Original title| Beijingers celebrate the Chongyang Festival
October 14, 2021 is the annual Chongyang Festival, which is a traditional festival of our Chinese nation.
The Chongyang Festival originated in the Eastern Han Dynasty, was finalized during the Six Dynasties period, and reached its peak during the Tang and Song dynasties. During the Tang Dynasty, Chongyang was officially designated as a folk festival, and since then it has been followed by successive dynasties. Because the folk have the custom of ascending on this day, the Chongyang Festival is also known as the "Ascend festival". There are also heavy nine festivals, the Zhu Yu Festival, the Chrysanthemum Festival and so on. Since the harmonic sound of the ninth "nine nine" in the first nine days of September is "long-lasting", which has the meaning of longevity, it is often on this day to worship ancestors and promote activities to respect the elderly.
The Chongyang Festival, which has a history of more than 2,000 years, has many customs. Customs are divided into official customs and folk customs, in fact, in the past, the court and the people celebrated the Chongyang Festival together, and various activities were carried out during the festival. In the Ming Dynasty, in September, Chongyang, the whole palace had to eat Chongyang flower cake together to celebrate, and the emperor had to personally ascend to Banzai Mountain (which is now Jingshan). In the Qing Dynasty, this custom was still prevalent. This is the official custom of passing the Chongyang Festival.
In 1989, China designated this day of the year as "Old People's Day" and "Respect for the Elderly", advocating that the whole society establish a culture of respecting the elderly, respecting the elderly, loving the elderly, and helping the elderly.
Chongyang Festival is also a traditional Festival of the Han People formed by a variety of folk customs, on this day there are folk activities such as ascending to the horizon, eating Chongyang cakes, viewing chrysanthemums (referred to as chrysanthemums), drinking chrysanthemum wine, wearing and making zhuan incense buns, and chanting poems. Among them, ascending to the heights is the most important custom of the Chongyang Festival that has been passed down to this day.
In old Beijing, the places where the Chongyang Festival ascended were mainly concentrated in the suburbs of Xishan Bada, Xiangshan, Wuta Temple, Tianning Temple and other places. In the process of climbing the mountain, when they are happy, they will also chant poems, that is, "stepping on autumn", corresponding to the "spring of march three".
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="29" > eat Chongyang cake</h1>
Eating cakes in Chongyang used to be one of the indispensable customs of the old Beijingers during the Chongyang Festival. Eat chongyang cake, because the cake harmonic "high", the same as ascending, the meaning is the same. What does Chongyang Cake look like? Many modern people, especially young people, do not know, because there is no specialty in Chongyang cake in restaurants now.
Chongyang cake, in the ancient book "Jingchu Shiji", which specializes in customs, is recorded as follows: "At the banquet on the ninth day of September, the feast of the ninth day of September, the bait, the drinking of chrysanthemum wine, the cloud makes people live a long life." One of the "bait" is to eat Chongyang cake. According to the "Miscellaneous Records of Xijing", during the Han Dynasty, the custom of eating pengbai on September 9 was the original Chongyang cake. Bait, the cake of antiquity. In the Han Dynasty, there was also a black cake, which may not be far from today's Chongyang cake. By the Song Dynasty, the wind of eating Chongyang cake was great. As a festival food, the earliest is to celebrate the autumn grain harvest, enjoy the intention of tasting new grains, and then the folk have the auspicious meaning of ascending to eat cakes and take the auspicious meaning of ascending step by step. Because the Day of Chongyang Festival, the sun and the moon and the sun, the two nines weigh each other, so it is called Chongyang, also called Chongjiu. Therefore, Chongyang cake is also called nine-layer cake.
The nine-layer Chongyang cake is shaped like a pagoda, and two lambs made of noodles are placed on it to conform to the meaning of Chongyang (sheep). Chongyang cake is also known as flower cake, chrysanthemum cake, five-color cake. In fact, there is no prescribed practice in the relevant diet production book in the actual history, it can be said that the production is more casual, and there are three kinds of "rough flower cake", "fine flower cake" and "money flower cake" in the history of making Chongyang cake. For example, the filling of "Rough Flower Cake" is chestnut kernels, almonds, dates, walnuts, raisins and other rough dried fruits, and the color is five colors. The filling of the money flower cake and the fine flower cake is apple preserved, peach, apricot, black date, green and red silk (or coriander leaves) and also constitutes five colors.
