The Double Ninth Festival is also called the Old Man's Day because "Nine-nine" means longevity and longevity.
The Double Ninth Festival is a traditional Chinese folk festival. The date is on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month every year. The number "nine" is a yang number in the "Book of Changes", and the two yang numbers "nine-nine" coincide with each other, so it is called "Double Ninth Festival"; because both the sun and the moon coincide with the ninth day, it is also called "Double Ninth Festival". The Double Ninth Festival returns to its true state and the first year begins. The ancients believed that the Double Ninth Festival is an auspicious day. In ancient times, people climbed high to pray for blessings and worship gods on the Double Ninth Festival. Customs such as worshiping ancestors and drinking banquets to pray for longevity have been passed down to this day, with added connotations such as respecting the elderly.
The Double Ninth Festival originated from the worship of celestial phenomena. It started in ancient times, became popular in the Western Han Dynasty, and flourished after the Tang Dynasty. According to existing historical materials and textual research, in ancient times, there were activities to hold harvest sacrifices to heaven and ancestors in the autumn.
Historical evolution
The origins of ancient traditional festivals are related to ancient primitive beliefs, sacrificial culture, celestial phenomena, calendars and other humanistic and natural cultural contents, and contain only respect, morality, etiquette and music civilization With profound cultural connotations, the Double Ninth Festival has a long historical origin. In ancient times, customs in the north and south were different. In the pre-Qin period, customs in various places had not yet been integrated and spread, and the customs of the Double Ninth Festival are rarely recorded in written records.
The existing clues related to the customs of the Double Ninth Festival were first seen in the "Ji Qiu Ji" of "Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals": "(September) ordered the family steward to prepare for the harvest, and listed five important points. When the harvest is collected in the divine warehouse, it is necessary to pay tribute to the emperor on this day. He sacrifices and reports to the emperor. "At that time, when the crops were harvested in September, the activities of offering sacrifices to the emperor's ancestors to express gratitude coincided with the Double Ninth Festival. Approximately consistent.