Rudong Double Ninth Festival Customs

Introduction to the Double Ninth Festival

The ninth day of the ninth lunar month is the traditional Double Ninth Festival. Because the ancient "Book of Changes" defines "six" as a yin number and "nine" as a yang number. On September 9th, the sun and moon are in conjunction with the yang, and the two nines overlap, so it is called Double Ninth Festival, also called Double Nine. The ancients considered it an auspicious day worthy of celebration, and began celebrating this festival from early on.

Activities to celebrate the Double Ninth Festival are colorful and romantic, and generally include activities such as traveling to enjoy the scenery, climbing high to overlook, viewing chrysanthemums, planting dogwood trees, eating Double Ninth cakes, drinking chrysanthemum wine, etc.

The Double Ninth Festival has the same pronunciation as "Jiujiu", and nine is the largest number among numbers, which means longevity. Moreover, autumn is also the golden season of harvest. The Double Ninth Festival has far-reaching meanings. People There has always been a special feeling for this festival. There are many excellent poems in Tang and Song Dynasties that celebrate the Double Ninth Festival and chant chrysanthemums.

Today’s Double Ninth Festival has been given a new meaning. In 1989, our country designated September 9th as the Elderly Day. Tradition and modernity are cleverly combined to become a day of respecting, respecting and loving the elderly. A festival for the elderly and those who help the elderly. Agencies, groups, and streets across the country often organize autumn outings for the elderly who have retired from their jobs to enjoy the scenery at this time, play by the water, or climb mountains to keep fit, so that their bodies and minds can be bathed in the embrace of nature; many The younger generation of the family will also support the elders to go to the countryside for activities or prepare some delicious meals for the elderly.

Customs

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 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" 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.

Appreciating chrysanthemums and drinking chrysanthemum wine

The 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 poetry, 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 practice 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. ,

Inserting dogwood and hairpin chrysanthemums

The custom of planting dogwood on the Double Ninth Festival has been very common in the Tang Dynasty. The ancients believed that planting dogwood on the Double Ninth Festival can provide refuge and eliminate disasters; it can be worn on the arm, used as a sachet with the dogwood inside and worn, and some can be placed 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 doors and 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 and gave them to each other as gifts.

Customs of celebrating the Double Ninth Festival in various places

In addition to the more common customs mentioned above, there are also some unique ways of celebrating the festival in various places.

Double Ninth Festival is the official harvest season in northern Shaanxi. There is a song that goes: "On the Double Ninth Festival in September, we are busy harvesting and harvesting. Millets and millet are coming to the field." In northern Shaanxi, the Double Ninth Festival is celebrated at night, and during the day there is a whole day of harvesting and hunting. At night, when the moon rises above the treetops, people like to enjoy buckwheat noodles and mutton. After dinner, people walk out of their homes in twos and threes, climb to the top of a nearby hill, light fires, chat, and go home only when the rooster crows. When hiking at night, many people pick a few handfuls of wild chrysanthemums and put them on their daughters' heads when they get home to ward off evil spirits.

In Puxian, Fujian, people follow the old custom of steaming nine layers of rice crackers during the Double Ninth Festival. In ancient my country, there was a custom of "eating bait" during the Double Ninth Festival. "Bait" is today's cakes, rice crackers and the like. The "Jade Candle Collection" of the Song Dynasty says: "Those who eat bait and drink chrysanthemum wine for nine days should collect millet and millet together at that time, so as to taste the new ones due to the delicious flavor of sticky rice, and this has become a long-standing habit." Song Zuqian, a Puxian poet in the early Qing Dynasty, said in his "Fujian Wine Song": "I was surprised to hear that the Double Ninth Festival was approaching, and I picked up wild incense with a basket in my slender hands. I pounded the jade pestle into green powder and wet it, and every pearl called for a taste." In modern times, people have transformed rice crackers into a very distinctive nine-layer rice crackers. Wash the high-quality late rice with clean water, soak it for 2 hours, take it out and drain it, mix it with water and grind it into a slurry, add alum (dissolve in water) and stir, add red sugar (mix it with water and boil it into a sugar concentrate), and then put it in a steamer Place a clean cooking cloth on the pot, then scoop in the rice pulp in nine batches, steam for a while until cooked, and apply peanut oil on the surface of the rice. This rice cracker is divided into nine overlapping layers, which can be uncovered and cut into water chestnuts. The four sides are clearly layered and translucent. It is sweet, soft and tasty, and does not stick to the teeth. It is the best gift to honor the elderly during the Double Ninth Festival.

