Chongyang Festival is also called: Denggao Festival, Chrysanthemum Appreciation Festival, Cornucopia Festival, Elderly People's Festival, Chrysanthemum Festival, Sunshine Autumn Festival, Chrysanthemum Festival, Treading Autumn Festival, Daughter's Festival and so on.

The Chongyang Festival, a traditional Chinese festival, is celebrated on the ninth day of the ninth month of the lunar calendar every year. In ancient times, folk in the Chongyang Festival have climbed high to pray for blessings, autumn tour to enjoy chrysanthemums, wear dogwood, worship God and ancestor worship and feast to pray for longevity and other customs. Nowadays, it has added the connotation of respecting the elderly, enjoying the feast on the day of Chung Yeung to give thanks and respect to the elderly. The two important themes of the Chrysanthemum Festival today are the appreciation of the autumn and the thanksgiving and respect for the elderly.

The origin and history of the Chongyang Festival

The festival has a history of more than 2,000 years. Because the old "I Ching" set "six" as the number of yin, "nine" as the number of yang, the ninth day of September, the sun and the moon and the sun, the two nine overlap, so the name "Chongyang", also known as the "heavy nine". The name is also known as "Chongyang", also known as "Heavy Nine".

The ancients believed that this is an auspicious day to celebrate, and from a very early stage of this festival.

The Chongyang Festival can be pushed back as far as the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. During the Warring States period, Chung Yeung was already valued by the people, but it was only an activity carried out in the imperial palace.

During the Han Dynasty, the custom of celebrating the Chongyang Festival gradually became popular. According to legend, Mrs. Qi, the consort of Liu Bang, the first Han emperor, was murdered by Empress Lu, and one of her former attendants, Jia, was expelled from the palace and married to a poor man. Jia then brought the activity of Chung Yeung to the people. Jia told people that in the palace, on the ninth day of the ninth month of the ninth year, they would wear cornelian cherry, eat tent bait, and drink chrysanthemum wine in order to live a long life. Since then the custom of Chongyang has spread among the people.

The name "Chongyang Festival" was recorded in the Three Kingdoms era. According to Cao Pi's "The Book of the Ninth Day and Zhong Yao", "The year goes by and the month comes and goes, and suddenly the ninth day of the ninth month returns. Nine is the number of yang, and the sun and the moon are in sync with each other, so the common people honored the name of the festival and thought that it was suitable for a long time, so they used it as a feast for a high meeting."

Tao Yuanming, a literati of the Jin Dynasty, said in the preface to the poem "Nine Days of Idleness": "The rest of the idleness, love the name of the ninth day of the ninth day of the ninth day of the ninth day of the ninth day of the ninth day of the ninth day of the ninth month. Autumn chrysanthemums fill the garden, while holding the mash by and by, the empty service of the Nine, send your mind to the words." Here both chrysanthemum and wine are mentioned. The Wei and Jin Dynasties had the custom of enjoying chrysanthemums and drinking wine.

It was during the Tang Dynasty that the Chongyang Festival was designated as an official holiday. From then on, the court and the people celebrated the Chongyang Festival together and carried out various activities during the festival.

During the Song Dynasty, the festival was even more lively, and Tokyo Meng Hua Lu (东京梦华錄) recorded the festival's splendor during the Northern Song Dynasty. The Old Story of Wulin also recorded that the Southern Song court "made the 9th Pai Dang on the 8th day of the festival", waiting for the following day to have some grand fun.

Ming Dynasty, the palace eunuchs and concubines from the first one began to eat flower cakes together to celebrate. The ninth day of the sun, the emperor will also be personally to the mountain to see the victory, in order to smooth the autumn Zhi.

During the Qing Dynasty, the customs of the Ming Dynasty continued to prevail.

Since the 1980s, some places in China have designated the ninth day of the ninth month of the summer calendar as the Day of the Elderly, advocating that the whole society set up a culture of respect for the elderly, honoring the elderly, loving the elderly, and helping the elderly.

In 1989, the Chinese government designated the ninth day of the ninth month of the Chinese lunar calendar as the "Day of the Elderly" and the "Day of Respect for the Elderly".

In 1989, the Chinese government designated the ninth day of the ninth month of the lunar calendar as "Old People's Day" and "Respect for the Elderly Day.

On December 28, 2012, the law made it clear that the ninth day of the ninth month of the Lunar Calendar is the Day of the Elderly every year.

