Why is the Double Ninth Festival also called the Festival for the Elderly?

The ninth day of the ninth lunar month is a traditional festival in China, also known as the Double Ninth Festival and the Cornus Festival. Nowadays, the Double Ninth Festival, which skillfully combines traditional customs with modern civilization, has become a festival to respect, care for and help the elderly. 1989, China designated this day as the festival for the elderly every year. Every day, all localities should organize the elderly to go for an autumn outing to broaden their horizons, exchange feelings and exercise. The younger generation of many families will also help the elderly to go to the suburbs. Chongyang is also called Chongyang because the Book of Changes defines "nine" as yang number. On September 9, two or nine days coincide, and the ancients thought it was an auspicious day to celebrate. The Double Ninth Festival appeared as early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. According to the literature, there was a custom of climbing mountains and drinking chrysanthemum wine. China people have always had special feelings for the Double Ninth Festival. There are many excellent works in Tang poetry and Song poetry to congratulate the Double Ninth Festival and chant chrysanthemums. For example, the Tang Dynasty poet Wang Wei's "Living in the Mountain to Sacrifice the Shandong Brothers": Being in a foreign land, I miss my relatives twice every festive season. When I think of my brothers' bodies climbing high, I will feel a little regret for not being able to reach me. Li Bai's "September 10th Event": "I climbed the mountain yesterday, and I gave it to you today. Chrysanthemum is too bitter, suffering from these two Chongyang. " There are many folk activities to celebrate the Double Ninth Festival, such as traveling to enjoy the scenery, climbing high and looking far, watching chrysanthemums, planting dogwood everywhere, eating double ninth cake and drinking chrysanthemum wine. In the folk, Cornus officinalis is an "evil-avoiding Weng" and Chrysanthemum is a "longevity-prolonging guest". The combination of the two endows Chongyang custom with auspicious signs. It is said that 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. According to historical records, Chongyang cake is also called flower cake, chrysanthemum cake and five-color cake. It was the original intention of the ancients to make cakes at dawn on September 9. The child put a cake on his head and said a word in his mouth, wishing the child all the best. 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 in Chongyang Festival all over the country are called Chongyang cakes. Seeing chrysanthemums and drinking chrysanthemum wine is the golden autumn season when chrysanthemums are in full bloom. According to legend, 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. The custom of inserting dogwood and chrysanthemum in dogwood on the Double Ninth Festival has been very common in the Tang Dynasty. The ancients thought that inserting Evodia rutaecarpa on 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 men in some places 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 "eliminate evil and filth, and make money and 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. In addition to the above common customs, there are some unique festivals in various places. The Double Ninth Festival is the official harvest season in northern Shaanxi. There is a song that says: "In September, the Double Ninth Festival will be held, so the autumn harvest is busy. Xiaomi, Xiaomi, go up, go 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 China, there was a custom of "eating bait" on Chongyang in ancient times, that is, cakes, rice fruits and the like today. The Jade Candle Collection in the Song Dynasty says, "Those who eat chrysanthemum wine for nine days will get millet and glutinous rice at that time, and it will become a habit to taste new things because of their sticky taste." 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, then take it out of the cage, 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.