What is the 29th day of the first month?

January 29th, 2023 is February 19 in Gregorian calendar.

There is a custom in southern China. The ninth day of the first month is called "the first nine festivals", the nineteenth day is called "the first nine festivals" and the 29th day is called "the last nine festivals". In the southern dialect of China, "Hou" and "Ao" are homophonic. Therefore, the "last nine sections" are also called "nine sections".

On the "Aojiu Festival", most families will cook a pot of "Aojiu porridge" to worship their ancestors or give it to their parents and relatives, and cook a bowl of peace for their parents. As the saying goes, "if you drink nine porridge, you will be disease-free and worry-free" Drinking nine porridge and eating peacefully means that your parents will be healthy and safe in the new year, which is also a manifestation of people's filial piety to the elderly. Therefore, people call this day "Filial Piety Day".

The origin of "Aojiu Festival"

The origin of "Aojiu Festival" is said to be related to "Mu Lian saves the mother" in the twenty-four filial piety of Chinese traditional culture. It is said that Manglietia was a filial son who believed in Buddhism since she was a child, but her mother, Mrs. Qingti, was very greedy and often slaughtered animals and failed to cultivate good fruits. Later, he was forced into the underworld and tortured.

Mu Lian prayed to God for enlightenment, and could not bear his mother's suffering in the nether world, so he often sent some food to visit, but her mother never ate it, and the guards shared it. When Manglietia knew about it, she thought of a way to mix water chestnut, peanuts, red dates, longan, brown sugar and glutinous rice and cook a pot of black porridge, which looked particularly dirty. The guard saw that it was dirty and dared not eat any more. So you can send it to your mother.

It happened to be the 29th day of the first month. Later, people called it "Aojiu Festival", and the porridge they cooked was also called "Aojiu Porridge". Because it was for filial piety, it was also called "Filial Piety Festival". Over time, it has become a custom.