The top two sheep are given to the oldest woman on the scene to taste first, and the other to the oldest man on the scene to taste, in order to show respect for the elderly. But suffering from the fact that the people are not face sculpting craftsmen, plus it is hair noodles, how to not look like sheep after steaming. Later, I used a mold to press the bone meal into a variety of lying positions of false sheep, similar in color, stable in lying position, and the height was just right. Later, it was found that the filling was not easy to make up into nine kinds, so I put 9 dates between each layer to form the effect of nine or nine heavy sheep (yang). It is made in this way, but it looks good and delicious, and the filling is easier to find, which is more conducive to the production of the public.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="28" > appreciate chrysanthemums, bucket chrysanthemums and drink chrysanthemum wine</h1>
In old Beijing, during the Chongyang Festival, there has always been a custom of appreciating chrysanthemums, so the Chongyang Festival was also known as the Chrysanthemum Festival in ancient times. The ninth month of the lunar calendar is commonly known as the chrysanthemum month, and the chrysanthemum conference is held, and the crowds of people in the city will go to appreciate the chrysanthemums. Since the Three Kingdoms Wei and Jin Dynasties, it has become fashionable for Chongyang to appreciate chrysanthemum poetry.
It is said that in old Beijing, the literati and inkers often went to Tianning Temple to enjoy the chrysanthemum scenery on the Chongyang Festival.
Tianning Temple is located in the suburbs of the old Beijing Guang'anMen, the original terrain is higher, can be climbed to overlook the capital, the temple here in the old Beijing although it has been dilapidated, but the ancient trees towering plants and flowers are luxuriant, the flowers are like a brocade, especially with the many beautiful chrysanthemums famous for the ancient city, becoming a good place for the golden autumn to climb and enjoy the chrysanthemums. Qing Li Jingshan's "Supplementing the Dumen Miscellaneous Songs" once said: "In the Tianning Temple, a good building platform, every time in the late autumn chrysanthemums open again, win the city car and move, and see the flowers and bring jade people."
In ancient Han Chinese customs, chrysanthemums symbolize longevity. Juju viewing also includes "Douju". It's actually a contest to see whose chrysanthemum beauty! To this day, the World Flower Grand View Garden in Beijing continues to enjoy the chrysanthemum "DouJu" activity every year, attracting people who like chrysanthemums in the city and even all over the country.
Since the ancient Chongyang Festival, China has had the traditional custom of drinking chrysanthemum wine. Chrysanthemum wine, in ancient times, was regarded as the "auspicious wine" that chongyang must drink and pray for disaster relief. Brewing chrysanthemum wine in China has been popular as early as the Han and Wei dynasties. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, chrysanthemum wine was added to a variety of herbs, and its effect was better. Because chrysanthemum wine can relieve wind and heat, nourish the liver and eyes, anti-inflammatory and detoxify, it has high medicinal value. Li Shizhen, a medical scientist of the Ming Dynasty, pointed out that chrysanthemums have the effect of "curing head wind, clearing the eyes and ears, removing fistulas, and curing hundreds of diseases".
In ancient times, chrysanthemum wine was specially brewed for the Chongyang Festival in the first year of the Chongyang Festival. On the ninth day of the first month of September, the first chrysanthemums are picked, mixed with the grain to be prepared for winemaking, and then used to make wine together, and put on September 9 of the following year for drinking. Legend has it that drinking this wine can prolong life. It should be noted here that when you brew chrysanthemum wine, you must see if you are eating chrysanthemums, and you can't use potted plants and park chrysanthemums casually.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="20" > Pessa sachets and Guining parents</h1>
The famous poet Wang Wei's poem "Remembering the Shandong Brothers on September 9" said: Alone in a foreign land for strangers, every festive season is doubly thinking of relatives. The Haruka brothers ascended to the heights, and there was one less person planted everywhere. Many people wonder what a cocoon is. Zhu Zhu is a traditional Chinese medicine called Wu Zhu, which is hot, spicy, bitter and slightly poisonous. Into the liver, spleen, stomach, has the effect of dissipating cold in temperature, relieving pain and dryness, thinning the liver, reducing reverse and stopping vomiting.
The relationship between the Chongyang Festival and Zhu Yu was first found in the "Record of Continuing Qi Kai", which tells the story of a family who used Zhu Yu to ward off evil spirits. Therefore, It is also known as the "evil spirit" by people. Therefore, on the day of Chongyang, people pick the branches and fruits of ZhuYi and sew them into small sacs with red cloth and wear them on their bodies to avoid evil. Later, it is simply made into a sachet. This is the folklore of the Chongyang Festival.
Nowadays, there are not many activities to make sachets with zhuyi, and I once made some gifts to Taiwan compatriots in 2018 at the request of the Taiwan Affairs Office, which was quite popular.
In addition to the above customs, there is a unique custom in old Beijing, that is, to bring back the married daughter on this day. The custom is still popular in the suburbs of Beijing today. On the day of Chongyang Festival, just after dawn, the mother's family prepared famous wine, cakes, and fruits to pick up their daughters and go home, which is called "Guining parents". After taking their daughter home, the parents wanted to take a piece of Chongyang cake and put it on their daughter's forehead, and while taking it, they also said some blessings: "May everything be high." Therefore, Chongyang Festival is also known as "Daughter's Day".
The custom of telling the Chongyang Festival is to better reflect the social atmosphere of respecting the elderly in the whole society, so that traditional culture can shine in the activities of respecting the elderly and loving the elderly.
Wen 丨 Li Shi
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