Which place is the festival of "Argumentative Nine Festival"? How did "Au Jiu Festival" evolve into "filial piety festival"?

The Au Jiu Festival is a traditional folk festival in the Shiyi area of Fuzhou City, Fujian Province, which falls on the 29th day of the first month of the lunar calendar. The reason why this festival has evolved into the Festival of Filial Piety is evolved from several ancient legends, which I will introduce to you next.

The legend of the festival of nine

Legend has it that in ancient times there was a man named Meilian, his mother was a very fierce before she died, so after her death, she was locked up in a cell in the underworld, and every time he went to visit the prison, he would send some food to his mother, but all these food were eaten by the guards who were guarding the prison. Later, in order to prevent the guards from eating his mother's food, he boiled peanuts, jujubes, cinnamon, brown sugar and black sesame seeds into a bowl of black porridge and sent it to the prison. The jailer did not have any appetite when he saw the black porridge, so the bowl of porridge was successfully delivered to Meilian's birth mother. Because it was the 29th day of the first lunar month, the festival was called the "Festival of the Ninth Month".

The Legend of the 9th Festival

In the 2nd legend, Meilian's identity is an ancient Indian, his father was always in business, so the family assets are very rich, and he and his mother have been living a life of fine clothes and food. After growing up, Meilian once needed to go out to do business, so he told his mother before he left? I am going out to seek wealth, and I hope that my mother will pray for my peace at home with all her heart and soul to the Buddha. On the face of it, Meglian's mother agreed, but in reality, not only did she not pray to Buddha, but she drove away all the monks who came to her house, and refused to let them eat even one meal. When Meilian heard about this incident, he went to question his mother. But his mother said? You don't believe me, if I don't treat the monks well, I won't be allowed to die within 7 days, and after death, I will fall into the hell of Abi?

Sure enough, seven days later, Meilian's mother died a violent death, and Meilian, who was so disillusioned by his mother's death, also abandoned glory and wealth and became a monk. The Buddha was grateful for his filial piety and accepted him as one of the top ten disciples. After his mother's death, she really fell into hell and became an evil spirit. In order to prevent his mother from suffering in hell, Meilian invited many monks to create a bon festival to overthrow all the evil spirits.

The above is about the origin of the Bon-nine Festival and the reason why it has become a festival of filial piety.