Who is the Double Ninth Festival to commemorate?

According to folklore, the Double Ninth Festival commemorates the man who was "around Beijing", because he once "killed a plague god with his sword" and benefited the people, so people always remember him.

First, the legendary fairyland plague.

According to legend, there was a plague god in ancient Runan. As long as it appears, every household will get sick and the people will be tortured. There is a young man named Huan Jing in Runan. His parents were killed by the plague, and he almost died.

After recovering from illness, Huan Jing decided to visit immortals to learn arts and exorcise demons for the people. So, he bid farewell to his beloved wife and visited teachers everywhere to find a way. He traveled all over the world famous mountains, and finally found an isolated mountain in the East, where there was a powerful fairy. Dreamland braved hardships and traveled long distances, and finally found the mountain and the magical fairy.

The fairy was moved by his spirit, left him, taught him how to subdue the demon, and gave him a sword to subdue the demon. Huan Jing finally learned extraordinary martial arts.

One day, the immortal called Huan Jing to his side and said, "Tomorrow is the ninth day of September, and the god of plague will come out to do evil again." When you learn the skills, you should go back and kill the people. " The fairy gave Huanjing a bag of dogwood leaves and a cup of chrysanthemum wine, and secretly gave him a way to ward off evil spirits, so that Huanjing rode a crane home in a hurry.

Huanjing returned to his hometown. According to the immortal's words, he took the villagers to a nearby mountain and gave everyone a dogwood leaf and a cup of chrysanthemum wine.

At noon, the plague demon appeared. Huan told everyone to take the leaves of Cornus officinalis and chrysanthemum wine, and not to walk around. Wen Ran is running at the foot of the mountain. Suddenly, he smelled the scent of dogwood and chrysanthemum, and his face suddenly changed. Xia Ran, stop. Huan Jing chased down the mountain with a demon-cutting sword and stabbed the plague demon to death.

In order to commemorate the dreamland, people will climb the mountain and overlook it on the ninth day of September every year, insert dogwood and drink chrysanthemum wine. It is said that this can avoid disaster. Later, these customs have been handed down.

Second, the origin and evolution of the Double Ninth Festival

The ninth day of the ninth lunar month is the traditional Double Ninth Festival in China. The origin of the name "Double Ninth Festival" is considered to be related to the Book of Changes, which makes sense.

I ching defines "six" as negative and "nine" as positive. On September 9, the sun and the moon merged into one, so it was called Double Ninth Festival, also called Double Ninth Festival. The ancients believed that the ninth day was auspicious, and it was a custom to hold a banquet early to celebrate. In addition, nine is the largest number among the ten numbers, and "99" is homophonic with "99". Therefore, the Double Ninth Festival has the meaning of longevity, health and longevity.

It is said that the Double Ninth Festival originated from the court of the Han Dynasty. It is said that in the palace in the early Han Dynasty, a birthday banquet was held on the high platform on September 9 every year. During the Three Kingdoms period, Emperor Cao Pi wrote "Nine Days of Zhong You", which clearly stated that the Double Ninth Festival was a banquet: "Come back on the ninth day of September from year to month. Is the number of nine suns. The sun and the moon should be together. Popularity and fame are suitable for a long time. So enjoy the party. "

Around the Wei and Jin Dynasties, climbing mountains, drinking and enjoying chrysanthemums became the fixed activities of the upper class on the Double Ninth Festival.

In the Tang Dynasty, the Double Ninth Festival was officially designated as a folk festival. In addition to climbing mountains, drinking and enjoying chrysanthemums, there are also activities of inserting dogwood. Wang Wei has a poem, "Knowing a brother is the best, but missing a dogwood".

In the Song Dynasty, the folk custom of celebrating the Double Ninth Festival became more prosperous. There are many excellent poems about chrysanthemum in Chongyang in Tang poetry, many of which reflect the folk activities to celebrate Chongyang.

During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, during the Double Ninth Festival in September, the Forbidden City would eat flower cakes and drink chrysanthemum wine to celebrate. Even the emperor personally climbed Wanshou Mountain to celebrate autumn, and the celebrations around the country became more and more grand.

Today, the Double Ninth Festival has been given a new meaning. 1989, China designated the ninth day of the ninth lunar month as the festival for the elderly.