The Double Ninth Festival was mentioned in Chu Ci during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Qu Yuan's Journey wrote: "Set Chongyang into the Emperor's Palace, and see the Qing capital ten days later." The "Double Ninth Festival" here refers to the sky, not just festivals. In Nine Days Zhong You written by Cao Pi, Wei Wendi in the Three Kingdoms period, it was clearly written that the Double Ninth Festival: "From the year to the month, I suddenly returned to September 9. Nine is the number of yang, and the sun and the moon coincide. It is well known and considered suitable for a long time, so it is a feast. "
Tao Yuanming, a scholar in Jin Dynasty, said in the preface to the poem "Idle for Nine Days": "I am idle and love the name of Nine. Autumn chrysanthemums are full of gardens, but they are sad, empty for Jiuhua, and precious words are like gold. " Chrysanthemum and wine are mentioned here at the same time. Probably in the Wei and Jin Dynasties, drinking and enjoying chrysanthemums began on the Double Ninth Festival. In the Tang Dynasty, Chongyang was officially designated as a folk festival.
In the Ming Dynasty, on the Double Ninth Festival in September, the palace would eat flower cakes together to celebrate, and the emperor would personally climb the Long Live Mountain to celebrate his autumn ambition. This custom has been passed down to the Qing Dynasty.
Legend of Double Ninth Festival
Like most traditional festivals, the Double Ninth Festival has ancient legends.
According to legend, in the Eastern Han Dynasty, there was a plague demon in Ruhe. As soon as it appeared, people in every household fell ill and died every day, and people in this area were ravaged by plague demons.
A plague killed the parents of the teenager Hengjing, and he almost died of illness himself. After he recovered from his illness, he bid farewell to his beloved wife and fellow villagers and decided to go abroad to study fairy arts to rid the people of the plague. Heng Jing visited teachers everywhere and famous scholars all over the world. Finally, he found an oldest mountain in the east. There is a miraculous fairy on the mountain. Under the guidance of the crane, Hengjing finally found the mountain and the immortal with magical power. The immortal was moved by his spirit, and finally took in Heng Jing, taught him the sword to subdue the demon, and gave him a sword to subdue the demon. Hengjing forgot to eat, sleep and practice hard, and finally became an extraordinary martial art.
On this day, the immortal called Heng Jing to his side and said, "Tomorrow is the ninth day of September, and the plague god will come out to do evil again. When you learn the skill, you should go back and kill the people. " Xianchang gave Hengjing a pack of dogwood leaves and a cup of chrysanthemum wine, and secretly taught him how to ward off evil spirits and let Hengjing ride a crane home.
Hengjing returned to his hometown. On the morning of the ninth day of September, according to the fairy's instructions, he led the villagers to a nearby mountain and gave everyone a dogwood leaf and a cup of chrysanthemum wine to prepare for subduing the evil spirits. At noon, with several strange calls, Mo Wen rushed out of the Ruhe River, but just as Mo Wen jumped down the mountain, he suddenly smelled the strange fragrance of Cornus officinalis and the alcohol smell of Chrysanthemum, and his face suddenly changed. At this time, Heng Jing chased Mo Wen down the mountain with a demon sword in his hand, and stabbed him to death in a few rounds. Since then, the custom of climbing mountains on the ninth day of September to avoid epidemics has been handed down year after year. Wu Yun, a native of A Liang, recorded this point in his book Qi and He Xu.
Later, people regarded the custom of climbing on the Double Ninth Festival as an activity to avoid disasters. In addition, in the traditional concept of people in the Central Plains, the Double Ninth Festival still means longevity, health and longevity, so the Double Ninth Festival was later established as the festival for the elderly.