About what traditional foods to eat during the Double Ninth Festival

How much do you know about the Double Ninth Festival? The Double Ninth Festival falls on the ninth day of September in the lunar calendar. It is now a festival exclusively for the elderly. Do you know what to eat on the Double Ninth Festival? Here is what I have brought to you about What traditional foods are eaten during the Double Ninth Festival? For your reference, let’s take a look!

What traditional foods are eaten during the Double Ninth Festival

Double Ninth Cake

During the Double Ninth Festival, we respect the elderly and climb high to avoid disasters. "Cake" has the same pronunciation as "高", and it also means "step by step promotion" and "longevity of ninety-nine years", so "Chongyang Flower Cake" has become a popular holiday food.

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 more random. There are "rough flower cake", "fine flower cake" and "money flower cake". Glue some coriander leaves as a symbol, and sandwich rough dried fruits such as green fruits, dates, and walnut kernels in the middle; the fine flower cake has 3 or 2 layers, and each layer is sandwiched with finer candied dried fruits, such as apple preserves, Preserved peaches, apricots, black dates, etc.; Money Flower Cake is basically the same as Fine Flower Cake, but smaller, like "money", and is mostly the food of the upper-class nobles.

Mutton Noodles

"Sheep" and "Yang" are homophonic, corresponding to the Double Ninth Festival. To eat white noodles, "white" is the word "hundred" minus the "one" at the top, which means one hundred minus one is ninety-nine, in response to the "nine-nine" formula. The birthday of a ninety-nine-year-old man in Beijing is called "White Shou". Wealthy families can hold mutton-based banquets on that day, including fried, roasted, rinsed and even whole-lamb feasts. Autumn is the fattest season for sheep, and mutton is warm in nature and can keep out the cold.

Crab

Crab is rich in protein and is called a high-quality protein food. Crab meat is relatively delicate, and crab fat content is very low, but fat-soluble vitamins A, E and B vitamins are relatively high. Especially crab roe is rich in vitamin A, which is good for vision and skin health. This is of great benefit to people who need nutritional supplements.

As the saying goes: "In the ninth month, the umbilicus is at the tip of the tenth month, and you hold your pincers and drink in the chrysanthemum sky." There is also the custom of eating crabs on the Double Ninth Festival. Zheng Banqiao's poem: "On the occasion of the Double Ninth Festival, hold your pincers to cut young ginger." This is evidence of the tradition of eating crabs during the Double Ninth Festival. The Double Ninth Festival falls in September. Autumn chrysanthemums are fragrant, crab paste is yellow and delicious, and the meat is fat and tender. It is a good season for eating crabs.

Pomegranate

It is the right time to eat pomegranates during the Double Ninth Festival. Pomegranates are shaped like a tumor and have seeds inside the skin. They are harvested and eaten when the fruit matures in autumn. Its taste is roughly sour and sweet. kind. Pomegranate is rich in vitamins, among which the content of vitamin C and vitamin B group is high, and the content of protein, fat and calcium is also high. The content of vitamins is many times higher than that of apples. Pomegranate juice contains a variety of amino acids and trace elements, which can help digestion, resist gastric ulcers, soften blood vessels, lower blood lipids and blood sugar, and lower cholesterol. It can prevent coronary heart disease and high blood pressure, and can achieve the effects of strengthening the stomach and refreshing the mind, increasing appetite, prolonging life and prolonging life. It has a miraculous effect on people who drink too much and relieve hangovers.

Customs of the Double Ninth Festival

Sunshine in the Autumn

The Double Ninth Festival is the best time to enjoy the autumn. There are still some mountainous villages in southern China that retain the characteristics of "basking in the autumn". Going to the countryside to appreciate folk customs and watch the autumn sun has become a fashion in rural tourism. "Autumn sunbathing" is a typical agricultural custom with strong regional characteristics. Villagers living in mountainous areas such as Hunan, Guangxi, Anhui, and Jiangxi, due to the complex terrain and very little flat land in the village, have to use the front and back of the house and the roof of their own window sill to dry or hang their crops. Over time, it has evolved into a traditional agricultural custom. . This special lifestyle and scene of villagers drying crops has gradually become a creative material for painters and photographers, and created the poetic name "autumn sun".

Flying paper kites

Flying paper kites is the main custom of celebrating the Double Ninth Festival in the south. Folk celebrations of the Double Ninth Festival are mainly characterized by releasing paper kites. Guangxu's "Huizhou Prefecture" also records it. Paper kites are also modern kites. In folk tradition, in addition to climbing mountains, flying paper kites is also a feature of the Double Ninth Festival.

Climbing

The custom of climbing during the Double Ninth Festival has a long history. Ancient folk had the custom of climbing on the Double Ninth Festival, so the Double Ninth Festival is also called the "Climbing Festival". The custom of climbing during the Double Ninth Festival stems from the climate characteristics at this time and the ancients' worship of mountains. Climbing "Ci Qing" is also derived from the solar terms in nature. Climbing "Ci Qing" on the Double Ninth Festival corresponds to the ancients' "outing" in spring in March. The custom of "mountain climbing to pray for blessings" has been popular in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. There are no unified regulations on where to climb. The places you visit are generally divided into climbing mountains, climbing buildings, or climbing platforms. There are roughly four origins of the custom of high altitude: one is derived from the worship of mountains by the ancients; the second is derived from the climate of "clear air rising and turbid air sinking"; the third is derived from climbing "Ci Qing"; the fourth is It comes from the absurd legend "Huanjing climbed the mountain to avoid disaster".

