Mid-Autumn Festival
01 · Historical Records
The Mid-Autumn Festival is a continuation of the ancient custom of revering the moon. As early as the Zhou dynasty there were activities of “greeting the cold on a Mid-Autumn night”, “presenting fine fur at Mid-Autumn” and “worshipping the moon on the evening of the autumn equinox”; in the Han dynasty, on the day of Mid-Autumn or of the Start of Autumn, acts of honoring and caring for the aged were performed; by the Jin dynasty the custom of enjoying the moon at Mid-Autumn had already emerged; in the Tang dynasty, the festival was linked with myths and legends such as Chang'e flying to the moon, Wu Gang chopping the cassia, the jade rabbit pounding elixir, Yang Guifei becoming the moon goddess and Emperor Minghuang of Tang touring the moon palace, filling this traditional festival with romantic color, and the vogue of moon appreciation flourished greatly from then on; in the Northern Song dynasty, the fifteenth day of the eighth month was fixed as the Mid-Autumn Festival, and related seasonal foods appeared — “the small cake, chewed like the moon, has butter and malt sugar inside”. The custom of Mid-Autumn Bobing (moon-cake dice gambling) originated in Xiamen, Fujian, and flourished in Longhai of Zhangzhou, Anhai of Quanzhou, Kinmen County and other places; the Taiwan Fu Zhi of the Kangxi and Qianlong reign periods of the Qing dynasty contains related records.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Mid-Autumn Festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month is also called “Moon Eve”, “Autumn Festival”, “Mid-Autumn Festival”, “Eighth-Month Festival”, “Eighth-Month Gathering”, “Chasing-the-Moon Festival”, “Playing-the-Moon Festival”, “Moon-Worshipping Festival”, “Daughters' Festival” and “Reunion Festival”; it is a traditional cultural festival popular among the numerous ethnic groups of China. Because the season falls precisely in the middle of the three autumn months, it bears the name “Mid-Autumn”. According to the common view, on Mid-Autumn night the moon is at its biggest, roundest and brightest, so from ancient times to the present there has been the custom of feasting and enjoying the moon at Mid-Autumn. Married women who have returned to their parents' home must go back to their husband's family on this day, seeking the reunion of the whole household with peace and auspiciousness. In Hong Kong, when the zest of Mid-Autumn is not yet exhausted, people revel once more on the night of the sixteenth, a practice called “chasing the moon”. In the course of long-term development, a series of activities held around the Mid-Autumn Festival has taken shape, including worshipping the moon, eating moon cakes, divination, presenting melons to pray for sons, enjoying the moon, cricket fighting, playing katydids, sacrificing to the birthday of the Earth God, telling legends of the moon and of Chang'e, the jade rabbit and Wu Gang, and so on. In these activities, implements such as the moon-god spirit horse, moon-cake molds, the Rabbit Lord, cricket jars and katydid cages are used. The greatest characteristic of the Mid-Autumn Festival is that it entrusts to the sky the beautiful wish for harmony between humanity and nature; mid-autumn falls precisely in the season of agricultural harvest, and moon cakes and melons and fruits are both offerings to the gods and concrete symbols of the harvest. On the night of fine flowers and full moon every household reunites, strengthening kinship; the Mid-Autumn Festival has thereby become an important medium of social harmony. The Mid-Autumn Festival is the most important festival of the Chinese nation after the Spring Festival. In the present era of continuous modernization of social life, although related festival entertainments, food and other activities remain lively, the traditional connotation of the festival is gradually fading; it is therefore necessary to continue and consolidate the national-cultural connotation of the Mid-Autumn Festival through government advocacy and other means, and to re-establish the festival's important position in social life. At every Mid-Autumn festival, southern Fujian and the Taiwan region spontaneously hold Mid-Autumn Bobing activities in family or community units; participants take turns throwing six dice, gambling for the six ranks of zhuangyuan, bangyan, tanhua, jinshi, juren and xiucai, and receive moon cakes of different sizes according to rank. The rules of Bobing are simple and fair, full of the suspense of competition yet rich in the pleasures of daily life, and have always been loved by the general public. After the Opium War, Xiamen gradually became an important port city on the southeastern coast of China, and the Bobing custom spread further, developing from a family game into a game among relatives and friends and even among social groups. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, this custom increasingly declined, and during the “Cultural Revolution” it all but disappeared. Since the reform and opening up, thanks to the broad participation of the masses, the Mid-Autumn Bobing custom has been revived in Xiamen and other areas, and has become an important activity in which people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Throwing six dice
Six dice make one set, thrown in turn by every player; the combination of pips decides which of the six ranks is won.
The top prize and the ranks
Winners take cakes matching their rank, from the largest for the champion down to the smallest, with a new table started for each group.
The family and club tables
Tables are set in courtyards or shop halls with platters of cakes and tea, and the whole room throws at once amid the rattle of dice.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Bobing is most prevalent in southern Fujian and Taiwan, with Xiamen as its most thriving place; Longhai, Anhai, Kinmen and other places also have the custom. Southern Fujian merchants set up stalls to gather guests on the eve of Mid-Autumn, and families or associations each gather in one place; on the day of Bobing, relatives and friends, companies and shops, and clan associations each open a round, with the number of participants reaching several hundred, all throwing together, wins and losses determined by rank, regardless of kinship or closeness. In Taiwan this form is described as a variant of zhijiao (moon-block throwing); in overseas Chinese settlements it is likewise set up at Mid-Autumn, becoming an occasion for the whole local community to gather and play.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Mid-Autumn Festival · Mid-Autumn Festival · Mid-Autumn Festival · Mid-Autumn Festival · Mid-Autumn Festival · Mid-Autumn Festival · Mid-Autumn Festival.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The shift of Bobing from a family game to a gambling game played together by relatives and friends and even associations has depended on the pattern of joint celebration across the Taiwan Strait. Its simple, fair rules and its gradually ascending ranks all quietly accord with the traditional notion of the imperial examination; in recent years Fujian and Taiwan have held many exchanges and exhibitions themed on Bobing, and this throw of the dice on an autumn moonlit night has become a rare example in the Mid-Autumn Festival of the whole people enjoying themselves together.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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