Appreciating chrysanthemums and drinking chrysanthemum wine
Double Ninth Festival is the golden autumn season of the year, when chrysanthemums are in full bloom. It is said that appreciating chrysanthemums and drinking chrysanthemum wine originated from Tao Yuanming, a great poet of the Jin Dynasty. Tao Yuanming was famous for his seclusion, his poems, his wine, and his love of chrysanthemums. Later generations followed suit, and the custom of appreciating chrysanthemums during the Double Ninth Festival was established. In the old days, literati and officials would combine chrysanthemum appreciation with banquets in order to get closer to Tao Yuanming. In Kaifeng, the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, the custom of chrysanthemum viewing on the Double Ninth Festival was very popular. At that time, there were many varieties of chrysanthemums in various shapes and forms. Folks also call the ninth month of the lunar calendar the "Chrysanthemum Moon". During the Double Ninth Festival when chrysanthemums are in full bloom, viewing chrysanthemums has become an important part of the festival. After the Qing Dynasty, the custom of appreciating chrysanthemums became particularly prosperous, and it was not limited to September 9, but it was still most prosperous around the Double Ninth Festival. ,
The custom of planting dogwood and hairpin chrysanthemums during the Double Ninth Festival has been very common in the Tang Dynasty. The ancients believed that planting dogwood on the Double Ninth Festival can help ward off disasters; it can be worn on the arm, used as a sachet with the dogwood inside, and some can be worn on the head. Most of them are worn by women and children. In some places, men also wear them. Wearing dogwood on the Double Ninth Festival is recorded in Ge Hong's "Xi Jing Za Ji" in the Jin Dynasty. In addition to wearing dogwood, some people also wear chrysanthemums on their heads. This was already the case in the Tang Dynasty and has been popular in all dynasties. In the Qing Dynasty, the custom of the Double Ninth Festival in Beijing was to stick chrysanthemum branches and leaves on the windows to "remove evil and filth and attract good luck." This is the custom of hairpin chrysanthemum on the head. In the Song Dynasty, there were people who cut colored silk ribbons into dogwoods and chrysanthemums to give as gifts. People in some places also take advantage of the opportunity of climbing mountains on the Double Ninth Festival to visit their ancestors' tombs and commemorate their ancestors. There are more people in Puxian worshiping their ancestors on the Double Ninth Festival than on the Qingming Festival. Therefore, there is a saying that the third month is the Little Qingming Festival and the Double Ninth Festival is the Great Qingming Festival. Since Puxian is located along the coast, the ninth day of September is also the anniversary of Mazu’s death. Many villagers go to the Mazu Temple in Meizhou or the Tianhou Ancestral Temple and Palace Temple in Hong Kong to offer sacrifices and seek blessings.
After the founding of New China, the activities of the Double Ninth Festival were enriched with new content. In 1989, my country's Double Ninth Festival was designated as the Elderly Day. On this day, all localities should organize autumn mountaineering excursions for the elderly to broaden their horizons, exchange feelings, exercise, and cultivate people's noble character of returning to nature and loving the great mountains and rivers of the motherland.
The origin and development history of the Double Ninth Festival. The Double Ninth Festival has been mentioned as early as the "Chu Ci" in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Qu Yuan wrote in his "Yuan Yuan": "Gathering on the Double Ninth Festival to enter the Emperor Xi, we will visit the Qing capital at the beginning of the tenth day of the lunar calendar." The "Double Ninth Festival" here refers to the sky, not to the festival. Cao Pi, Emperor Wen of Wei during the Three Kingdoms period, clearly wrote about the Double Ninth Festival banquet in his "Nine Days Book": "As the years go by, the ninth day of the ninth month suddenly returns. Nine is the number of Yang, and the sun and the moon are celebrated in accordance with the customs. The name is considered suitable for a long time, so it is used to enjoy banquets and high gatherings." Tao Yuanming, a scholar of the Jin Dynasty, said in the preface to the poem "Nine Days of Leisure": "I love the name of Nine Days, and the garden is full of autumn chrysanthemums. Serve Jiuhua and place your heart in words." Both chrysanthemums and wine are mentioned here. Probably during the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the practice of drinking alcohol and drinking chrysanthemums on the Double Ninth Festival began. In the Tang Dynasty, Double Ninth Festival was officially designated as a folk festival. In the Ming Dynasty, on the Double Ninth Festival in September, everyone in the palace would eat flower cakes together to celebrate, and the emperor would personally go to the Long Live Mountain to climb up the mountain. This custom was passed down to the Qing Dynasty. The golden autumn is refreshing and the osmanthus is fragrant. The Double Ninth Festival on the ninth day of the ninth month of the lunar calendar is full of activities and fun, including climbing, admiring chrysanthemums, drinking chrysanthemum wine, eating Double Ninth cakes, planting dogwoods, etc.
In In ancient times, people had the custom of climbing on the Double Ninth Festival, so the Double Ninth Festival is also called the "Climbing Festival". According to legend, this custom began in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Literati in the Tang Dynasty wrote many climbing poems, most of which were about the customs of the Double Ninth Festival; Du Fu's seven-character "Deng Gao" is a famous poem about climbing on the Double Ninth Festival. There are no uniform regulations for climbing wherever you go. Generally, you climb mountains and towers. There is also the custom of eating "Double Ninth Cake".
Eating Double Ninth Cake
According to historical records, Double Ninth Cake is also called flower cake, chrysanthemum cake, and five-color cake. There is no set method for making it and it is relatively random. At dawn on September 9th, people put a piece of cake on their children's foreheads and muttered something, wishing their children all the best. This was the original intention of the ancients to make cakes in September. The special Double Ninth Festival cake should be made into nine layers, like a pagoda, with two lambs on top to match the meaning of the Double Ninth Festival (sheep). Some people also put a small red paper flag on the Double Ninth Festival cake and light candles. This probably means replacing "climbing high" with "lighting up lamps" and "eating cakes", and replacing dogwood with small red paper flags. Today, there is still no fixed variety of Double Ninth Cake. The soft cakes eaten on the Double Ninth Festival in various places are called Double Ninth Cake.