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 have been enriched with new content. In 1989, my country's Double Ninth Festival was designated as the Senior Citizen's 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 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, we entered the imperial palace and visited the Qing capital at the beginning of Xun Dynasty." The "Double Ninth Festival" here refers to the sky, not to the festival. Cao Pi, Emperor Wen of the Wei Dynasty during the Three Kingdoms period, clearly wrote about the Double Ninth Festival banquet in his "Book of Nine Days and Zhong Yao": "As the years go by, the ninth day of the ninth month suddenly returns. Nine is the yang number, and the sun and the moon correspond to each other. The common people praised his name, thinking that it would last a long time, so he used it to enjoy banquets and high gatherings." Tao Yuanming, a scholar in the Jin Dynasty, said in the preface to the poem "Nine Days of Leisure": "I love the name of Jiu when I am idle. The garden is full of autumn chrysanthemums, but I hold my mash in my hands, and I fill the air with Jiuhua and express my thoughts in words." Both chrysanthemums and wine are mentioned here. Probably during the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the practice of drinking and appreciating 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 to clear his autumn aspirations. This custom has been passed down to the Qing Dynasty.

The Legend of the Double Ninth Festival

Like most traditional festivals, the Double Ninth Festival also has ancient legends.

According to legend, during the Eastern Han Dynasty, there was a plague demon in the Ruhe River. Whenever it appeared, someone would fall ill in every family and people would die every day. The people in this area were ravaged by the plague demon.

A plague took away the parents of young Hengjing, and he himself almost died due to illness. After recovering from the illness, he said goodbye to his beloved wife and fellow villagers, and decided to go out to visit immortals and learn skills in order to get rid of the plague for the people. Hengjing visited teachers everywhere to find the way, and visited famous mountain masters from all over the country. Finally, he found out that there is one of the oldest mountains in the east, and there is an immortal with boundless power on the mountain. Hengjing was not afraid of the dangers and the distance of the journey, and under the guidance of the crane , finally found the mountain and the immortal with magical power. The immortal was moved by his spirit and finally took Hengjing in, taught him the swordsmanship of subduing demons, and gave him a sword to subdue demons. Hengjing practiced hard, forgetting food and sleep, and finally developed extraordinary martial arts.

On this day, the immortal called Hengjing to him and said: "Tomorrow is the ninth day of September, and the plague demon will come out to do evil again. You have learned your skills, and you should go back to eliminate harm for the people." The immortal gave Hengjing a pack of dogwood leaves and a cup of chrysanthemum wine, and secretly taught him how to ward off evil spirits, and asked Hengjing to ride a crane and ride home.

Hengjing returned to his hometown. On the morning of the ninth day of September, he led the villagers to a nearby mountain according to the instructions of the immortal leader, and gave each of them a piece of dogwood leaf and a cup of chrysanthemum wine. Prepare to conquer the devil. At noon, following several strange screams, the plague demon rushed out of the Ruhe River. However, as soon as the plague demon rushed down the mountain, he suddenly smelled the strange fragrance of dogwood and chrysanthemum wine. The Demonic Sword chased down the mountain, and stabbed the Wenmo to death in a few rounds. From then on, the custom of climbing high to avoid epidemics on the ninth day of September has been passed down year after year. Wu Jun, a native of Liang Dynasty, recorded this in his book "Xu Qixie Ji".

Later, people regarded the custom of climbing on the Double Ninth Festival as an activity to avoid disasters. In addition, in the traditional concepts of the Central Plains people, Double Nine also means long life, health and longevity, so the Double Ninth Festival was later established as the Festival for the Elderly.

Poems of the Double Ninth Festival

Picking Mulberries on the Double Ninth Festival

Mao Zedong

Life is easy but it is difficult to grow old, and the Double Ninth Festival is celebrated every year,

< p> Today is the Double Ninth Festival, and the yellow flowers on the battlefield are especially fragrant.