Traditional customs of Chongyang Festival

1, Chongyang ascension

The Chongyang Festival has the custom of ascension. When autumn arrives, the cold air goes south, the rain decreases, and the weather is sunny. Autumn September, autumn high, the temperature is neither cold nor hot, just suitable for travel. In this season, climbing high and looking into the distance can achieve the purpose of strengthening the body and dispelling all diseases. Ancient people have long had the custom of climbing high on the Chongyang Festival, for example, Wang Wei in the Tang Dynasty wrote in the "September 9 Memories of the Shandong Brothers": alone in a foreign land for the foreign guests, every festive season doubly homesick. The brothers are known to climb up to the heights, and there are fewer Cornus officinalis. We also have a saying in Nanjing, "Spring Niushou, Autumn Qixia", which means that in the spring we should go to Niushou Mountain to trek, and in the fall we should go to Qixia Mountain to climb.

2, eat Chongyang cake

Chongyang cake, also known as "flower cake", "chrysanthemum cake", "hair cake" and so on. Cake on the small colorful flags, cake printed on two sheep, take the meaning of "Chongyang". Some places in the September 9, daybreak, to piece of cake on the forehead of the children, reading in his mouth, wishing his children all things are high. There are also places, birthday gift back to send cake, but also take the meaning of high life and step by step.

3, Daughter's Day

Some places Chanyang Festival is also known as the Daughter's Day, the day married out of the daughter to go back to her mother's home to eat cakes, the mother's family will also be given to the daughter, grandchildren send cake, there are step by step the meaning of rising. Chongyang Festival in addition to eat Chongyang cake, some areas also eat mutton noodles. "Sheep" and "Yang" resonance, should be the allusion to the Chongyang Festival. Mutton is warm, beneficial to the gas to make up for the deficiency, eaten in the fall, but also have the effect of preventing cold and tonic.

4, chrysanthemum

Chrysanthemum is a famous flower in China, is the plum, orchids, bamboo, chrysanthemum, one of the four gentlemen of the flower. Because chrysanthemum has a noble, simple character, there is the Eastern Jin Dynasty Tao Yuanming's "picking chrysanthemums under the East Fence, leisurely see the South Mountain" of the famous line. In the Tang Dynasty, Meng Haoran also wrote in "Passing the Old Man's Village", "When it comes to the Day of the Chrysanthemum, I will come back to the chrysanthemum."

5, drink chrysanthemum wine

Anciently, chrysanthemum wine was brewed for the second year's Chrysanthemum Festival. September 9 this day, pick the first bloom of the chrysanthemum and a little verdant branches and leaves, mixed into the grain ready for brewing, and then used together to brew wine, put to drink on September 9 of the second year. Legend has it that drinking this kind of wine can prolong one's life. During the festive season, autumn is crisp, chrysanthemums are in full bloom, and the hedges in front of the windows are golden. In addition to the dogwood, friends and relatives invited to drink chrysanthemum wine, *** enjoy chrysanthemums, indeed have a lot of fun. Especially the poets, chrysanthemum drinking, poetry and entertainment, leaving a lot of good lines for future generations. Chrysanthemum contains nutritious ingredients, and drinking chrysanthemum wine during the Chung Yeung Festival is a traditional Chinese custom. In ancient times, chrysanthemum wine was regarded as the "auspicious wine" that must be drunk to pray for good luck and get rid of disasters.

6, wearing Cornus officinalis - hairpin chrysanthemum

The custom of wearing Cornus officinalis on Chrysanthemum Day was prevalent in the Tang Dynasty, and it was believed that on Chrysanthemum Day, one could take refuge in Cornus officinalis to eliminate calamities; or to wear it on the arm, or to wear Cornus officinalis as a scented capsule, known as Cornus officinalis capsule. In addition to wearing cornelian cherry, women also have the custom of wearing chrysanthemums on the head. The Tang Dynasty has been so, and has been prevalent throughout the generations. In ancient times, there is the custom of inserting cornelian cherry on Chongyang Festival, so Chongyang Festival is also called Cornus Festival. Cornus officinalis is used as medicine and can be used to make wine to nourish the body and dispel diseases. Cornus officinalis and chrysanthemums were already common in the Tang Dynasty. Cornus officinalis has a strong flavor, has to drive away insects and dampness, the role of the wind, and can eliminate food accumulation, cure cold and heat, so in the Chrysanthemum Festival people like to wear cornelianthus in order to ward off the evil spirits and seek good luck.

7, amusement and sports activities

Anciently, some nomads retained the Chrysanthemum Festival hunting, archery, horse racing activities. Because of the windy fall, kite flying is also an important activity of the Chongyang Festival, the symbolism of kite flying also lies in warding off evil spirits and epidemics.