The Double Ninth Festival falls on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month, so it is also called "Double Ninth Festival". In ancient times, two, four, six, eight and ten were negative numbers, one, three, five, seven and nine were positive numbers, and nine was the largest one. The combination of the sun and the moon is important. The ancient book Yijing says, "Yang is nine." Two yang are important to each other, so it is also called "Chongyang".
The Double Ninth Festival comes from a fairy tale of Taoism. According to legend, in the Eastern Han Dynasty, there was a young man named Huan Jing in runan county. His parents are alive, and his wife and children are together. Although life is hard, you can get by with half a meal. Who knows, bad things are coming. There are plagues on both sides of the Ruhe River, every family is sick, and no one is burying bodies everywhere. This year, Huan Jing's parents also died of illness.
When Huan Jing was a child, he heard an adult say, "There is a god of plague living in Ruhe, who goes out for a walk every year. It takes the plague everywhere. Huan Jing is determined to learn from the teacher and destroy the evil for the people. I heard that there lived a big fairy named Fei Changfang on the southeast mountain, so he packed his bags and set off for the mountain to learn from his teacher. Fei Changfang gave Huan Jing a demon-reducing dragon sword. Huan Jing got up early and went to bed late, dressed in Dai Yue, and practiced day and night. Another year in a blink of an eye. Huanjing was practicing sword that day. Fei Changfang came up to him and said, "On September 9 this year, the plague god of Ruhe will come out again. Hurry back to your hometown and kill people. I will send you a bag of dogwood leaves and a bottle of chrysanthemum wine to let the elders in your hometown climb the mountain to avoid disaster. " Xian Weng said, "With a little finger, a crane spread its wings and landed in front of Huan Jing. Huanjing boarded the crane and flew to Runan.
Huan Jing returned to his hometown and called the villagers. Tell everyone what daxian said. On September 9, he led his wife, children and fellow villagers to a nearby mountain. Cornus officinalis leaves are divided into pieces, saying that they can be carried with you, so plague demons can't get close. Pour out the chrysanthemum wine again, and everyone will take a sip, saying that drinking chrysanthemum wine will not catch the plague. After arranging the villagers, he returned home with his dragon sword to subdue the demon, sitting alone in the house, waiting for the arrival of the plague demon and struggling to subdue the demon. After a while, I heard Ruhe roaring and the strange wind spinning. The god of plague came out of the water and walked ashore through the village. There is no one in thousands of families. Suddenly, he looked up and saw people gathering on the high mountain. It jumped to the foot of the mountain and only felt the pungent smell of alcohol. Kaunus was so anxious that he couldn't climb near his lungs, so he turned and walked to the village. I saw a man sitting in the room. Just shout and jump forward. Huan Jing saw that athel Loren was coming, so he drew his sword to fight. After several rounds, Mo Wen fought with him, but he ran away. Huan Jing threw the dragon sword out with a whoosh, only to see the sword flashing cold light chasing the plague demon and throwing it to the ground through his heart and lungs. Since then, the people on both sides of the Ruhe River have never been harmed by the plague demon. The story of climbing a mountain on September 9 to avoid disaster and stabbing a demon to death with the sword handed down from generation to generation has been passed down from son to grandson and has been passed down to the present. The custom of climbing mountains on the ninth day of September to avoid epidemics has been handed down year after year. Wu Yun, a native of A Liang, recorded this point in his book Qi and He Xu. Later, people regarded the custom of climbing on the Double Ninth Festival as an activity to avoid disasters.
The origin of the Double Ninth Festival can be traced back to the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Qu Yuan's Journey wrote: "Set Chongyang into the Emperor's Palace and see the capital of Qing Dynasty ten days later." The "Double Ninth Festival" here refers to the sky, not just festivals. In the Han Dynasty, the custom of celebrating the Double Ninth Festival gradually became popular. According to legend, Lady Qi, the concubine of Emperor Gaozu Liu Bang, was murdered, and Jia Shi, the maid before her, was expelled from the palace and married the poor. Jia brought the activities of Chongyang to the people. Jia told people: in the palace, on the ninth day of September every year, we should wear dogwood, eat tent bait and drink chrysanthemum wine in order to live longer. Since then, the custom of the Double Ninth Festival has spread among the people.
