The earlier legend about the Double Ninth Festival can be found in "Xu Qixie Ji" written by Wu Jun of the Liang Dynasty:
"In Huanjing, Runan, I traveled with Fei Changfang for many years. Fang said that there will be a disaster in your home on the 9th day of the 9th month, so you should go out quickly. He ordered everyone to make a red bag, hold dogwood to tie it to their arms, and drink chrysanthemum wine. This disaster can be eliminated. Jing Ruyan and his family went hiking. Also, I saw dogs, cattle and sheep suddenly dying. This can be replaced by the day when people in the modern world climbed up to drink wine, and women carried dogwood bags." Many important books such as "Ji Xue Ji" of the Song Dynasty and "Taiping Yu Lan" of the Song Dynasty have recounted this story in Wu Jun's "Xu Qi Xie Ji", and believe that on September 9th, when people climb high to drink chrysanthemum wine, women wear tying on their arms. This is where the custom of using dogwood bags to ward off evil spirits and eliminate disasters comes from. Like most traditional festivals, the Double Ninth Festival also has ancient legends.
Qian Bao's "Sou Shen Ji" says: There was a Ding family in Quanjiao County, Huainan, who married into the Xie family in the same county. Because the Xie family was a wealthy family, her mother-in-law was vicious and cruel, abusing the Ding family and forcing her to She did heavy housework and was often scolded and beaten. Finally, Ding couldn't bear it anymore and committed suicide by hanging from a beam on the Double Ninth Festival. After death, the ghosts of the enemy still lingered on Wu Zhu and said: "As someone's daughter-in-law, they work hard every day and cannot rest. On Double Ninth Festival, please ask your husband's family not to let them work anymore." Therefore, people in Jiangnan allow women to rest every Double Ninth Festival, which is called " Day off”. This woman named Ding established a temple to offer sacrifices, which was called "Ding Gu Temple". From then on, every Double Ninth Festival, parents would take their married daughters home to eat flower cakes; in the Ming Dynasty, the Double Ninth Festival was even called "Daughter's Day".
Han Dynasty Liu Xin's "Xijing Miscellaneous Notes" records: After the concubine of Han Emperor Liu Bang, Mrs. Qi, was killed by Empress Lu, Mrs. Qi's maid Jia Peilan was also expelled from the palace and married to Duan Ru, a Fufeng native. During the chat, she once mentioned that when she was in the palace, she would wear dogwood, eat bait, and drink chrysanthemum wine on September 9th every year to ward off evil spirits and prolong life.
Shen Quanqi, a poet of the Tang Dynasty, wrote a poem titled "Nine Days at the Wei Pavilion for a Banquet to Make Long Characters": "Wen of Wei praised the chrysanthemum, and Wu of the Han Dynasty gave him a dogwood bag..." .
"Old Tang Book·Biography of Wang Bo" records: Wang Bo's "Preface to the Pavilion of Prince Teng" was written on the Double Ninth Festival. At that time, Wang Bo's father was serving as the commander of Jiaozhi. Wang Bo went to visit his father. When he passed by Nanchang on September 9, Yan Boyu, the pastor of Hongzhou, was entertaining guests and subordinates in the renovated Tengwang Pavilion. He wanted to show off the talents of his son-in-law Wu Zizhang, so he took out the paper in advance The pen invited the guests to write a preface. All the guests knew his intention, and no one dared to write it. Unexpectedly, Wang Bo didn't know Zhou Mu's intentions in advance, so he took the pen and paper without humility. Zhou Mu was very angry at first, so he immediately sent someone to watch Wang Bo write. Who knew that Wang Bo was very talented, and his long-simmered mood was completely released. The article became better and better. When he wrote, "The falling clouds and the solitary swans fly together, the autumn water When I read the words "The sky is always one color", I couldn't help but marvel! Wang Bo became famous in the poetry world from then on.
Folk stories inherit the outline of the story of "Xu Qixie Ji", and add plots created by the imagination of folk artists, resulting in many variations of Double Ninth Festival legends. Here we have selected three variations to show to you.
The first one: Collected from Henan A long time ago, there was a man named Huan Jing in Runan County. He, his parents, wife and family guard a few pieces of land and live a peaceful life. Unexpectedly, something unexpected happened, and a plague suddenly broke out on both sides of the Ru River, killing many people. When Huan Jingzi was a child, he once heard an adult say that there was a plague demon living in the Ru River, and he would come out every year to spread plague and harm the world. In order to eliminate harm to the villagers, Huan Jing found out that there was a fairy named Fei Changfang who lived in the southeast mountains. He decided to pay a visit.
