Eat Double Ninth Cake, also known as Flower Cake. The special Double Ninth Festival cake should be made into nine layers, like a pagoda, with two lambs on the top to represent the meaning of "Double Ninth Festival". The ancients often placed Double Ninth Cake on their children's foreheads on this day and silently recited blessings for their children to be successful in everything.

The Double Ninth Festival is the ninth day of the ninth month of the lunar calendar, also known as "September 9". In ancient times, "nine" was often defined as the Yang number. On September 9th, the two nines coincided with each other, so it was called "Double Ninth Festival". As early as the Warring States Period, the Double Ninth Festival had begun to take shape, and various sacrificial activities began to celebrate the harvest of the year; in the Wei and Jin Dynasties, countless literati and poets competed to recite, making the festive atmosphere of the Double Ninth Festival even more sophisticated. One floor; until the Tang Dynasty, the Double Ninth Festival was officially designated as a folk festival. On the Double Ninth Festival, customs such as climbing high and looking into the distance, admiring chrysanthemums and drinking wine, eating Double Ninth cakes, and planting dogwood are indispensable. In the following thousands of years, these customs have been passed down and have been passed down to this day. In 1889, the Double Ninth Festival was designated as the "Old Man's Day", aiming to promote the establishment of a social atmosphere of respecting, respecting, loving and helping the elderly. In 2006, the State Council included the Double Ninth Festival in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage lists.

The origin of the Double Ninth Festival

The origin of the Double Ninth Festival can be traced back to the "Lu Spring and Autumn Annals": "(September) ordered the family to prepare for the harvest, and raised five The important thing is to collect the emperor's records in the Shencang. "On this day, the great emperor sacrificed himself and reported it to the emperor." It can be seen that at that time, there was already something like this. In the name of celebrating the harvest, it is an activity to worship the gods of heaven and earth and ancestors, and to thank heaven, earth and ancestors for their gifts. In the Han Dynasty, "Xijing Miscellaneous Notes" recorded the custom of wearing dogwood and drinking chrysanthemum wine on the Double Ninth Festival to pray for longevity. At the same time, there were also various large-scale banquets, which evolved from the harvest-celebrating sacrificial activities in the Pre-Qin Dynasty. This was the prototype of the early Double Ninth Festival.

Throughout the development history of the Double Ninth Festival, the activities to celebrate the Double Ninth Festival were only palace or official celebrations at first. It was not until the Tang Dynasty that the Double Ninth Festival was designated as an official festival. The court and the people began to celebrate it together and held various activities during the festival. The Double Ninth Festival in the Song Dynasty was the most lively. The book "Old Martial Arts" records in detail that the court of the Southern Song Dynasty "made nine double arrangements on the eighth day" for grand fun the next day. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the tradition was followed, and flower cakes were eaten on the first day of the ninth lunar month to celebrate. On September 9, the Double Ninth Festival, the emperors also climbed mountains.

Double Ninth Festival Customs

The poet Wang Wei of the Tang Dynasty wrote a poem called "Reminiscences of Shandong Brothers on September 9th": Being alone in a foreign land is a stranger, and we miss our relatives even more during the festive season. I know from afar that when my brothers climbed to a high place, there was only one less person planting dogwood trees. In addition to expressing his feelings of homesickness and nostalgia for his relatives, he also explained the customs of the Double Ninth Festival at that time.

Climbing high

Countless people have written poems and recited the custom of climbing high during the Double Ninth Festival. Du Fu, Bai Juyi, Li Bai and others all used the Double Ninth Festival custom to reflect on current events and remember their old friends. In September, the autumn air is crisp. At this time, climbing high and looking far can achieve the purpose of feeling relaxed and happy, keeping fit and curing diseases.

Appreciate chrysanthemums and drink chrysanthemum wine

The ninth month of the golden autumn is the season when chrysanthemums bloom. Therefore, the ninth month of the lunar calendar is also called the "Chrysanthemum Moon". During this period, various chrysanthemum-appreciation meetings were often held, attracting people from all over the city to come, where they drank and drank and wrote poems to express their feelings. Chrysanthemums have always had health-preserving ingredients, so chrysanthemum wine made from chrysanthemums has become a special drink during the Double Ninth Festival, with the meaning of "dispelling disasters and praying for blessings."

Eat Double Ninth Cake

Double Ninth Cake is also called flower cake. The special Double Ninth Festival cake should be made into nine layers, like a pagoda, with two lambs on the top to represent the meaning of "Double Ninth Festival". The ancients often put Double Ninth Cake on their children's foreheads on this day and silently recited blessings for their children to be successful in everything.

Putting dogwood

Putting dogwood was already very common in the Tang Dynasty. Cornus officinalis itself is a kind of plant. It has a strong flavor and can repel insects and drive away wind evil. Making wine from it can nourish the body and eliminate diseases. The ancients believed that September 9th was a day of bad luck, and carrying dogwood with you on this day could ward off evil spirits.