In Nine Days Zhong You written by Cao Pi, Emperor Wen of Wei in the Three Kingdoms period, it was clearly written that Chongyang kept the festival: "From the year to the month, I suddenly returned to September 9. Nine is the number of yang, and the sun and the moon coincide. It is well known and considered suitable for a long time, so it is a feast. " It can be seen that the custom of Double Ninth Festival was quite popular among the literati at that time. By the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, Chongyang had received extensive attention. According to the Records of Local Scenery in the Zhou Dynasty of the Jin Dynasty, "Meeting on Double Ninth Festival, climbing mountains and drinking, it is called Gaodenghui, also known as Cornus Club." "Order of Qi Ren Yue" also said: "On the day of the Double Ninth Festival, we must climb high and overlook, and enjoy a feast with cakes and wine to celebrate our autumn ambitions. Wine must take dogwood, make it wide, and drink it. " Tao Yuanming, a scholar in Jin Dynasty, said in the preface to the poem "Idle for Nine Days": "I am idle and love the name of Nine. Autumn chrysanthemums are full of gardens, but they are sad, empty for Jiuhua, and precious words are like gold. " Chrysanthemum and wine are mentioned here at the same time. This shows that in the Wei and Jin Dynasties, drinking and enjoying chrysanthemums on the Double Ninth Festival has become a custom. In the Tang Dynasty, Chongyang was officially designated as a folk festival.
In the Song Dynasty, the Double Ninth Festival became more lively. Dream of China in Tokyo recorded the grand occasion of the Double Ninth Festival in the Northern Song Dynasty. Legend of Wulin also records that the court in the Southern Song Dynasty "rearranged nine soldiers on the eighth day of the eighth lunar month" for the next day's entertainment. In the Ming Dynasty, on the Double Ninth Festival in September, the palace would eat flower cakes together to celebrate, and the emperor would personally climb the Long Live Mountain to celebrate his autumn ambition. This custom has been passed down to the Qing Dynasty.
"1sunny day in 999", the clouds are light and the wind is light, and the autumn is crisp, which is also the harvest season. It is the best season for sightseeing, with orange yellow, chestnuts in full bloom, osmanthus fragrance, yellow flowers everywhere, fruitful results and beautiful scenery. So Chongyang has many nicknames. In Jin Dynasty, people also called it "Chrysanthemum Festival" or "Golden Festival" because the great poet Tao Yuanming liked to enjoy chrysanthemums in Chongyang. In the Northern and Southern Dynasties, in Jingchu area, people had a "picnic" on this day, so some people called it "picnic festival". The activities to celebrate the Double Ninth Festival are colorful and romantic, which generally include traveling to enjoy the scenery, climbing high into the distance, watching chrysanthemums, planting dogwood everywhere, eating the Double Ninth Festival cake, drinking chrysanthemum wine and other activities.
The custom of Double Ninth Festival
Autumn is crisp, sweet-scented osmanthus is fragrant, and the Double Ninth Festival on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month is rich in activities and interesting, including climbing mountains, enjoying chrysanthemums, drinking chrysanthemum wine, eating double ninth cake and inserting dogwood.
Climb the peak
In ancient times, Chongyang had the folk custom of climbing, so Chongyang Festival was also called "Climbing Festival". According to legend, this custom began in the Eastern Han Dynasty. There are many climbing poems written by scholars in the Tang Dynasty, most of which are the custom of writing the Double Ninth Festival. Du Fu's Seven Laws "Ascending the Mountain" is a famous article about climbing the mountain in Chongyang.
Ancient mountain climbing was not limited to September 9. In the Qing Dynasty, Zhao Yi's "Jade Cong Kao" said: "Ascending the mountain is not limited to September. Changli has a poem "A man climbs the sundial to the south of the city": "Biography of zhou yuan": "Emperor Wen climbed this mountain on the fifteenth day of the first month with his near ministers", which means that both man and Shang Yuan climbed this mountain. It's just that the custom of climbing mountains on Chongyang is the most prosperous and has continued.
