What legends, culture, etc. are there in Cixi?

1. The legend of how Cixi got its name

Cixi has a long history. It belonged to Yue in the Spring and Autumn Period, and a county was established in the Qin Dynasty. It was called "Juzhang" in ancient times. It was called Cixi in the 26th year of Kaiyuan of the Tang Dynasty (738 AD). It was named because there is a stream in the south and Dong An of the Eastern Han Dynasty had a legend about "a loving mother and a filial son".

Dong Xiaozi’s name is An, also known as Shuda, and also named Xiaozhi. He was born in Shitai Township, Juzhang County (today’s Dayin Town) in the Later Han Dynasty. He is the sixth grandson of Dong Zhongshu, Prime Minister of Hanjiang River. He lost his father when he was young. He comes from a poor family and is extremely filial to his mother. Dong An collected firewood in exchange for money and served his mother all year round. His mother was ill and he wanted to drink water from his hometown (because Dayin frequently supervised the Yao River, which was soaked by salty tides in ancient times, the water tasted bitter and was not suitable for drinking). He actually made a round trip of more than 20 miles at a time to the upper reaches of Dayin River. Yongchangtan carries water to the mother, and it is said that he never turns his shoulder blades on the way in order to provide the pure water in front of his shoulders for the mother to drink. However, the water in his hometown was far away from home and could not be reached frequently. Dong An built a shabby house next to Yongchang Lake in Zhangshan Village, his grandmother's house, and collected water for his mother, and her mother's illness improved.

Wang Ji, the east neighbor of Dong An's family, although his family was wealthy, was stubborn and unfilial. One day, Dong's mother and the queen's mother were having a family dinner, and they were talking about their sons' filial piety and unfilial piety. Wang Ji happened to overhear them. Wang Ji was jealous of Dong's mother. When Dong An left home, Wang Ji went to Dong's house to insult and beat Dong's mother. Dong's mother became ill and died soon after. Dong An was extremely angry and thought of the Queen Mother's old age, so he kept silent. A few years later, the queen mother also died of illness. After the funeral, Dong An beheaded the king's wife to avenge his mother, pay homage to his mother's soul, and then tied himself up and surrendered to the government. Emperor He of the Han Dynasty heard of his filial piety and pardoned him for the crime of killing without permission, and ordered him to be a doctor, but Dong An refused. Later, he received a salary from the emperor and lived in seclusion for the rest of his life. His tomb was built at the foot of the Rat's Nest Mountain in the outer forest.

The story of a loving mother and filial son quickly spread across the land of China. Later, people called Dayin River Cixi, and later named the county after Cixi. This is the origin of Cixi.

2． Cixi Dapeng Mountain Buddha Trace Cave

On the cliff at the top of Dapeng Mountain, there is a unique cave. There are two steep boulders facing each other at the entrance of the cave. When visitors stoop into the cave, the cave suddenly opens up. Looking up, the surrounding cliffs are more than ten feet high, the ceiling is open, and ancient trees provide shade. I lowered my head and looked for it, and there was a natural footprint on the stone wall with distinct toes. It is said that this is the trace of Buddha, and the cave got its name from this.

There are two different legends about the origin of this Buddhist relic. One theory is that it was left by Xu Fu. It is said that Emperor Qin Shihuang sent Xu Fu eastward to the Three Gods Mountains to obtain the elixir of immortality. After Xu Fu went up the mountain, he saw that the cave was shaded and the entrance faced the vast East China Sea, so he made the cave a place for practice. A few months later, he was ordered to go to sea. Before leaving, he told Qin Shihuang that I left a footprint in the cave. When the footprints are leveled, it will be the day when I, Xu Fu, will return. After saying that, he turned back into the cave, kicked off one leg, and flew to the boat. Qin Shihuang entered the cave and saw that there were indeed deep footprints, so he sent people to guard the cave, hoping that the footprints would be healed. More than two thousand years have passed, but the footprints are still clearly visible. Of course, Xu Fu never came back. One theory is that it was left by Master Guanyin. The Guanyin Dojo was originally in India, but Chinese Buddhists invited her to Mount Dapeng. But as soon as Guanyin arrived in the cave, she found that it was originally the place where Xu Fu practiced Taoism. She did not want to occupy the magpie's nest, so she looked around in the auspicious clouds and felt that Mount Putuo was a good place, so she jumped to Mount Putuo with one foot. Because the left foot is exerting force, only the left footprint is left on Dapeng Mountain, while the right footprint is left on Putuo Mountain. However, whether it is the left footprint or the right footprint, it is called "Guanyin Jump".

According to legend, in the first year of Tianbao in the Tang Dynasty (742), the monk Dahui came here and found large footprints in the cave. He thought it was a Buddhist relic, so he went around asking for alms and raising money to build the Buddhist relic temple. In the early Song Dynasty, the abbot of Foji Temple asked someone to carve a stone statue of an Arhat with long eyebrows in Foji Cave. Unfortunately, it was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. Today, there are three well-preserved stone carvings left on the stone cliffs inside the cave, two from the Southern Song Dynasty and one from the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty, which shows that the Buddha's Trace Cave was famous far and wide at that time.

