Folk Customs of Jiuhua Mountain
Incense Worship
To pray for peace and happiness in the new year, local residents of Jiuhua Mountain (admission ticket required) prepare incense and candles to offer sacrifices at the Roubao Temple or nearby temples during the Lunar Spring Festival. On the way to burn incense, even acquaintances will not speak to each other. Only after finishing the incense worship can they greet one another and exchange New Year greetings.
Meat Year and Vegetarian Year
As a sign of respect for Buddhist monks, locals celebrate a meat year first, followed by a vegetarian year during the Spring Festival.
- Meat Year: On the 28th day of the 12th lunar month, villagers eat meat dishes, known as the Meat Year.
- The next day, they thoroughly scrub all pots, bowls and utensils with plant ash to prepare vegetarian food. On New Year’s Eve (the 30th day of the 12th lunar month), they observe a vegetarian festival to mark the official New Year, called the Vegetarian Year. Vegetarian diets continue until the 3rd day of the first lunar month.
Buddhist Festivals
Six major Buddhist festivals are celebrated here: Buddha’s Birthday, Buddha’s Enlightenment Day, Guanyin Festival, Ksitigarbha Dharma Assembly, Jiuhua Mountain Temple Fair, and Ullambana Festival (Self-Reflection Day).
1. Buddha’s Birthday
It commemorates the birth of Sakyamuni and is Buddhism’s grandest festival.
- Time: The 8th day of the 4th lunar month
- Venue: Zhiyuan Temple
- Temple rituals: Legend says dragons sprayed fragrant rain to bathe Sakyamuni upon his birth. On this day, monks and nuns of all Jiuhua Mountain temples gather in the main hall to worship Buddha and recite scriptures. They bathe Buddha statues with scented water, a ritual known as the Buddha Bathing Ceremony. During the ceremony, temples provide vegetarian meals for monks and hold rituals to redeem wandering souls, including releasing water lanterns and burning spirit boats.
2. Buddha’s Enlightenment Day
Marks the day Sakyamuni attained enlightenment.
- Time: The 8th day of the 12th lunar month
- Custom: Locals cook laba congee with red jujubes, longans, shiitake mushrooms and various beans. They eat the congee themselves or distribute it to others to express gratitude to the Buddha.
3. Guanyin Festival
Three key dates dedicated to Guanyin Bodhisattva:
- Birth Day: The 19th day of the 2nd lunar month
- Enlightenment Day: The 19th day of the 6th lunar month
- Nirvana Day: The 19th day of the 9th lunar month
- Custom: Groups of women visit nearby temples to burn incense, draw fortune sticks and make vows, praying for safe childbirth and healthy mothers and infants.
4. Ksitigarbha Dharma Assembly
Celebrates the birthday of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, the same day when the Silla monk Jin Qiaojue attained enlightenment according to legend.
- Time: The 30th day of the 7th lunar month (the 29th day if the lunar month has only 29 days)
- Venues: Huacheng Temple, Roubao Temple
- Rituals: All temples on Jiuhua Mountain hold grand ceremonies, recite the Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva Fundamental Vows Sutra, and keep vigil beside the Ksitigarbha flesh relic pagoda. The assembly normally lasts seven days, from the 30th of the 7th lunar month to the 6th of the 8th lunar month.
During the assembly, pilgrims organize Hundred Sons Associations to hike the mountain and offer incense. Devout men and women voluntarily form groups, stick to vegetarian diets, carry shoulder poles, hold banners, beat gongs and recite scriptures while traveling together. A group of 100 devotees forms a Hundred Sons Association; a group of 200 forms a Double Hundred Sons Association. Smaller groups of 20 to 30 people are called Mini Hundred Sons Associations.
5. Jiuhua Mountain Temple Fair
Originating in the Tang Dynasty. According to legend, in the late Kaiyuan reign (713–742), Jin Qiaojue, a senior monk from Silla Kingdom, came to Jiuhua Mountain to establish the Ksitigarbha sacred site. He practiced ascetic meditation for 75 years and passed away on the 30th day of the 7th lunar month at the age of 99.
Three years after his body was placed in an urn, his remains remained intact with lifelike features. When his joints were moved, they made a sound like clinking golden locks. Buddhist scriptures state that such a sound of golden lock bones signifies the arrival of a Bodhisattva in the mortal world. His disciples regarded him as the reincarnation of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, respectfully naming him Golden Ksitigarbha, and built a flesh relic pagoda on Shenguang Ridge to enshrine his body.
- Time: The 30th day of the 7th lunar month every year
- Venue: Tiantai Peak
- Fair activities: Pilgrims and worshippers from all over the country converge on Jiuhua Mountain to offer incense, pay homage to the pagoda and climb Tiantai Peak. Mountain villagers and craftsmen set up stalls for trade, while folk artists stage performances.
6. Ullambana Festival (Self-Reflection Day)
A major Buddhist festival for practitioners to examine their spiritual cultivation over the past year.
- Time: The 15th day of the 7th lunar month
- Festival rituals: Monks and believers of Jiuhua Mountain temples worship Buddha, perform repentance ceremonies and conduct self-reflection. They hold the Emperor Liang Repentance and Ksitigarbha Repentance rituals, offer sacrifices to ancestors and redeem all wandering hungry ghosts.
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