The reason why climbing has been handed down is precisely because climbing in autumn, enjoying chrysanthemums and flowers, and drinking and writing poems are interesting things that are of great benefit to physical and mental health. This is the real reason why the climbing custom will last forever. "A stranger in a foreign land misses his family on holidays. I know from a distance where my brother climbed, and there is one person missing from the dogwood. " Wang Wei, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, wrote a poem "Thinking of Shandong Brothers in the Mountain Festival", which expressed his homesickness when climbing the mountain in Chongyang. Du Mu's "Ascending the Mountain in Nine Days" wrote: "Jiang Yingyan flies first, and the guest carries the pot green. Laughter makes people laugh, when chrysanthemums are in full bloom. However, I will try my best to pay for the festival, and I won't hate it when I board the plane. This is the only situation throughout the ages. Why does Niu Shan want to be alone? " In this poem, the author happened to meet his friend on the Double Ninth Festival. They climbed the mountain together, with chrysanthemums in their heads, drinking wine and singing poems. The author also comforted his friends not to cry, showing the author's holiday feelings, which is just the opposite of Wang Wei's poems. Look at Lu's "Looking at Xuanwu Mountain on September 9": "Looking at the mountains and rivers on September 9, I hope to accumulate wind and smoke. In a foreign land, * * * drinks Jinhua wine, and Wan Li shares the same sorrow with Hongyan. " With "Nine Days in the Middle of Shu", "Looking at the hometown station on September 9, he took a seat in his hometown to see off the guests. Human feelings are tired in the south, and Hongyan is from the north. " Two "two outstanding men" of "four outstanding men in the early Tang Dynasty" wrote exactly the same poems on the Double Ninth Festival, both of which showed the author's melancholy in different places. A climber looks at his hometown, anxious to return, sobbing. One looks at the "farewell cup" in the direction of his hometown and places his thoughts on the "Hongyan" from the north. This feeling of homelessness was completely released on the Double Ninth Festival. The ancients wrote many poems about climbing Chongyang Mountain, which stood out from the seasonal customs and culture.
Eat Chongyang cake
According to historical records, Chongyang cake, also known as flower cake, chrysanthemum cake and five-color cake, is made randomly. It is the most important seasonal custom food for the Double Ninth Festival. At dawn on September 9th, put a cake on the child's head and say something in his mouth, wishing the child all the best. This is the original intention of the ancients to make cakes in September. Exquisite Chongyang cake should be made into nine layers, like a pagoda, with two lambs on it, which conforms to the meaning of Chongyang (sheep). Some people even put red paper flags on Chongyang cakes and light candles. This probably means "lighting a lamp" and "eating cakes" instead of "climbing", and using a red paper flag instead of dogwood. At present, there is still no fixed variety of Chongyang cake, and the soft cakes eaten in Chongyang Festival all over the country are called Chongyang cakes.
Many poets in Song Dynasty wrote Chongyang Cake. It can be seen that Chongyang cake began to exist in the Tang Dynasty. By the Song Dynasty, it had become popular in social life. Even the Jin people who lived in the northern part of the motherland in the Northern Song Dynasty imitated the customs of the Han people and ate cakes on the Double Ninth Festival, which was called "Jie Bao Cake".
So, why on earth do you want to eat Chongyang cake? Because not everyone can climb mountains on this day to celebrate the festival, for those who have nothing to climb, or who have no ability to climb mountains and have no time to climb, double ninth cake is used instead, because "cake" is homophonic with "high". Some people say there are other meanings. The Five Miscellanies written by Aminxie said: "At dawn on the 9th, I put a piece of cake on my children's heads and wished them:' Everything is high'. This ancient man is going to eat cake on the ninth day. " It is also a homonym of "Gao", but it has a beautiful meaning of blessing.
There is also the habit of holding chrysanthemums on the Double Ninth Festival. When chrysanthemums are in full bloom and crabs are on the market, as Meng Haoran said, "Wait until the holiday in the mountains, and I will come back at chrysanthemum time." Another example is Cao Xueqin's writing that Baoyu and others admire the claws in the Grand View Garden, which is certainly fascinating. About eating crabs, A Dream of Red Mansions wrote a crab feast in Daguan Garden in the 38th chapter, and the money spent was enough for the cultivators to live for one year.
Enjoy chrysanthemums and drink chrysanthemum wine.
