Music & Rituals

音乐和中秋节

Since we're entering the autumn season, I thought it would only be appropriate to write about 中秋节, The Mid-Autumn Festival, celebrated in Chinese culture. The Mid-Autumn Festival is a traditional festival that is held on the 15th day of the 8th month in the lunar calendar. This year, it is on the 29th of September (which is in a few days!). Also known as the Moon Festival, this festival always falls on the day of a full moon and marks the end of the autumn harvest. It is a time to celebrate unity and reunion. 

During the Mid-Autumn Festival, we decorate our houses in red and gold with lanterns, moon paintings/prints, and boxes of mooncakes. Mooncakes are always one of my favorite things about this festival (my parents and I even get them year-round). They are a type of pastry that is filled with a sweet red-bean paste and their round shape symbolizes family reunion. At night, the Chinese participate in many various actitivites such as moonlit walks, making and lighting lanterns, watching Chinese performances, and eating lots of food. 

Music is a great significance during this festival. In Chinese culture, harmonic music and rituals are important aspects of bringing people together and making a stable and orderly society. Most performances-- dance, magic, story-telling, etc.-- during the Mid-Autumn festival include music, whether it be traditional, modern, instrumental, solo, or grouped. I've seen online a lot of solo performances during Chinese festivals that involve a 古筝 (Guzheng), which is a Chinese stringed instrument-- often referred to as a Chinese zither. Shown below is an example of a Guzheng performance of the traditional Chinese folk song Autumn Moon Over the Calm Lake:

Many dance performances are also done during the Mid-Autumn festival, professional and non-professional. Here is an example of one from last year's Mid-Autumn Festival in Beijing: 

These Chinese dances always have a story to tell and the music is what I feel really brings out the emotion and meaning. As you can see in this video, there are multiple instruments being played. The beginning even starts out with the visual representation of what instruments are being played and who is playing. The song begins with a Chinese flute (笛子/dizi) and a medium-sized, traditional Chinese drum (堂鼓/tanggu), which both date back to the Han Dynasty. The flute most likely came from western regions but I believe the tanggu fully originated in China. Based off of the cultures we have learned in class and ones I already know of, I've noticed that they all have two musical aspects in common: the usage of drums and shakers; You can see and hear both types of drums and shakers being used in this Chinese piece for example. Also, in this video, the guzheng (that I mentioned earlier) is being played as well as another stringed instrument called 阮 (ruan). I've talked about only a few of the many traditional Chinese instruments that there are! Here's a (very blurry) list of most of them: 

I really hope you enjoyed reading my blog as much as I enjoyed writing it! I find many traditional Chinese musical pieces to be exceptionally influential, emotional, and beautiful. Plus, these pieces are not only used during the Mid-Autumn Festival but also during other rituals and traditional festivals, such as Chinese New Year (春节), weddings, the Dragon Boat Festival (端午节) and more!

Citations: 

- “Chinese Flutes.” Chinese Flutes; Dizi and Xiao, www.oldflutes.com/world/chinese.htm.