The strong autumn wind once a year is not like the spring scenery.

It is better than the spring scenery. The vast river and sky are covered with frost.

Remembering the Brothers from Shandong on September 9th

(Tang Dynasty) Wang Wei

A stranger in a foreign land, I miss my family even more during the festive season.

I know from afar that my brothers have climbed to a high place, and there is one less person planting dogwood trees everywhere.

Climbing up the mountain in nine days

(Tang Dynasty) Du Mu

The wild geese first fly in the autumn shadow of Jiang Han, and they carry pots with guests on the green micro.

It is rare in this world to smile, and you must return with your head full of chrysanthemums.

But I will be drunk to celebrate the festival, and I will not come to hate the sunset.

This has always been the case. Why should Niu Shan be alone in his clothes?

It will happen on September 10th

(Tang Dynasty) Li Bai

I climbed up yesterday and will raise my cup again today.

Why is the chrysanthemum so bitter? It suffers from these two double suns.

View of Xuanwu Mountain Travel on September 9th

(Tang Dynasty) Lu Zhaolin

Looking at the mountains and rivers on September 9th, I returned to my heart and looked at the accumulated wind and smoke.

Drinking golden flower wine in a foreign country, we feel the sorrow of the wild geese thousands of miles away.

Nineth day in Shuzhong

(Tang Dynasty) Wang Bo

On September 9th, at the Wangxiang Terrace, he gave a cup to see off guests from a foreign land.

Human sentiment is tired of the suffering in the south, and the swan geese come from the north.

Nine Days

(Tang Dynasty) Wang Jin

Don’t compare the border areas to Kyoto, where there is severe frost in August and the grass has withered.

I wonder if there are chrysanthemums in the wine bottle at Denggao today.

Nine Days

(Tang Dynasty) Yang Heng

Yellow flowers and purple chrysanthemums fall by the fence, picking chrysanthemums and drinking wine to love the new fragrance.

I couldn’t bear to miss my hometown today, so I forced myself to plant dogwood trees to accompany everyone.

On the ninth day of Fenghe, I was lucky enough to visit Wei Pavilion and climb up to get the word "branch"

Wei Anshi

On the ninth day of the ninth year of the Autumn Festival, I got a piece of Chenyi.

The chrysanthemums are floating in the golden wind, and the jade dew is weeping on the dogwood branches.

Look beyond the eight celestial bodies, and the astronomical sky is covered with seven rays.

The depths should be close at hand, so why not forget the danger when you are at a high place.

In the shade of drunken flowers

(Song Dynasty) Li Qingzhao

The mist is thick and the clouds are dark, and the day is long, and the auspicious brain sells the golden beast.

It’s the Double Ninth Festival and it’s the Double Ninth Festival. The jade pillow and gauze cupboard are cool in the middle of the night.

After dusk when I drink wine in Dongli, there is a faint fragrance filling my sleeves.

It is impossible not to be ecstatic, the west wind blows behind the curtain, and people are thinner than yellow flowers!

Returning to Yangzhou in Chang'an and visiting Weishan Pavilion to perform rhymes on September 9th

(Southern Dynasty Chen) Mr. Jiang

The heart follows the south clouds and passes away, and the body follows the north The geese come.

How many flowers will the chrysanthemums bloom under the fence in my hometown today?

Intoxicated by the east wind, Chongjiu

(Yuan Dynasty) Guan Hanqing

The title is red leaves and clear water flowing in the ditch, and people admiring the yellow flowers are drunk in the singing tower.

The sky is long, the shadows of wild geese are sparse, and the moon is setting on the mountains.

In the deserted Qing Dynasty and late autumn, the decaying willow trees and cicadas are filled with sadness.

Who is willing to teach white clothes to serve wine?

Nine Days

(Ming Dynasty) Vincent

The Chrysanthemum blooms for three years and is not at home when it blooms.

How can I drink wine today and suddenly see the flowers in my hometown?

There are clouds and trees in the wilderness, and geese gather on the sand in the cold weather.

When you arrive at Infinity, where can you look at Beijing?