The Double Ninth Festival is the golden autumn season of the year, and chrysanthemums are in full bloom. It is said that appreciating chrysanthemum and drinking chrysanthemum wine originated from Tao Yuanming, a great poet in Jin Dynasty. Tao Yuanming is famous for his seclusion, his poems, his wine and his love for chrysanthemums. Later generations have followed suit, so Chongyang has the custom of enjoying chrysanthemums. In the old days, literati and officialdom also combined chrysanthemum appreciation with banquets in order to get close to Tao Yuanming. In the Northern Song Dynasty, Kaifeng was the capital, and chrysanthemum appreciation on Chongyang was popular. At that time, there were many varieties and shapes of chrysanthemums.
Li Qingzhao, a famous poetess, wrote in "Drunk Flower Shadow" that "the fog is thick and the clouds are sad forever, and the golden beast is sold with a clear mind. Double Ninth Festival, lying in bed, in the middle of the night, the cold on my body has just been soaked. Dongli drinks until dusk, and faint chrysanthemum fragrance overflows his sleeves. Mo Tao does not forget me, the curtain rolls west wind, and people are thinner than yellow flowers! " Li Qingzhao's life is tragic. As a talented woman, fate is so unfair. She lived happily with her husband Zhao Mingcheng for 28 years. It's a pity that Zhao Mingcheng died young and was killed by illness. Zhang Ruzhou, who was married and snobbish after marriage, endured inhuman hardships all day long under the experience of domestic violence. The gap between the two lives is wide, so Li Qingzhao's emotions are the most abundant. She likes dreaming, because she can see her husband Zhao Mingcheng in her dream and come back to reality, and she is very sad. On the Double Ninth Festival, she was too worried to sleep. She drank chrysanthemum wine and saw that she was thinner than a yellow flower, which showed that she was haggard and lived in pain all day.
People also call September of the lunar calendar "Chrysanthemum Month". On the Double Ninth Festival, when chrysanthemums are in full bloom in Ao Shuang, viewing chrysanthemums has become an important part of the festival. After the Qing dynasty, the habit of enjoying chrysanthemums was particularly prosperous, and it was not limited to September 9, but it was the most prosperous around the Double Ninth Festival.
Chairman Mao's "Picking Mulberry on Double Ninth Festival" wrote: "Life is easy to get old, but not easy to get old. Every year is Chongyang, and now it is Chongyang. Battlefield yellow flowers are particularly fragrant. The autumn wind is strong in a year, not like spring, but better than spring, and Wan Li is frosty. " This word describes the prosperity of chrysanthemums before and after the Double Ninth Festival, and shows the chairman's love and appreciation for the great rivers and mountains of the motherland.
Chrysanthemum blooms in September of the lunar calendar, so it is called "Nine Flowers". In the old society, the rich arranged chrysanthemums in the shape of mountains and towers on the Double Ninth Festival, which was called Jiuhua Mountain and Jiuhua Tower.
In the book Yingpu Magazine of the Qing Dynasty, Wang Tao described the chrysanthemum meeting outside the Cuixiu Hall of the Yuyuan Garden in Shanghai at that time: "Thin stones and sparse moss, winding paths leading to secluded places, small pavilions and pavilions, have already felt bleak and autumn. Surrounded by the lake, the stone breaks northeast, and the situation is cheerful. You can see the shadow of chrysanthemum in the distance, and you can see the fundus. After entering the back column, hundreds of flowers are blooming, and the heights are scattered. Several curtains and porcelain pots in the front row of the hall are extremely beautiful and compete for each other. "
Evodia rutaecarpa and chrysanthemum
1999 Mountain climbing is not only about attending banquets and writing poems, but also other activities. These activities were integrated into a "rock climbing club". Gordon Conference is also called "cowans Conference", so it is also called "cowans Festival". The custom of inserting Evodia rutaecarpa in the Double Ninth Festival was very common in the Tang Dynasty. The ancients thought that inserting Evodia rutaecarpa on the Double Ninth Festival could take refuge and eliminate disasters. Or wear it on your arm, or make a sachet, put Cornus officinalis in it and wear it on your head. Most of them are worn by women and children, and in some places, men also wear them. Ge Hong's Miscellanies of the Western Classics in the Jin Dynasty recorded that Kaunus participated in the Double Ninth Festival. Besides wearing dogwood, people also wear chrysanthemums. This happened in the Tang Dynasty and has been popular since ancient times. In the Qing Dynasty, the custom of Beijing Double Ninth Festival was to stick chrysanthemum branches and leaves on doors and windows, "to get rid of evil and filth, and to make money into treasure". This is the vulgarization of the chrysanthemum on the head. In the Song Dynasty, some people cut ribbons into dogwood and chrysanthemum and gave them to each other.
