The sacrifice to the moon has a very long history, which dates back to the Zhou Dynasty (1046 - 256 BC). In ancient times, the emperors usually offered a sacrifice to the moon on the Autumnal Equinox at the place called Altar of the Moon. The Altar of the Moon in Beijing was where the emperors of the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) Dynasties offered a sacrifice to the moon. Through the passage of time, this custom has been adopted into folk lore and now the sacrificial ceremony is usually held in family units. However, nowadays this activity continues only in certain rural areas or at attraction sites and no longer by the majority of Chinese families.
Following tradition, the major offerings for the sacrificial ceremony were moon cakes. Besides, there were watermelons cut into the shape of a lotus flower, grapefruits, boiled green soybeans, oranges and wine, etc, mostly edible things that are round in shape. This was significant as the Mid-Autumn Festival was a day for family reunion and the Chinese word for “round” had a similar pronunciation to that of “reunion”. The offerings would be set on a table that the moonlight could reach, or facing the general direction of the moon on cloudy or rainy nights. In front of the table, was an incense burner, with lighted red candles on each side.
With the announcement by the host, the ceremony began. Two deacons walked slowly to stand one each side of the offering table, followed by the officiant (usually the oldest woman in the family or the hostess) and the other attendants (family members), who all went down on their knees in front of the offering table. The officiant then took over three burning joss sticks from the deacon and made some wishes and then placed the joss sticks in the burner. This would be done three times. Then the officiant poured a cup of wine in front of the offerings and read prayers toward the moon. The paper with written prayers was then burnt, together with moonlight papers (the incense papers painted with the moon palace and goodness of the moon). After, all attendants genuflected three times. Finally, the attendants burnt the incense, made wishes and worshiped the moon one by one.