What does it mean to drink chrysanthemum wine on Double Ninth Festival?

Drinking chrysanthemum wine on the Double Ninth Festival means keeping fit and prolonging life.

Drinking chrysanthemum wine on the Double Ninth Festival is a folk custom of the ancient Double Ninth Festival, which means keeping fit and prolonging life. The ancients called chrysanthemum wine "not old prescription", which recorded a kind of "not old prescription": "It is not old to pick chrysanthemum, poria cocos and rosin on September 9."

The custom of drinking chrysanthemum wine is actually related to solar terms health care. Chrysanthemum is the timely flower of the Double Ninth Festival, and it is called "the first frost and the only grass". In the Compendium of Materia Medica, there is a more specific record: "On September 9, I took white chrysanthemum, named Jin, and took two kilograms of Poria, and smashed it to the end. Take two yuan each time, mix wine and take it three times a day. "

The Origin of Drinking Chrysanthemum Wine on Double Ninth Festival

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, viewing 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.