Beijing celebrates Mid-Autumn Festival with folk customs
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A pastry chef teaches children to make moon cakes at Beijing Folk Custom Museum on Sept. 12, 2019.
Actresses perform a costume play as Chang'e, the immortal Moon Goddess in Chinese legend, and her companion the Jade Rabbit, offering osmanthus wine to visitors at the Beijing Folk Custom Museum on Sept. 12, 2019.
This is the moon worship ceremony altar displayed at Beijing Folk Custom Museum on Sept. 12, 2019. Traditionally, during the moon worship ceremony, food offerings including moon cakes, apples, pomegranates, and watermelon cut in the shape of a lotus, are placed on an altar set up in the courtyard.
A girl hands out lantern riddles written on slips of papers to visitors at Beijing Folk Custom Museum on Sept. 12, 2019.
A performer sings "The moon represents my heart" at a special gala for citizens at Beijing Folk Custom Museum on Sept. 12, 2019.
A visitor paints a Tu'er Ye, the Lord Rabbit figurine, at Beijing Folk Custom Museum on Sept. 12, 2019. (Photo: China.org.cn)
Tu'er Ye is a rabbit with a human body adorned with the accouterments of an ancient general. Legend has it that, a long time ago, the rabbit sent by Moon Goddess once saved people who suffered from an epidemic in Beijing. Considered an icon of Beijing local culture, it was once used for worship as part of the festival tradition; now, it is mostly used as a type of decoration and a toy for children.
Hill of Tu'er Ye displayed and sold at Beijing Folk Custom Museum on Sept. 12, 2019.