Climbing mountains to pray for blessings

In ancient times, the ancients worshiped mountains and formed the custom of "climbing mountains to pray for blessings". "Book of Rites: Sacrifice" records: "Mountains, forests, rivers, valleys and hills, which can produce clouds, provide wind and rain, and see monsters, are all called gods." Documents record that the ancients were both awe and full of worship for mountains. The custom of "mountain climbing to pray" dates back to the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Period has become popular. In the Western Han Dynasty, "Chang'an Chronicle" contains records of people visiting the capital on September 9th in the Han Dynasty.

According to the laws of the movement of the sun, the earth, the sun and the moon, the Double Ninth Festival, September 9th of the lunar calendar, is a climate where "clean air rises and turbid air sinks". The higher the terrain, the more clear air gathers, so "climb high on the Double Ninth Festival and enjoy the clear air" "Qi" has become an important folk phenomenon that people are flocking to.

The saying "Ci Qing" when climbing high comes from the solar terms in nature. The Double Ninth Festival is the Autumn Festival. After the festival, the weather gets cooler and the grass and trees begin to wither. The "Quiqing" mountain climbing on the Double Ninth Festival corresponds to the "outing" of the ancients in spring outings in March.

The myth and legend of climbing high to avoid disasters on the Double Ninth Festival began in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Legend has it that a warlock named Huan Jing in Henan believed that plague would come on this day, and people should leave their homes and go as high as possible. Wherever you go, you will be safe. The absurd story of Huan Jing climbing high on September 9th to avoid disaster can be found in the mythical and strange novel "Xu Qixie Ji" written by Liang Wujun of the Southern Dynasty.

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 (instead of dogwood) on the Double Ninth Festival cake and light candles. This probably means "lighting up lamps" and "eating cakes" instead of "climbing high". 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.

Worshiping Ancestors

The Double Ninth Festival is one of the four traditional ancestor worship festivals in China. Ancient people have a tradition of worshiping ancestors and praying for blessings. In ancient times, the traditional custom of worshiping ancestors on the Double Ninth Festival is still popular in Lingnan. People will hold ancestor worship activities on the Double Ninth Festival every year. Whether it is ancestor worship activities or climbing high to gaze into the distance, its most fundamental role is to enhance people's sense of cultural identity and strengthen the cohesion of family and society.

Appreciating chrysanthemums

The Double Ninth Festival has always been a custom of appreciating chrysanthemums, so it has also been called the Chrysanthemum Festival since ancient times. The custom of appreciating chrysanthemums originated from chrysanthemum culture. Chrysanthemum is a natural flower. Because its flowers are colorful and bloom proudly against the frost, a chrysanthemum culture of appreciating chrysanthemums has been formed. The ninth month of the lunar calendar is commonly known as the chrysanthemum month. A chrysanthemum conference is held during the festival, and crowds of people attend the festival to appreciate the chrysanthemums. Since the Wei and Jin Dynasties in the Three Kingdoms, it has become fashionable to gather for drinking, appreciating chrysanthemums and composing poems on the Double Ninth Festival. In ancient Chinese customs, chrysanthemums symbolize longevity. Chrysanthemum is the flower of longevity and is praised by literati as a symbol of perseverance in the frost.

Ci Qing

Ancient people always regarded Double Ninth Festival and Shangsi (Qingming Festival) as corresponding spring and autumn festivals. If the Shangsi Festival is a festival for people to go out for a swim after a long winter, then the Double Ninth Festival is about a ceremonial autumn outing when the cold autumn arrives and people are about to live in seclusion. Therefore, among the people, there is the Qingming Festival "outing" and the Double Ninth Festival " The custom of quitting youth.

Enjoying a banquet to pray for longevity

The custom of praying for longevity during the Double Ninth Festival was first recorded in the Han Dynasty. "Xijing Miscellaneous Notes" of the Han Dynasty records: "On September 9th, wearing dogwood, eating bait, and drinking chrysanthemum wine will make people live longer." "Jingchu Years' Notes" says: "On September 9th, all the people will live together in the wild. Banquet. "Du Gongzhan of the Sui Dynasty noted: "It is unknown when the banquet on September 9 began, but it did not change from the time it was stationed in the Song Dynasty to the Song Dynasty. "On the basis of offering sacrifices to heaven and ancestors, longevity and banquets were added, forming the basis of the Double Ninth Festival. The large-scale drinking and banquet activities in the Double Ninth Festival actually developed from the harvest sacrificial banquets in the pre-Qin Dynasty.

Putting Cornus officinalis

The custom of planting Cornus officinalis was popular in ancient times, so it is also called the Dogwood Festival. Cornus officinalis is a fruit that can be used as traditional Chinese medicine because of the quality of the dogwood produced in Wuyue (now Jiangsu and Zhejiang). The best, so it is also called Evodia. The ancients believed that planting Cornus officinalis when climbing on the Double Ninth Festival can repel insects and dampness, and drive away wind and evil spirits. So they wore it on their arms or put it in a sachet after grinding it, or put it on their head. Most of them are worn by women and children. In some places, they are also worn by men.

Cornus officinalis is used as medicine to make wine to cure diseases. It has the functions of removing dampness and dispelling wind evil, eliminating accumulated food, and treating cold and heat. Ancient customs such as planting dogwood are used to drive away wind evil while climbing. Inserting dogwood and hairpin chrysanthemums have been very common in the Tang Dynasty. As the weather rises and the turbid air sinks, people use natural medicines such as Cornus officinalis to adjust their health and adapt to natural climate changes.

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