Aojiu Festival (the 9th day of the first month) is a unique traditional folk festival in Fuzhou. The "Aojiu Festival" is also known as the "Last Nine Festival", "Filial Piety Festival" and "Sending the Poor Festival". Early this morning, every household cooked sweet porridge with glutinous rice, brown sugar, peanuts, red dates, water chestnuts, sesame seeds, longan and other raw materials, called "Oujiu porridge", which was used to worship ancestors or give gifts to relatives and friends. Married daughters must also send a bowl of "nine-porridge", and some even add too flat noodles, eggs, pig's trotters, etc., and send them back to their parents to honor their parents. In addition, anyone who is nine years old, such as nine, nineteen, and twenty-nine (called "Ming Jiu"), or a multiple of nine, such as eighteen, twenty-seven, and thirty-six (called "Dark Jiu"), should eat a bowl that is too flat, just like a birthday, for peace and health. In the traditional concept of Fuzhou people, "Nine" is hard.

There are different folk legends about the origin of Oujiu porridge:

One said that it originated from the legend of "Mulian saved the mother". It is said that in ancient times, there was a man named Mulian, whose mother was fierce before her death and was imprisoned in the underworld after her death. When he visited the prison, he often sent food to his mother, but all of them were eaten by the guards' kids. Later, he thought of a way to mix water chestnut, peanuts, red dates, longan, brown sugar and other raw materials with glutinous rice, cook it into sweet porridge, put it in a bowl, and then sprinkle a handful of black sesame seeds to his mother. When the jailer saw that the porridge was dark, he asked: What is this? Mu Lian casually replied: "This is a dirty". (Fuzhou dialect "nine" and "dirt" are homophonic) The guards believe that this porridge is dirty and dare not eat it. Therefore, "Ou Jiu Zhou" was sent to Mu Lian's mother. It happened to be the 29th day of the first month, and Mulian's mother was just 29 years old this year. According to the folk custom, the first month is divided into "Sanjiu", the ninth day of the first month is called "Shangjiu", the 19th day is called "Zhongjiu" and the 29th day is called "Houjiu porridge". Later, the color of porridge was dark, which was called "nine porridge" to show filial piety to mother, and also called "nine porridge". No matter whether it's the 29th day of the first month or the 29th year, it's the year when Mulian's mother was in trouble. Therefore, Fuzhou people are taboo on the ninth day, thinking that "ninth" is a difficult year. Therefore, anyone who meets the age of "ninth" should eat too flat, and his married daughter should also give her parents a "ninth" to ensure their safety and health.

On the other hand, Xie Zhaozhi, a scholar in the Ming Dynasty, said: "Levin's son, who was poorly clothed, died in the dark of the first month, and made a mess of the world, abandoned the streets and lanes to get rid of the poor ghosts." Scholars in the Qing Dynasty mostly agreed with this statement. Lin Zutao's poem "Miscellaneous Odes at the Age of Middle Fujian" said: "According to legend, after nine years of fragrant Chen, each boiled glutinous jujube and hazelnut. Sweep away the dust and throw it away, and send him a poor ghost to pay for money. "

Method of "Wojiu porridge":

Water chestnuts, peanuts, red dates and longan are the main ingredients, and lotus seeds, ginkgo, etc. can be added, and boiled together with white rice and glutinous rice and brown sugar until cooked or rotten into porridge. (Peanuts and lotus seeds can be soaked or cooked until half cooked before being cooked with rice. )

Three days after the "Ao Jiu Festival", it is the second day of February in the lunar calendar, which is also a unique legendary festival in Fuzhou, referred to as "February 2" for short. On February 2nd, people in Fuzhou ate salty porridge instead of sugar porridge. Salty porridge is a salty porridge made of glutinous rice, celery, onion, garlic, shrimp, oyster and shredded pork. Salty porridge was cooked on February 2nd, mainly because Fuzhou in ancient times was not rich in materials, and the living standards of ordinary people were very low. Chicken, duck and fish were seldom available at ordinary times. Only before the Spring Festival, it was necessary and possible to purchase it, so as to prepare enough "food and grass" for the New Year's Eve and the first month (because during the first month, many businesses also stopped working and had a rest, so it was difficult to buy suitable food in the market). The food that has been stored for nearly a month has been eaten up, and the food that can't be eaten up is about to rot. On February 2, the thrifty housewife mixed all the food that had not been eaten in the first month, added some glutinous rice, and cooked it into porridge, so that the whole family gathered together to eat it, so as not to waste it. After February 2nd, ordinary people began to live on bread and water. Over time, the custom of cooking salty porridge on February 2 was formed. Since February 2 comes from cleaning and cooking the food left over from the first month, some people cook if they have surplus food, and don't cook if they don't. This is why February 2 is not as lively and standardized as the "Ao Jiu Festival". However, February 2nd, after all, carried forward the traditional virtues of Fuzhou people who are not extravagant and waste-free, and are diligent and housekeeping.