Random Thouhgts of Double Ninth Festival…

Translated from original blog post at http://www.LiYeSen.com

“九月九日憶山東兄弟” jiǔ yuè jiǔ rì yì shān dōng xiōng dì

by 王維 wáng wéi

獨在異鄉為異客， dú zài yì xiāng wéi yì kè

每逢佳節倍思親。 měi féng jiā jié bèi sī qīn

遙知兄弟登高處， yáo zhī xiōng dì dēng gāo chù

遍插茱萸少一人。 biàn chā zhū yú shǎo yī rén

“Double Ninth, Missing My Shandong Brothers” — Wang Wei (Tang Dynasty)

Translated into English version poem:

As a lonely stranger in the strange land,

Every holiday the homesickness amplifies.

Knowing that my brothers have reached the peak,

All but one is present at the planting of zhuyu.

Double Ninth Festival

This Monday, with date of 26th of October 2009 on the  calendar, was also the ninth day of the ninth lunar month of lunisolar calendar. This was the Chung Yeung Festival “重阳节”, or also known as the Double Ninth Festival, Festival for Elderly “老人节”,  or Ascend Festival “登高节”. My earliest understanding of this poem, “Double Ninth, Missing My Shandong Brothers” by Wang Wei, is from my primary school’s text-book.

Chinese culture has been around for years. Each poems, each sentences, each phrases, even each words bare and carry with human cultures, scientific and technological knowledge. Let us learn from this poem about Chinese cultures… The ninth day of the ninth lunar month of every year is the Chung Yeung Festival, Double Ninth Festival or also known as “Festival for the Elderly”.

The name –  Chung Yeung “重阳” originated from the book of I-Ching. In I-Ching, the number “six” is a Yin Number, i.e. even number. While the number “nine” is a Yang Number, i.e., odd number. For ninth day of ninth lunar month, both day and month are Yang numbers, having double “nine”. Thus, it is called Chung Yeung, “duplicate Yang” “重阳” and also “duplicate nine” “重九”. This showed that Chinese people had always emphasized on Yang Numbers, Yang Qi.

In the history of China, Double Ninth Festival had been around since the Warring States Period. But only until Tang dynasty, then this festival became folks festival. This festival has been pass down for few dynasties until now modern days. In folk concepts, two ‘nine’ is double Yang. The pronunciation of  ”nine” 九 in Mandarin is Jiu which same as “long” 久. Thus, “nine nine” shows the meaning of long life, and healthy longevity.

In China, this day had been marked as “Festival for the Elderly”, as to promote the ethos and morale of respecting, caring, loving and helping the elderly. Therefore, this day, Double Ninth Festival has an additional new meaning. Many companies and communities organize trips, gatherings, performances, concerts and so on, as to celebrate this significant festival.

The first sentence of this poem, let us feel and understand how Chinese people pay attention to family and affection. It has exactly the same meaning as in another poem of a famous  Chinese poet, Li Bai 李白《静夜思》.

“举头望明月，低头思故乡”

“Raising my head, I see the moon so bright; withdrawing my eyes, my nostalgia comes around. I am being homesick.”

There are many customary activities on this day, such as climbing high mountain, enjoy flower (especially chrysanthemum) drinking chrysanthemum wine, and wearing ZhuYu 茱萸 plant, Cornus officinalis. (Both chrysanthemum and ZhuYu are considered to have cleansing qualities and are used on other occasions to air out houses and cure illnesses.) Ascending a mountain is one of the most important activities of Double Ninth Festival, also known as Ascend Festival. According to historic records, climbing a mountain is a consuetude of this festival since the Han Dynasty. Nowadays, this has been a great healthy lifestyle for relaxing,  regulating mood and exercising.

The poem has also recorded about ZhuYu 茱萸 plant, a type of Chinese herbs. It has a nickname of “Master of exorcising evil spirits”, according to FengTu Ji《风土记》:

“九月九日折茱萸以插头上，辟除恶气而御初寒。”

“By wearing a ZhuYu plant on head on ninth day of ninth month, it can help to cleanse and exorcise evils, cum keep out coldness”

This practice of wearing ZhuYu plant was very popular during Tang Dynasty. People believed that wearing a ZhuYu plant on this day, can help to avoid and evacuate disaster. It can be worn on arm, or carried along in a sachet (named as ZhuYu sachet). The characteristics and the functions of ZhuYu plant are clearly recorded in Compendium of Materia Medica《本草纲目》<<Bencao GangMu>> .

A special day of festival… A special day for festival… Randomly thinking about Double Ninth Festival…