Chiyang Festival is the ninth day of the ninth month of the lunar calendar every year, is a traditional folk festival in China.

The ancients believed that the nine suns are auspicious days. In ancient times, the folk in the Chongyang Festival have climbed to pray for blessings, autumn tour to enjoy chrysanthemums, wear dogwood, worship and ancestor worship and feasts to pray for life and other customs. Nowadays, it has added the connotation of honoring the elderly, enjoying feasts and honoring the elderly on the day of Chung Yeung.

Traditional Customs of the Chongyang Festival

The Chongyang Festival is similar to the Spring Festival on the third day of March, in which the whole family goes out to enjoy the autumn, climb up to a high altitude, and view chrysanthemums, etc. On the day of the Chongyang Festival, all the family members go out to enjoy the autumn, climb up to a high altitude, and view chrysanthemums.

1, Chongyang climb

The Chongyang Festival has the custom of climbing. 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 far and wide can achieve the purpose of strengthening the body and getting rid of 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 dogwoods to be found. 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, orchid, 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, really 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, wear 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 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.