Unique festival form
The Double Ninth Festival is the official harvest season in northern Shaanxi. There is a song that says: "September, Double Ninth Festival, autumn is busy. Xiaomi, Xiaomi, go up, go up. " The Double Ninth Festival in northern Shaanxi is in the evening, and one day is a whole day of harvesting and threshing. In the evening, in the treetops, people like to eat buckwheat noodles and instant-boiled mutton. After dinner, people go out of their homes in twos and threes, climb the nearby hills, light fires, talk about the land, and wait until the chickens crow before going home. When climbing mountains at night, many people will pick some wild chrysanthemums and put them on their daughters' heads to ward off evil spirits.
In Puxian, Fujian, people follow the ancient custom of steaming nine layers of Chongyang rice fruit. In ancient China, there was a custom of "eating bait" on Double Ninth Festival, which is today's cake and rice fruit. The Jade Candle Collection in the Song Dynasty says, "Those who eat chrysanthemum wine for nine days will get millet and glutinous rice at that time, and it will become a habit to taste new things because of their sticky taste." Song Zuqian, a poet of Puxian in the early Qing Dynasty, said in "Nine Songs of Fujian": "When you smell the festival near Chongyang, you are shocked to hear the wild incense, and you can pick up the wild incense with your hand basket. The jade pestle is smashed into green powder and the pearl is called Langwei. " Since modern times, people have transformed rice fruit into a unique nine-fold rice fruit. Wash high-quality late rice with clear water, soak it for two hours, take it out and drain it, mix it with water and grind it into slurry, add alum (dissolved in water) and stir it, add brown sugar (boiled with water to make a thick sugar solution), then put it on a steamer, spread a clean cooking cloth, then scoop in rice slurry for nine times, steam for a few hours, then come out of the cage and cook it, and spread peanut oil on the rice noodles. This rice fruit is divided into nine layers, which can be uncovered and cut into water chestnuts. Four sides are distinct and translucent. It is sweet, soft and delicious, and it doesn't stick to teeth. Respect for the elderly is the best gift for Chongyang.
In some places, people also have the opportunity to climb mountains, sweep graves and commemorate their ancestors in Chongyang. There are more people worshipping their ancestors in Pupu's immortal Chongyang than in Tomb-Sweeping Day, so there is a saying that March is little Tomb-Sweeping Day and September is big Tomb-Sweeping Day. Due to the coastal area of Puxian, the ninth day of September is also the anniversary of Mazu's ascension to heaven. Villagers often go to the Tianhou Palace and the Palace Temple in Mazu Tempel or Meizhou to pray.
The double ninth festival is designated as the festival for the elderly.
In the traditional concept of Central Plains people, the Double Ninth Festival still means longevity, health and longevity. 1989, China designated September 9th every year as the festival for the elderly, which skillfully combined tradition with modernity and became a festival to respect, love and help the elderly. At this time, organs, organizations and streets all over the country often organize retired old people to enjoy the scenery in autumn, or play near the water, or climb mountains to keep fit, so that their bodies and minds can be bathed in the embrace of nature; The younger generation of many families will also help the elderly to go to the suburbs or prepare some delicious food for the elderly. All localities should organize autumn outing for the elderly, broaden their horizons, exchange feelings, exercise, and cultivate people's noble character of returning to nature and loving the motherland.
This year's Double Ninth Festival is also the 18th day of China Festival for the Elderly. Two days ago, our reporter visited more than 0/00 office workers in Xi 'an/KLOC, and found that 40% of them said they didn't know there was a festival for the elderly, which really chilled us. Nowadays, young people only remember Halloween, Christmas and Valentine's Day in the west, but forget the fine traditional festivals handed down from China. This is really a bit like putting the cart before the horse and learning to walk in Handan. China's traditional culture is being eroded by western culture, which worries us. How to carry forward the traditional culture handed down by our ancestors is a major issue before us.