中秋節(jié)是中國(guó)傳統(tǒng)節(jié)日之一，為每年的農(nóng)歷八月十五，此時(shí)正值秋季過(guò)半，故名中秋。中秋節(jié)的晚上，人們舉家歡聚，點(diǎn)花燈、品月餅、賞明月，中秋夜的月亮是一年中最圓、最亮的，亦稱滿月，象征著家人的團(tuán)聚，因此中秋節(jié)也被人們視為團(tuán)圓的節(jié)日。
The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the most important festivities in China, According to Chinese lunar calendar, the 15th day of the 8th month is the exact midst of autumn, so it's called the Mid-Autumn Festival. The Mid-Autumn Festival is an evening celebration when families gather together to light lanterns, eat moon cakes and appreciate the round moon. On that night, the moon appears to be at its roundest and brightest. The full moon is a symbol for family reunion, which is why that day is also known as the Festival of Reunion.

中秋節(jié)的歷史可以追溯到2000多年前，在古老的封建時(shí)代，中國(guó)帝王要向上天祈求一年風(fēng)調(diào)雨順、國(guó)泰民安，他們?cè)诿磕贽r(nóng)歷二月十五的早晨，及八月十五的晚上進(jìn)行祈?；顒?dòng)。歷代帝王每年都會(huì)前往位于北京西城的月壇公園祭奉月亮。
The Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations date back to more than 2,000 years ago. In feudal times, Chinese emperors prayed to Heaven for a prosperous year. They chose the morning of the 15th day of the second lunar month to worship the sun and the night of the 15th day of the eighth lunar month to hold a ceremony in praise of the moon...

中秋節(jié)吃月餅的傳統(tǒng)在中國(guó)有著悠久的歷史，但關(guān)于它的起源有著不同的說(shuō)法。
The tradition of eating moon-cakes on this festival has a long history in China, yet there are different versions of statements about its origin.

當(dāng)我們舉頭望明月時(shí)，會(huì)在月亮上看到一個(gè)黑影。這就是傳說(shuō)中的砍樹人吳剛。根據(jù)傳說(shuō)，吳剛是一個(gè)普通的樵夫，對(duì)修仙十分著迷。他曾到深山中，請(qǐng)一位神仙當(dāng)老師，學(xué)習(xí)仙術(shù)。
When we look up at the bright moon, we can see a black shadow on the moon, which is the legendary Wu Gang who is trying to cut down the sweet osmanthus tree. According to legends, Wu Gang was an ordinary woodcutter who was obsessed with becoming an immortal. He went to mountains and asked an immortal as his teacher and sought instructions from him.

然而，吳剛既不用功，也沒(méi)有耐心，不能專心學(xué)習(xí)。他的神仙老師便非常生氣，讓吳剛呆在月亮上。他命令吳剛砍倒月宮上的桂樹，并告訴他，一旦他砍倒了桂樹，就可以成為神仙。吳剛拼盡全力用斧子砍倒桂樹，但是這個(gè)樹卻會(huì)重新長(zhǎng)成它本來(lái)的樣子。這樣，年復(fù)一年，日復(fù)一日，吳剛都在不斷地砍伐桂樹。盡管如此，由于樹的重生，他始終不能將它砍倒。
However, Wu Gang was very shiftless and impatient and couldn’t concentrate his attention. The immortal was enraged and made him stay on the moon. The immortal let Wu Gang to cut down the sweet osmanthus tree on the moon and informed him that he could become an immortal once he cut down the tree. Wu Gang tried his best to cut the tree with his axe; however, the tree would regrow naturally as what it was like. Thus, Wu Gang kept cutting the sweet osmanthus tree day after day, but couldn’t manage to cut it down because of its regrowth.

中秋節(jié)吃月餅可以追溯到元代（1271–1368)。當(dāng)時(shí)，廣大人民不堪忍受元朝統(tǒng)治階級(jí)的殘酷統(tǒng)治，紛紛起義抗元。一位叫朱元璋的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者決定聯(lián)合各路反抗力量準(zhǔn)備起義。
Eating moon cakes during Mid-autumn festival can date back to the Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368) when the common people couldn’t bear the brutal reign of the ruling class and they began to resist and rebel. A leader named Zhu Yuanzhang decided to gather all the resistance forces and prepared to rebel together.

