What is the origin of Fuzhou's famous "Argumentative Nine Festival"?

Au Jiu Festival is a very famous traditional festival in Fuzhou. This festival is related to honoring parents, and the activities held on this day are also related to children honoring their parents. There are many legends about the origin of the festival, but all of them are related to honoring parents. The most important part of the festival is the "congee", which is a kind of congee similar to the eight-treasure congee with many ingredients, and on this day, parents will drink the congee offered by their children.

There are many legends about the festival. The general idea is that a man named Meilian in order to send food to his mother in the netherworld, with peanuts, jujubes, cinnamon and other ingredients mixed with glutinous rice to cook the porridge, the netherworld magistrate saw the porridge black, there is no desire to eat it, so the porridge was safely sent to his mother's hands. Coincidentally, this day was also the twenty-ninth birthday of Meilian's mother. This festival has also been preserved and passed down from generation to generation.

The festival is also known as the "Festival of Filial Piety". As the name suggests, on this day, people in Fuzhou cook a bowl of congee with glutinous rice, cinnamon, jujubes, peanuts and other ingredients to pay tribute to their parents who have passed away, and daughters who have been married off also cook a bowl of congee and send it back to their own homes to express their filial piety and respect for their parents. In some areas, in addition to the congee, they also make tai plane, eggs, some have pig's feet, etc., to pray for the health and longevity of their parents.

We have to pass on the traditional festivals with good meanings. The moral of the festival is not to forget your ancestors, but to remember to honor your parents. The symbolism of this festival is very much in line with the traditional Chinese culture of "filial piety is the first of all good deeds". Therefore, we should pass on and carry forward this excellent traditional culture.