Mid-Autumn Festival And The Worship Of Moon

In traditional Chinese festivals and folk beliefs, the Mid-Autumn festival and the worship of moon are worth further study. There are lots of researches on development, evolution and related folk customs of Mid-autumn festival and the worship of moon by domestic and foreign scholars. However, there are few studies on mid-autumn festival together with folk beliefs, especially with the worship of moon.The thesis studies traditional mid-autumn festival and the worship of moon, using theories such as folklore, anthropology, ethnology, culturology, from the perspective of folk belief, research into the meaning of mid-autumn, the meaning of the worship, and the connection between those two meanings.The thesis is divided into three parts:The first part (introduction) describes the reason and significance of the topic, the object of study, research contents and methods summarize the situation of study about mid-autumn festival at home and abroad.The second part (chapter I) researches into the connection between mid-autumn festival and the worship of moon on the whole, points out that the worship of moon is the driving factor and the cultural origin on the formation and development of mid-autumn festival, while the mid-autumn festival is a cultural carrier of the worship of moon.The third part is the main part of the paper; it is divided into three chapters. Chapter II, III and IV studies the meaning of mid-autumn festival, the meaning of worship of moon, and the connections between the two meanings respectively. The second chapter analyzes the connection between the moon ceremony and the worship of moon, it includes the custom of offering sacrifices, the object of the worship, belief in immortality and the cultural integration between them; the third chapter analyzes the relationship between praying for child on mid-autumn day and the worship of reproduction, points out the custom of praying child is inseparable from the worship of moon reproduction, and contains rich culture of moon reproduction. the fourth chapter analyzes the relationship between the symbol"circle"in mid-autumn custom and the worship of moon, points out that Chinese are believe in"circle", under such psychological effect, the combination of mid-autumn custom and the moon shows strong belief in reunion.