A Date with the Starry Sky丨This year’s Mid-Autumn Festival comes a little early

Xinhua News Agency, Tianjin, September 9 (Reporter Zhou Runjian) "The heat retreats and the sky is clear, and the autumn is clear and the scenery is clear." September 10 is the Mid-Autumn Festival. Most of the Mid-Autumn Festivals are very close to the National Day, but this year's Mid-Autumn Festival is obviously a little early, with 20 days before the National Day. Astronomical science experts said that this year's Mid-Autumn Festival is the earliest in the 18 years from 2015 to 2032, and it is an "early Mid-Autumn Festival."

The Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival and the Reunion Festival, evolved from the ancient autumn moon worship. As one of my country's traditional festivals, the Mid-Autumn Festival did not officially appear as a festival until the early Tang Dynasty. It gradually became popular during the Song Dynasty and became a major festival in my country during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The Mid-Autumn Festival embodies people's beautiful yearning for good weather, good harvests, happy reunions, and a full moon.

Zhao Zhiheng, a member of the Chinese Astronomical Society and director of the Tianjin Astronomical Society, said that the Mid-Autumn Festival is a lunar festival, and the corresponding Gregorian calendar dates of lunar festivals are not fixed. Statistics from 1901 to 2100 show that the Gregorian calendar date corresponding to the Mid-Autumn Festival can fall on September 7 at the earliest and October 8 at the latest. Therefore, it is normal for any day between September 7 and October 8 of the Gregorian calendar to be the Mid-Autumn Festival.

In the 21st century, the latest Mid-Autumn Festival occurred on October 6, 2006, 2025, 2063 and 2082. The earliest Mid-Autumn Festival occurred on September 7, 2052. The Mid-Autumn Festival occurred on September 8, 2014, 2033, 2071 and 2090. The Mid-Autumn Festival occurred on September 9, 2060 and 2098. From this point of view, although this year's Mid-Autumn Festival is not the earliest, it does come a little early.

It is worth mentioning that this year's Mid-Autumn Festival has the earliest corresponding Gregorian calendar date in the 18 years from 2015 to 2032. The reason for this limitation is that the Gregorian calendar dates corresponding to the Mid-Autumn Festival in 2014 and 2033 are both September 8.

Although the date of the Mid-Autumn Festival may be earlier or later in the Gregorian calendar, this does not affect people's appreciation of the charm of traditional festivals. In 2006, the Mid-Autumn Festival was included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage lists in my country. Over the past decade, the traditional culture contained in the Mid-Autumn Festival has been gradually discovered and passed on.

Source: Xinhuanet

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