What is the custom of Double Ninth Festival?

Double Ninth Festival is a traditional folk festival in China, which falls on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month every year. The number of Yijing is positive, and the number of Yang in Yijing is more important. Therefore, Chongyang is also called "Double Ninth Festival", because the date and month are in line with nine. In ancient times, people climbed mountains to pray for blessings, sacrificed gods and ancestors, and prayed for longevity. Inherited to this day, it has increased the connotation of respecting the elderly. Climbing mountains and enjoying autumn and giving thanks and respecting the elderly are two important themes of today's Double Ninth Festival.

Gordon 1

The custom of climbing on the Double Ninth Festival has a long history. In ancient times, there was the custom of climbing on the Double Ninth Festival, so it was also called "Climbing Festival". Climbing is also a solar term originated from nature, and climbing on the Double Ninth Festival corresponds to the spring outing of ancient people in spring and March. There is no uniform regulation on the place of climbing, and the place of climbing is generally divided into mountain climbing, building climbing or platform climbing. There are three origins of mountain climbing custom: one is the ancient people's worship of mountains; Second, it comes from the climate of "clearing the air, raising the turbidity and sinking the gas"; The third is to climb high and look far, and ascend to heaven through clearing the air.

2, basking in autumn

The Double Ninth Festival is the best time to enjoy autumn, and some mountain villages in the south of China still retain the characteristics of "basking in autumn". Going to the countryside to appreciate the folk customs and watch the autumn sun has become a fashion in rural tourism. "Sunbathing in autumn" is a typical agricultural custom phenomenon with strong regional characteristics. Villagers living in mountainous areas such as Hunan, Guangxi, Anhui and Jiangxi. It has become a traditional agricultural custom to use the roof in front of the house and the window sill to hang crops. This special lifestyle and scene of villagers drying crops has gradually become the material pursued and created by painters and photographers, and created a poetic name "drying autumn".

3. ancestor worship

The Double Ninth Festival is one of the four traditional festivals of ancestor worship in China, and there is a tradition of ancestor worship and blessing in ancient times. The traditional custom of ancestor worship on the Double Ninth Festival is still popular in Lingnan area, and people hold ancestor worship activities on the Double Ninth Festival every year. Whether worshipping ancestors or looking far away, its most fundamental function is to enhance people's cultural identity and strengthen the cohesion of family and society. In traditional customs, Tomb-Sweeping Day is the Spring Festival and the Double Ninth Festival is the Mid-Autumn Festival. The traditional custom of ancestor worship in Chongyang Mountain continues to this day.

Step 4 eat Chongyang cake

Chongyang cake, also known as flower cake, chrysanthemum cake and five-color cake, is the representative food of the Double Ninth Festival on September 9. As a holiday food, it was originally used to celebrate the bumper harvest of grain and like to taste new grain. Because "Gao" and "Gao" are homophonic, there is auspicious meaning of climbing step by step, so there is the custom of climbing to eat cakes on the Double Ninth Festival.

5. Pei dogwood

The custom of inserting Evodia rutaecarpa was popular in ancient times, so it is also called Cornus Festival. In the past, folk festivals and customs of the Han nationality were popular in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, Huaihe River and Yangtze River. Cornus officinalis is a kind of fruit that can be used as Chinese medicine. The ancients believed that climbing a mountain and inserting Evodia rutaecarpa on the Double Ninth Festival could repel insects, damp and pathogenic wind. So he put Cornus officinalis on his arm or in a sachet and on his head. Most of them are worn by women and children, and men in some places also wear them. As a medicine, Cornus officinalis can make wine, strengthen the body and get rid of diseases. Evodia rutaecarpa and chrysanthemum were very common in the Tang Dynasty. Cornus officinalis has a strong aroma, which has the functions of improving eyesight, refreshing brain, expelling pathogenic fire, removing dampness and expelling wind, resolving food stagnation and treating cold and heat. Ancient customs such as inserting dogwood are folk climbing to ward off wind and evil spirits. On the Double Ninth Festival, the clear sky rises and the polluted air sinks. People use natural medicine Cornus officinalis to adjust their health to adapt to the changes of natural climate.

6. Enjoy the feast and pray for your birthday.

The Double Ninth Festival has the custom of holding a banquet to pray for longevity, which places people's blessings on the health and longevity of the elderly. In ancient times, the custom of praying for longevity in Chongyang was widely circulated in various places, and it was also recorded in some literary works, such as Miscellanies of Xijing in the Han Dynasty: "On September 9, Peidogwood ate Peng bait and drank chrysanthemum wine, and the clouds made people live longer." Another book, Jing Chu Sui Ji, said, "On September 9th, four people had a family dinner." In fact, the large-scale catering activities of the Double Ninth Festival developed from banquets held for harvest and sacrifice. On the basis of offering sacrifices to heaven and ancestors, longevity and catering are added to form the basis of the Double Ninth Festival. Today, in some places in southern China, it is still popular to pay homage to the elderly and pray for a long life.

In the historical development, the Double Ninth Festival is a blend of various folk customs, bearing rich cultural connotations and details. First of all, in the concept of folklore, "nine" is the largest number in numbers, which has long-term significance. People think that longevity means longevity. Therefore, the Double Ninth Festival is a festival given by people to wish the elderly a long and healthy life.