然而，起義的信息很難傳送給每一個(gè)人。就在那時(shí)，朱元璋的軍師劉伯溫想出了一個(gè)主意。他命令屬下把藏有“八月十五夜起義”的紙條藏入月餅里，再傳送到起義軍中，通知他們?cè)诎嗽率迦胀砩掀鹆x響應(yīng)。到了農(nóng)歷八月十五（中秋節(jié)）那天，各路義軍一齊響應(yīng)，獲得了巨大的成功。為了紀(jì)念這場(chǎng)起義勝利，人們便在中秋節(jié)吃月餅。
However, the rebelling information was very difficult to deliver to every one. Just at that time, Zhu Yuanzhang’s military counselor named Liu Bowen had an idea that he ordered the subordinates to put a slip of paper with the words of rebelling on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month on it in each moon cake and then try to send these moon cakes to insurrectionary armies. Thus, on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month (mid-autumn day), all the insurrectionary army men rebelled together and they made great success. In celebration of the great success, people ate moon cakes on the Mid-autumn day.

中秋節(jié)背后還有這樣一個(gè)傳說(shuō)，講述中國(guó)歷史上齊國(guó)的一位叫做無(wú)艷的普通女孩的故事。因?yàn)槌旱钠返?，無(wú)艷被選入宮，但由于相貌不出眾，她始終未承龍恩。
One of the legends behind this festival tells the story of a plain girl named Wu Yan, who was from Qi; an ancient nation in China. Wu Yan was chosen for the Emperor's palace because of her outstanding morality but she never attracted the attention of the Emperor due to her appearance.
但是，身為少女，無(wú)艷曾虔誠(chéng)拜月，這帶給了她特殊的力量。八月十五夜晚，天子在月光下見到她，覺(jué)得她美麗出眾，與她墜入愛河，后迎娶并立她為齊國(guó)皇后。八月十五中秋拜月由此而來(lái)。
However, as a youngster Wu Yan had worshipped the Moon and this gave her special powers so that on the night of the 15th of August, when she met the emperor in the moonlight, he saw her as beautiful and fell in love with her immediately. Wu Yan later married the Emperor and became the queen of Qi, and from this moment on the tradition of worshipping the Moon on the 15th of August began.
然而很多時(shí)候，年輕的中國(guó)女性拜月另有原因。那就是希望自己可以貌美如嫦娥，那名傳說(shuō)住在月亮上的女神。
However, young Chinese ladies also worship the Moon for another reason - in the hope that they can become as beautiful as Chang'e, a girl who, according to Chinese legend, lives in the moon.

中秋節(jié)正是稻子成熟的時(shí)候。在中秋節(jié)農(nóng)民們會(huì)祭拜土地神，土地神的生日就是這一天。很可能在古老傳統(tǒng)上，中秋節(jié)即意味著秋天的到來(lái)。就一年中的季節(jié)而言，中秋節(jié)也被命名為“豐收節(jié)，”在這一天春天播種的莊稼得以收獲。從古代開始，人們就會(huì)在中秋節(jié)喝酒，跳舞，唱歌，來(lái)慶祝豐收。這個(gè)場(chǎng)景能在《詩(shī)經(jīng)》（古代中國(guó)最早的詩(shī)歌總集）找到。
The Mid-Autumn day is the very moment of rice maturity. And at that day farmers will worship the local God of land, whose birthday is exactly on that day. Mid-Autumn day is possibly an old tradition of telling the coming of autumn. In terms of the seasons in a year, the Mid-Autumn day can be named as "Harvest Day", when the crops sowed in the spring can be reaped. Since ancient times, people would drink, dance, and sing on that day, celebrating the harvest. This scene can be found in the Books of Odes (the earliest collection of poems in ancient China).

根據(jù)早期描述，古代的君王有著祭月的傳統(tǒng)，但是這一天是在秋分，而不是中秋節(jié)。然而，每年秋分的日子都不同，在秋分不一定有圓月。因此，祭月被人們認(rèn)可成中秋節(jié)上的一個(gè)習(xí)俗，中秋節(jié)就是月亮最圓的時(shí)候。
According to the previous descriptions, the ancient emperors had the tradition of worshiping the moon, yet the day was initially on the day of Autumn Equinox, and not on the Mid-Autumn day. However, the Autumn Equinox is not a fixed day and there may or may not be a full moon on that day. Therefore, the day for worshipping the moon was accepted as a convention on the Mid-Autumn day, when the moon is in its fullest.