Sacrificial offering of Mid-Autumn Festival in Huaiyuan

On the night of every Mid-Autumn Festival, a traditional Chinese festival falling on the 15th day of the eighth month of the traditional Chinese lunar calendar, every family in Huaiyuan Ancient Town, Yizhou district, Hechi will put out a variety of sacrificial offerings, including flour-made Liu Sanjie, potato-made lanterns, as well as fruit and grains shaped like a pagoda.

Since 2010, the Huaiyuan community has organized a competition for sacrificial offerings for the moon on every Mid-Autumn Festival. The offerings are all handmade by local residents by traditional techniques, and are mainly divided into cakes and fruit.

Among them, in addition to moon cakes, there are also rice cakes weighing 5 kilograms, with legends like Chang'e Goes to the Moon and Journey to the West drawn by local folk artists, as well as various pictures with auspicious meanings. In addition, moon cakes are also made into different shapes like roast duck, goldfish, and a laughing Buddha.

The fruit that are mainly used are grapefruit, oranges, and star fruit. In addition, fruit, vegetables, rice, and seedlings are made into various kinds of lanterns.

Huang Chang, director of the Huaiyuan community, said that in order to better inherit folk culture, this year's activity would be more colorful than in previous years. Special altars were set up to show visitors the local sacrifice offering ceremonies.