3． Planting incense on the night of July 30th

Ksitigarbha, who is in charge of all things in the world, saw people cultivating slash-and-burn farming and living a difficult life. He saw this in his eyes and became anxious in his heart, so he said to the Bull Demon King: "You are so big There is no point in eating and sleeping here. Go down to earth and help people plow the fields." The Bull Demon King shook his head and said, "I'm not afraid of plowing the fields. I'm just afraid that I won't be able to kill people for food when I get old." Ksitigarbha said. : "No, I guarantee it." The Bull Demon King resisted and refused. Ksitigarbha's face turned red and said: "Plowing the fields is your duty, why are you so afraid of dying? If someone really kills you, even if I don't have eyes, come and dig out my eyes." As he said this, , pushed with both hands, the Bull Demon King was unprepared and fell from the sky to the ground. All his upper teeth were knocked out, so he had to plow the fields for others.

After more than ten years, Lao Niu could no longer plow the fields, and he was killed as expected. Full of resentment, the Bull Demon King rushed to the sky to settle accounts with Ksitigarbha. He dug out Ksitigarbha's eyes and threw them out of the Nantian Gate. Ksitigarbha's eyeballs fell into the paddy fields in the south of the Yangtze River and turned into snails. When the Jade Emperor saw that Ksitigarbha was blind and had nothing to do, he became furious with the Bull Demon King. He scolded him and punished him to work as a cow plowing the fields, and he was never allowed to return to heaven again.

Ksitigarbha is still very concerned about the sufferings of the world. He puts his ears to the ground to listen to what people say and do when he cannot see. Seeing that he was pitiful, Guanshiyin showed mercy and gave Ksitigarbha a bottle of nectar to wash his eyes every July 30th to open his eyes for a day.

In order to repay Ksitigarbha, people would place incense sticks in every household every night to commemorate him.

4. Cixi specialty - the legend of bayberry

Bayberry is a traditional specialty that Cixi is proud of. Cixi bayberry is mainly composed of the famous "water chestnut species" and "early large species" bayberry. June 28th every year is the Cixi Yangmei Festival.

There are many folk tales and legends about bayberry in Cixi. In the folk story "Yangmei Fairy", it is said that there was a girl named bayberry who often treated people during her lifetime and turned into a bayberry tree after her death, so Eating too much of other fruits will upset your stomach, but bayberry alone can help digestion, stimulate appetite and promote fluid production.

There is also a legend about Yangmei: it is said that there is a beautiful Baiguo Fairy in the sky who was kidnapped by the devil while traveling around the world. Fortunately, she was rescued by a young hunter living in Yangjiaao, Yuyao. They became husband and wife, very loving. Because there is a plum lake nearby, the fairy named it Mei Zhu. Later, the devil designed to use magic to knock the fairy down from the mountain. Before the fairy died, she asked the hunter to bury her under a big tree. After the hunter buried the fairy with tears, he got rid of the devil and avenged the fairy. The next year, the big tree where the fairy was buried bore purple-red fruits. People picked them and tasted them. They were sweet, refreshing, and slightly sour. People say that this fruit was transformed from plum beads. She left the sweetness to the villagers and let them remember the bitterness of her separation from the hunter. Later generations called this fruit bayberry.

This is the legend of Yangmei Festival from the Yi people -

A long time ago, there was an honest girl who fell in love with a simple young man. Because the young man’s family was poor, the girl’s family hated him. The poor love the rich, and they do everything possible to prevent the girl from interacting with the young man, and force the girl to marry a local man who does all kinds of evil. The son of the chieftain who oppressed the people became his wife. But the girl loved the simple young man wholeheartedly and vowed to refuse to obey her mother's orders. The parents had no choice but to lock the girl in the house and not let her go out. The girl is in love with her beloved boy all day long, and no matter what methods her parents use, they cannot change her will. The girl was unyielding and made a secret appointment. On the day of the Beginning of Autumn, she ran away from home and ran to the Yangmei Mountain at 24 Yakou to meet her beloved young man. On the Yangmei Mountain, they used the bright red bayberry as matchmaker to make a lifelong promise. , form a beautiful couple.

Since then, in order to commemorate the loyal love of this young couple, every day on this day, the Yi people dozens of miles around Yangmei Mountain wear brand-new national costumes and bring food that they have prepared in advance. They all went to Yangmei Mountain in Liangzi, 24th Yakou, to gather together. The old people sat around the mat spread with pine feathers, took out the food they brought, ate and drank, made household arrangements, and talked about the past year. Young people play the Lusheng, play oral strings, sing antiphonal songs, dance, date each other or choose their lifelong partners.

Because this day is the beginning of autumn, the bitter and sour bayberries all over the mountains and plains have matured, exuding a refreshing fragrance. In addition, people celebrate the anniversary on the bayberry mountain, so people named this festival "Yangmei Festival".

Hope to adopt it, thank you!