赏，而且还有食用价值。

Drinking Osmanthus Wine

Besides the aesthetic value, osmanthus is also a traditional choice as the ingredient in various delicacies. On the eve of the Mid-Autumn Festival, it is a tradition to admire the glorious full moon, enjoy osmanthus flowers, recollect the legend of Wu Gangcutting the laurel, drink osmanthus wine and celebrate the family reunion, fullness and harmony. Besides the aesthetic value, osmanthus is also a traditional choice as the ingredient in various delicacies. 

相关诗词（欢迎试译）

常娥

唐·李商隐

云母屏风烛影深，长河渐落晓星沉。

嫦娥应悔偷灵药，碧海青天夜夜心。

八月十五日夜湓亭望月

唐·白居易

昔年八月十五夜，曲江池畔杏园边。

今年八月十五夜，湓浦沙头水馆前。

西北望乡何处是，东南见月几回圆。

昨风一吹无人会，今夜清光似往年。

水调歌头·明月几时有

北宋·苏轼

丙辰中秋，欢饮达旦，大醉。作此篇，兼怀子由。

明月几时有？把酒问青天。不知天上宫阙，今夕是何年。

我欲乘风归去，又恐琼楼玉宇，高处不胜寒。起舞弄清影，何似在人间？

转朱阁，低绮户，照无眠。不应有恨，何事长向别时圆？

人有悲欢离合，月有阴晴圆缺，此事古难全。但愿人长久，千里共婵娟。

翻译：张宇