1. Climbing the mountain
In ancient times, the folk Double Ninth Festival had the custom of climbing the mountain, so it was also called "Climbing the Mountain Festival". According to legend, this custom began in the Eastern Han Dynasty. There are many poems about climbing mountains written by scholars in the Tang Dynasty, especially Du Fu's Climbing the Mountain:
in a sharp gale from the wide sky apes are whimpering and birds are flying homeward over the clear lake and white sand.
leaves are dropping down like the spray of a waterfall, while I watch the long river always rolling on.
I have come three thousand miles away. Sad now with autumn, and with my hundred years of woe, I climb this height alone.
ill fortune has laid a bitter frost on my temples, heart-ache and weariness are a thick dust in my wine.
There is no uniform rule for climbing mountains, just climbing mountains and towers, looking up and enjoying the scenery.
2. Eat Chongyang Cake
According to historical records, Chongyang Cake is also called Flower Cake, Chrysanthemum Cake and Five-color Cake, which is made randomly.
On the morning of September 9th, it was the original intention of the ancients to make cakes in September by putting a piece of cake on their children's forehead and saying something in their mouths, wishing their children all the best. The ancients paid more attention to the making of Chongyang cake. It should be made into nine layers, like a pagoda with two lambs on it, in order to conform to the meaning of Chongyang (sheep). Some even put red paper flags on Chongyang cakes and light candles. I intend to use "lighting a lamp" and "eating cakes" instead of "climbing the mountain" and use a little red paper flag instead of cornus. Nowadays, all the soft cakes eaten in the Double Ninth Festival are called Double Ninth Cake.
3. Appreciating chrysanthemums and drinking chrysanthemum wine
The Double Ninth Festival coincides with the autumn season, when chrysanthemums are in full bloom. According to legend, appreciating chrysanthemums and drinking chrysanthemum wine originated from Tao Yuanming, a great poet in the Jin Dynasty. Tao Yuanming is famous for his seclusion, his poetry, his wine and his love for chrysanthemums. Later generations have followed suit, so there is a custom of appreciating chrysanthemums in Chongyang. In the old days, literati and officialdom also combined chrysanthemum appreciation with banquets in order to look like Tao Yuanming. In the Northern Song Dynasty, when Kaifeng was the capital city, chrysanthemum appreciation in Chongyang was popular. At that time, there were many kinds of chrysanthemums. People also call September of the lunar calendar "Chrysanthemum Moon". In the Double Ninth Festival, when chrysanthemums are in full bloom in Ao Shuang, watching chrysanthemums has become an important part of the festival. After the Qing dynasty, the habit of enjoying chrysanthemums on Chongyang was particularly popular, but it was not limited to September 9.
4. inserting dogwoods and hairpin chrysanthemums
the custom of inserting dogwoods on the double ninth festival has become very common in the Tang dynasty. The ancients believed that inserting Evodia rutaecarpa on the Double Ninth Festival could take refuge and eliminate disasters, so many women and children put cornus on their arms or on their heads. Cornus's attendance at the Double Ninth Festival was recorded in Ge Hong's Miscellanies of the Western Classics in the Jin Dynasty. Besides wearing cornus, there are also people wearing chrysanthemums. This has been the case in the Tang Dynasty, and it has prevailed throughout the ages. In the Qing Dynasty, Beijingers put chrysanthemum branches and leaves on doors and windows on the Double Ninth Festival, "to remove evil and filth, so as to attract good luck".
in addition to the above common customs, there are some unique customs in various places.
On the Double Ninth Festival, during the official harvest season in northern Shaanxi, there is a song that says, "In September, it's the Double Ninth Festival, so don't be busy in autumn. Millet, millet, go up and go up. " People in northern Shaanxi celebrate the Double Ninth Festival at night because they are busy harvesting and playing games during the day. At night, on the treetops, people like to eat buckwheat noodles and boil mutton. After dinner, people go out of their homes in twos and threes, climb the nearby hills, light the fire, talk about the land, and wait until the chickens crow before going home. When climbing mountains at night, many people pick some wild chrysanthemums and put them on their daughters' heads at home to ward off evil spirits.
In Puxian, Fujian, people follow the old custom of steaming nine layers of Chongyang rice fruit. In ancient China, there was a custom of "eating bait" for Chongyang, which means cakes, rice fruit and the like today. In the Song Dynasty, the Jade Candle Collection says, "Those who drink chrysanthemum wine after nine solar eclipses will reap millet and glutinous rice at that time, so that they can taste new things because of their sticky taste, and thus become a habit." Song Zuqian, a Puxian poet in the early Qing Dynasty, said in "Minjiu Qu": "I was shocked to hear that the festival was near Chongyang, and I picked up wild incense with my basket in my hand. The jade pestle is smashed into green powder and wet, and the pearls are called lang taste. "
In some places, people take advantage of the opportunity of climbing on the Double Ninth Festival to pay homage to their ancestors' tombs in memory of their ancestors. Puxian people worship their ancestors in Chongyang more than Qingming, so there is a saying that March is a small Qingming and the ninth is a big Qingming. Due to the coastal area of Puxian, the ninth day of September is also the anniversary of Mazu's ascension to heaven. Villagers often go to the Tianhou Ancestral Temple and Palace Temple in Mazu Tempel or Hong Kong, Meizhou, for blessing.
After the founding of New China, many new contents have been added to the activities of the Double Ninth Festival. In 1989, the Chinese government designated the Double Ninth Festival as the Festival for the Elderly. Every Double Ninth Festival, all localities should organize the elderly to climb mountains and have an autumn outing, 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.