Who would have thought that on the Double Ninth Festival, he could not find any trace of the immortal even though he had traveled through thousands of mountains and rivers. One day, he suddenly saw a snow-white dove standing in front of him, nodding to him constantly. Huan Jing walked closer and took a look. The dove suddenly flew two or three feet away, and after landing, it kept nodding towards Huan Jing. In this way, Huan Jing followed Bai Ge and finally found Fei Changfang's fairy home. Huan Jing walked to the door and knelt respectfully for two days and two nights. On the third day, the door suddenly opened, and a white-haired old man said to him with a smile: "I am eager to eliminate harm for the people. Come into the hospital with me quickly."
Fei Changfang gave Huan Jing a demon-subduing Qinglong Sword and asked him to practice the method of subduing demons. One day when Huan Jing was practicing his sword, Fei Changfang came over and said to him: "On September 9th this year, the Ruhe plague demon will come out to harm people again. You quickly return to your hometown to eliminate harm to the people. I will give you a pack of dogwood leaves and chrysanthemums." A bottle of wine will allow the elders in your hometown to climb high and avoid trouble." After saying that, he summoned a crane with his hand and carried Huan Jing back to Runan.
When Huan Jing returned to his hometown, he told everyone what Fei Changfang said. On September 9th, he took the whole village to a nearby mountain. Give each person a piece of dogwood leaf to prevent the plague demon from approaching. Then he poured out the chrysanthemum wine and everyone took a sip, saying it could ward off the plague. After the arrangements were made, he returned to the village with the Demon-Subduing Azure Dragon Sword, waiting to kill the plague demon.
After a while, the wind roared in the Ru River, and the plague demon came out of the water and walked ashore. Suddenly he looked up and saw people gathering on the mountain. He rushed down the mountain, but was frightened by the smell of wine and dogwood and did not dare to go forward. When he turned around, he saw Huan Jing pulling out his sword and fighting the Plague Demon for several rounds. The Plague Demon couldn't defeat him, so he turned around and ran away. Huan Jing shot out the sword with a "whoosh" sound. The sword shone with cold light and nailed the plague demon to the ground in the blink of an eye.
From then on, the people on both sides of the Ru River were no longer affected by the plague. People have passed down the custom of climbing high to avoid disaster on September 9th from generation to generation.
The second story: It is spread in the Guanzhong area of ??Shaanxi Province
It is said that a long time ago, there was a farmer living at the foot of Lishan Mountain. The whole family was very diligent and lived a good life.
One day, the owner of the family came back from the fields and met a fortune teller on the way. Because it was getting dark, the fortune teller had not found a place to rest. Since the owner's house was very narrow and only had a thatched hut, he built a thatched bunk in the kitchen and let his wife and children sleep on the thatched bunk. He and the fortune teller slept on the kang, making do with it.
At dawn the next day, the fortune teller was about to leave. The villager woke his wife and cooked a delicious meal for him. He also packed a bag of steamed buns for him. The fortune teller went out, looked at the place where the banker lived, and told him: "On September 9th, the whole family will go to a higher place."
The banker thought, I don't do anything strange on weekdays, and I don't want to If you get promoted, why go to a high place? But then I thought, people often say that fortune tellers can read Feng Shui and are good at astronomy. Maybe something will happen to the place where I live. Come September 9, I will go to a high place. , let the whole family see the scenery.
On September 9th, the villagers took their wives and children to the top of Lishan Mountain to have fun. A spring suddenly appeared on the mountainside and rushed straight towards his house. After a while, the entire ravine was soaked. Climbing high.
After this became known, people took the old and the young to climb high every September 9th in the lunar calendar. This became a custom that has been passed down to this day.
The legend of the Double Ninth Festival cake has a very early origin. Volume 9 of "Book of Southern Qi" says that one year before the Jin Dynasty, Liu Yu went to Pengcheng to celebrate the Double Ninth Festival on a whim. After Xiang Yu ascended the throne and became emperor, he designated September 9th as the day for horseback riding and archery review. According to legend, the Double Ninth Cake that became popular was the dry food distributed to soldiers.
Another legend spreads around Shaanxi. It is said that Kang Hai, the number one scholar in the Ming Dynasty, was a martial artist in Shaanxi. After he took the provincial examination in mid-August, he fell ill in Chang'an. This good news was sent to Wu Gong, but no one at home had sent the reward yet, so the messenger refused to leave. It was already the Double Ninth Festival when Kang Hai recovered and returned home. At this time, he sent a newspaper, gave him a reward, and steamed a pot of cakes for him to use for his return trip. He also steamed some more cakes to distribute to his neighbors, because this cake was used to celebrate Kang Haizhong's first prize. So later on, families with children going to school also distributed steamed cakes during the Double Ninth Festival to bring good luck to the people. The custom of eating cakes on the Double Ninth Festival spread like this.