Autumn is crisp, sweet-scented osmanthus is fragrant, and the Double Ninth Festival on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month is rich in activities and interesting, including climbing mountains, enjoying chrysanthemums, drinking chrysanthemum wine, eating double ninth cake and inserting dogwood.

Climb the peak

In ancient times, Chongyang had the folk custom of climbing, so Chongyang Festival was also called "Climbing Festival". According to legend, this custom began in the Eastern Han Dynasty. There are many climbing poems written by scholars in the Tang Dynasty, most of which are the custom of writing the Double Ninth Festival. Du Fu's Seven Laws "Ascending the Mountain" is a famous article about climbing the mountain in Chongyang. There is no uniform rule for climbing mountains. Generally, we climb mountains and towers. There is also the custom of eating "Chongyang cake".

Eat Chongyang cake

According to historical records, Chongyang cake, also known as flower cake, chrysanthemum cake and five-color cake, is made randomly. At dawn on September 9th, put a cake on the child's head and say something in his mouth, wishing the child all the best. This is the original intention of the ancients to make cakes in September. Exquisite Chongyang cake should be made into nine layers, like a pagoda, with two lambs on it, which conforms to the meaning of Chongyang (sheep). Some people even put red paper flags on Chongyang cakes and light candles. This probably means "lighting a lamp" and "eating cakes" instead of "climbing", and using a red paper flag instead of dogwood. At present, there is still no fixed variety of Chongyang cake, and the soft cakes eaten around Chongyang Festival are called Chongyang cakes.

Enjoy chrysanthemums and drink chrysanthemum wine.

The Double Ninth Festival is the golden autumn season of the year, and chrysanthemums are in full bloom. It is said that appreciating chrysanthemum and drinking chrysanthemum wine originated from Tao Yuanming, a great poet in Jin Dynasty. Tao Yuanming is famous for his seclusion, his poems, his wine and his love for chrysanthemums. Later generations have followed suit, so Chongyang has the custom of enjoying chrysanthemums. In the old days, literati and officialdom also combined chrysanthemum appreciation with banquets in order to get close to Tao Yuanming. In the Northern Song Dynasty, Kaifeng was the capital, and chrysanthemum appreciation on Chongyang was popular. At that time, there were many varieties and shapes of chrysanthemums. People also call September of the lunar calendar "Chrysanthemum Month". On 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 was particularly prosperous, and it was not limited to September 9, but it was the most prosperous around the Double Ninth Festival.

Evodia rutaecarpa and chrysanthemum

The custom of inserting Evodia rutaecarpa in the Double Ninth Festival was very common in the Tang Dynasty. The ancients thought that inserting Evodia rutaecarpa in the Double Ninth Festival could take refuge and eliminate disasters. Or wear it on your arm, or make a sachet and put it in it, or wear it on your head. Most of them are worn by women and children, and in some places, men also wear them. Ge Hong's Miscellanies of the Western Classics in the Jin Dynasty recorded that Kaunus participated in the Double Ninth Festival. Besides wearing dogwood, people also wear chrysanthemums. This happened in the Tang Dynasty and has been popular since ancient times. In the Qing Dynasty, the custom of Beijing Double Ninth Festival was to stick chrysanthemum branches and leaves on doors and windows, "to get rid of evil and filth, and to make money into treasure". This is the vulgarization of the chrysanthemum on the head. In the Song Dynasty, some people cut ribbons into dogwood and chrysanthemum and gave them to each other.

Drink chong yang wine.

"chong yang wine" is a sweet wine made of high-quality glutinous rice, which is sealed and preserved in a small pottery jar on the Double Ninth Festival. Perhaps because the temperature and humidity are suitable, the brewed wine is particularly mellow, which is the top grade of rice wine, sweet and pure, suitable for men, women and children, and originated from ethnic minorities in northwest China.

"chong yang wine" means "chrysanthemum wine". Every year on the Double Ninth Festival, the earliest chrysanthemums have grown up. When they are about to blossom, this is the perfect material for making "chong yang wine".

National Double Ninth Festival

In addition to the above common customs, there are some unique festivals in various places.

In the official harvest season of the Double Ninth Festival in northern Shaanxi, there is a song that says: "In September, there will be nine Double Ninth Festival, so autumn harvest is busy. Xiaomi, Xiaomi, go up and up. " The Double Ninth Festival in northern Shaanxi is in the evening, and one day is a whole day of harvesting and threshing. In the evening, in the treetops, people like to eat buckwheat noodles and instant-boiled mutton. After dinner, people go out of their homes in twos and threes, climb the nearby hills, light fires, talk about the land, and wait until the chickens crow before going home. When climbing mountains at night, many people will pick some wild chrysanthemums and put them on their daughters' heads to ward off evil spirits. In Puxian, Fujian, people follow the ancient custom of steaming nine layers of Chongyang rice fruit. In ancient China, there was a custom of "eating bait" on Double Ninth Festival, which is today's cake and rice fruit. Jade Candle Collection in Song Dynasty said: "Those who eat chrysanthemum wine on the 9th will reap millet and glutinous rice at that time, and taste new things because of their sticky taste, thus becoming a habit." Song Zuqian, a poet of Puxian in the early Qing Dynasty, said in "Nine Songs of Fujian": "When you smell the festival near Chongyang, you are shocked to hear the wild incense, and you can pick up the wild incense with your hand basket. The jade pestle is smashed into green powder and the pearl is called Langwei. " Since modern times, people have transformed rice fruit into a unique nine-fold rice fruit. Wash high-quality late rice with clear water, soak it for 2 hours, take it out and drain it, mix it with water and grind it into slurry, add alum (dissolved in water) and stir, add brown sugar (boiled with water to make a thick sugar solution), then put it on a steamer, spread a clean cooking cloth, then scoop in rice slurry for nine times, steam for a few minutes and cook it out, and coat peanut oil on the rice noodles. This rice fruit is divided into nine layers, which can be uncovered and cut into water chestnuts. Four sides are distinct and translucent. It is sweet, soft and delicious, and it doesn't stick to teeth. Respect for the elderly is the best gift for Chongyang.

