Chinese legend · 声匠改编 · 4:08
The Legend of the Double Ninth Festival
Master Fei Changfang warns Huan Jing of disaster on the ninth day of the ninth month. So the whole family ties on red bags of zhuyu and climbs a mountain.
Narrator
Huan Jing
Fei Changfang
Huan Jing's Mother
Little SisterOther languages · 2 languages
About this story
The Double Ninth customs of climbing high, wearing zhuyu and drinking chrysanthemum wine are best explained by a tale in Xu Qi Xie Ji (Further Records of Qi Xie), a collection of marvels by Wu Jun of the Liang dynasty in the early 6th century. Huan Jing of Runan studies for years with Fei Changfang, who warns him that disaster will strike his home on the ninth day of the ninth month and tells the family to tie crimson bags of zhuyu on their arms, climb high and drink chrysanthemum wine; that evening they come home to find their chickens, dogs, cattle and sheep suddenly dead, and Fei says the animals took the disaster in their place. Fei Changfang appears in the Book of the Later Han as an Eastern Han master of magic arts, but this is a tale of marvels, not history. This version follows Wu Jun's plot and adds Huan Jing's mother and little sister.
What it teaches
Climbing high, zhuyu and chrysanthemum wine all carry the old wish to keep misfortune away and live a long, healthy life. Huan Jing listens to good advice and brings his whole family along, which is why the Double Ninth is also a day for families and for honouring older people.
Suits
Ages 5 and up
Tips for telling it
- Tell it on a Double Ninth walk up a hill, and ask children to count the things Huan Jing's family did to stay safe.
- Keep the moment with the animals calm and quiet; the point is that the family is safe.
- Afterwards, share chrysanthemum tea or Double Ninth cake with a grandparent, and read Wang Wei's short poem about missing his brothers on this day.
Questions people ask
- Why do people climb mountains on the Double Ninth Festival?
- In a legend recorded by Wu Jun in the 6th century, the master Fei Changfang told Huan Jing to take his family up a mountain on the ninth day of the ninth month to escape a disaster, and the custom spread. Climbing high came to stand for rising above bad luck and wishing for a long life, and the Tang poet Wang Wei wrote of his brothers climbing high together on this day.
- Why is it called the Double Ninth Festival?
- In ancient Chinese thought nine is a yang number, and on the ninth day of the ninth month it appears twice, so the day is called Chongyang, double yang, or Chongjiu, double nine. Because jiu, nine, sounds like the word for long-lasting, it also became a day for wishing long life.
- What do people do on the Double Ninth Festival?
- Traditionally people climb hills, wear or carry zhuyu, admire chrysanthemums, drink chrysanthemum wine and eat Double Ninth cake. Since a 2012 revision of China's law on the rights of older people, the day has also been the country's official Seniors' Day, so many families visit and honour their elders.
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