The origin and legend of the Double Ninth Festival, what is the origin and legend of the Double Ninth Festival
As a culture that has been passed down for thousands of years, what kind of legends will evolve from it? Let’s take a look at the origin and legend of the Double Ninth Festival. In the ninth month of the lunar calendar, ancient people would happily climb mountains to express their emotions, drink chrysanthemum wine, and enjoy the beautiful scenery of autumn. Mr. Shui Mo has brought you relevant content about the ninth month of the lunar calendar in 2018. Let’s take a look.How did the Double Ninth Festival come about?In the Book of Changes, "six" is defined as a yin number and "nine" is defined as a yang number. On September 9th, the sun and the moon are both yang, and the two nines are repeated, so it is called the Double Ninth Festival, also known as the Double Nine. The ancients believed that it was an auspicious day worthy of celebration and began to celebrate this festival from a very early time. It generally includes activities such as traveling to enjoy the scenery, climbing high to have a distant view, admiring chrysanthemums, planting dogwood branches everywhere, eating Chongyang cakes, and drinking chrysanthemum wine. The Double Ninth Festival is named after the Chinese character for "Jiujiu", which has the same pronunciation as "long", which means "for a long time". Nine is the largest number among all digits, so it implies longevity. Moreover, autumn is the golden season for harvest in a year. The Double Ninth Festival has profound meaning. Until today, the Double Ninth Festival has been given new meaning: in 1989, my country designated September 9 of each year as Senior Citizens' Day, cleverly combining tradition and modernity to become a festival for respecting, honoring, loving and helping the elderly.The Origin of Double Ninth FestivalIn Qu Yuan's "Far Journey", it is written: "Gathering on Double Ninth Festival, I entered the imperial palace and visited the Qingdu at the beginning of the ten days." The "Double Ninth Festival" here refers to the day, not the festival. In the Letter to Zhong Yao on the Ninth Day of the Ninth Month written by Cao Pi, Emperor Wen of Wei during the Three Kingdoms period, the banquets on the Double Ninth Festival were clearly written: "Years go by and months come, and suddenly it is the ninth day of the ninth month again. Nine is a yang number, and the sun and the moon correspond to each other. People praise its name and think it is suitable for longevity, so they enjoy banquets and reunions on this day." In the preface to the poem "Leisure on the Ninth Day of the Ninth Month", Tao Yuanming said: "I am at leisure and love the name of Double Ninth Festival. The garden is full of autumn chrysanthemums, but I have no wine to drink. I can only wear the chrysanthemums of the ninth month in vain and express my feelings through words." Chrysanthemums and wine are mentioned here at the same time. Probably during the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the custom of drinking and appreciating chrysanthemums on the Double Ninth Festival had already become a tradition. In the Ming Dynasty, on the Double Ninth Festival in September, the whole palace would eat flower cakes together to celebrate, and the emperor would personally climb Wansui Mountain to express his feelings about autumn. This custom was passed down until the Qing Dynasty.Legend of Double Ninth FestivalDuring the Eastern Han Dynasty, there was a plague demon in the Ru River. Whenever it appeared, people in every household would fall ill, and people would even die every day. The people in this area were ravaged by the plague demon, and it was a horrible sight. At that time, there was a young man named Heng Jing in Ru River. The plague took the lives of his parents, so he decided to go out to visit immortals and learn skills to eliminate the harm for the people. After going through many hardships, Hengjing found an immortal with boundless magical powers in an ancient mountain. The immortal was moved by his spirit of working tirelessly to eliminate harm for the people, so he decided to take him as his disciple and secretly teach him the sword technique to subdue demons. One day, the immortal called Heng Jing to his side and said to him, "Tomorrow is the ninth day of the ninth lunar month, and the plague demon will come out to do evil again. Now that you have learned the skills, you should go back and eliminate this harm for the people!" Later, he gave Hengjing a bag of dogwood leaves, a bottle of chrysanthemum wine, and taught him the secret to ward off evil spirits. Heng Jing returned to his hometown and, as instructed by the immortal, led the villagers to a nearby mountain and gave each of them a piece of dogwood leaf and a cup of chrysanthemum wine. At noon, the plague demon rushed out of the Ru River and rushed down the mountain. At this moment, the plague demon suddenly smelled the strange flavor of dogwood and the mellow fragrance of chrysanthemum wine. His face suddenly changed, and he trembled, not daring to move forward. In a flash, Hengjing rushed down the mountain with a sword in hand. After several rounds of fierce fighting, Hengjing stabbed Wen Mo to death and the plague was eliminated. From then on, the custom of climbing high places to avoid epidemics on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month every year has been passed down year after year. |
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