In some places, people also have the opportunity to climb mountains, sweep graves and commemorate their ancestors in Chongyang. People in Puxian worship ancestors more than Qingming, so there is a saying that it is small in March and big in September. 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 Palace and the Palace Temple in Mazu Tempel or Meizhou to pray.

After the founding of New China, the activities of the Double Ninth Festival have enriched new contents. 1989, China double ninth festival was designated as the festival for the elderly. On this day, all localities should organize the elderly to climb mountains and have an autumn outing, broaden their horizons, exchange feelings and exercise, and cultivate people's noble character of returning to nature and loving the motherland.

On September 9th in Xianghe County, Hebei Province, families with in-laws will give gifts to each other, which is called "chasing festivals". The sunny and rainy days in Yongping House will be dominated by Chongyang weather. If it rains on the Double Ninth Festival, it will rain these days. Children in qingfeng county play with paper kites on the Double Ninth Festival. There are no mountains in Zhou Dian County, and there are more people climbing the stairs in the county than in the Double Ninth Festival.

People in the north of Changyi, Shandong Province eat spicy radish soup on the Double Ninth Festival. There is a proverb: "After drinking radish soup, the whole family is not bitter." Juancheng people call the Double Ninth Festival the birthday of the God of Wealth, and every household bakes cakes to offer sacrifices to the God of Wealth. Zou Ping offered a sacrifice to Fan Zhongyan in Chongyang. In the old days, dyehouses and restaurants also offered sacrifices to the gods on September 9th. Tengxian's daughter, who has been married for less than three years, avoids going back to her family for the holidays. There is a saying that "if you go home to Chongyang, you will kill your mother-in-law."

On the Double Ninth Festival in Xixiang County, Shaanxi Province, relatives and friends presented chrysanthemums and chrysanthemum cakes. Literati appreciate poetry and wine. It is said that on this day, women can learn from the mouth of Cornus officinalis and cure their distress.

On the Double Ninth Festival in Jiangsu, Nanjing people cut the five-color paper into an inclined plane and inserted it into the court as a flag. Eat a kind of pasta called "camel hoof" at the Double Ninth Festival in Changzhou County. The Chrysanthemum Festival held in Shanghai Yuyuan Garden was judged by three grades: novelty, nobility and rarity. Eat Chongyang cake and Jiupin soup at the Double Ninth Festival in Wuxi County.

Visiting each other on the Double Ninth Festival in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province, relatives and friends cry and worship the spirits only when there is a funeral. On September 9, Tonglu County prepared pigs and sheep as ancestors, which was called autumn festival. At the same time, zongzi are tied up and given to each other on the Double Ninth Festival, which is called Chongyang Zongzi.

On September 9, Dexing County, Jiangxi Province was harvesting late rice.

Tongling County, Anhui Province takes the ninth Double Ninth Festival as the Dragon and Candle Festival to welcome the mountain gods. Chopping bamboo and horses for fun is said to drive away the plague.

Wuchang County, Hubei Province, Double Ninth Festival brewing. It is said that the wine brewed here is the clearest and will not go bad after a long time. The Double Ninth Festival in Yingcheng County is a wishing day, and even every household worships the God of Fangshe Tianzu on this day.

In Changting County, Fujian Province, the edamame Festival is called the edamame Festival. Flying kites in the Double Ninth Festival in Haicheng County is a game, which is called "Wind Chak".

In Chongyang, Lianchuan, Guangdong, all the boys and girls gathered outside the city to sing songs for the whole state to watch. Nanxiong House invited maoshan taoist to set up the Empress Dowager Club on September 9th, and all young women who want to have children will come to attend. On the Double Ninth Festival in Yangjiang County, a paper kite with a rattan bow is placed, which is very loud in mid-air. People in Lingao County get up early on the Double Ninth Festival, and everyone shouts "Catch Bobcats" in unison, which is a good sign of peace and prosperity.

In Huaiji County, Guangxi, Chongyang is regarded as a day of enlightenment for Yuan Di. Men, women and children came out of the city, and they all competed with God with cannons. On September 9th in Longan County, cattle and sheep were allowed to feed on their own. As the saying goes, "on September 9, cattle and sheep will keep their food."

On this day, scholars from Nanxi County, Sichuan Province gathered at Censhan Building in Longteng Mountain to commemorate the poet Cen Can, known as Cen Association. According to the old folk custom, glutinous rice should be used to steam wine before and after Chongyang to make mash. As the saying goes, "steamed wine on the Double Ninth Festival is sweet and delicious".

There is a traditional habit of climbing mountains on September 9 in Jinnan area of Shanxi Province since ancient times. Appreciating great rivers and mountains and scenic spots and historic sites has become a major event of the festival. Today, famous sayings such as "Gan Kun will win, and our generation will climb the peak together", "The east wind can't stay, Ran Ran rises from the peak" and "New joy in September, agriculture, countryside and farmers celebrate autumn" are still being recited among the people.

Nanyang, Henan Province, with beautiful words such as "I wish you a long and healthy life", "Grow old together" and "Happy family" as the main content, is called a grand competition. Of course, you can also shout out your unique heartfelt words according to your own wishes. At that time, 99 old people will participate in the mountaineering competition together, and a mountain shouting competition will be held after reaching the summit. The staff will use a decibel meter to determine the ranking of the competition according to the voice of the players.