The Chongyang Festival is a traditional Chinese folk festival held on the ninth day of the ninth month of the lunar calendar. Nine" in the "I Ching" is a positive number, "nine nine" two yang of the number of heavy, so that "Chongyang" because the day and the month are nine, so it is also known as "heavy nine ". In ancient times, people climbed mountains to pray for blessings on the Chongyang Festival, worshipped gods and ancestors, and prayed for longevity. It has been passed down to this day with added connotations such as honoring the elderly. Climbing mountains to enjoy autumn and giving thanks to honor the elderly are two important themes of today's Chongyang Festival activities.
1, climbing
The custom of climbing on the Chongyang Festival has a long history. Ancient folk custom in the Chongyang Festival, so the Chongyang Festival is also known as the "Festival". Ascending "quit green" is also derived from the nature of the festival, Chongyang Festival mountain climbing "quit green" and the ancients in March spring tour "trekking" corresponds to. There is no uniform regulation on the location of climbing, and the places to climb are roughly divided into high mountains, high buildings, or high platforms. The origin of the custom of ascending to the heights is roughly three: one is derived from the ancient worship of mountains; the second is derived from the "clear air up, the turbid air sinking" climate; the third is to ascend to the high places to take the clear air to the sky.
2, sunshine autumn
The Chongyang Festival is the best time to enjoy the autumn, there are still some mountainous villages in southern China to retain the "sunshine autumn" characteristics. Go to the countryside to enjoy folklore, see the sunshine autumn, has become a fashion of rural tourism. "Sunshine autumn" is a typical agricultural phenomenon, with strong regional characteristics. In Hunan, Guangxi, Anhui, Jiangxi and other villagers living in mountainous areas, due to the complex terrain, the village flat land is very little, had to use the front and back of the house and their own windowsill roof racks sun, hanging sunshine crops, over time has evolved into a traditional agricultural phenomenon. This villagers drying crops of the special way of life and the scene, and gradually became a painter, photographers chasing the creation of material, and shaping the poetic "sunshine autumn" name.
3, ancestor worship
The Chongyang Festival is one of the four traditional Chinese ancestor festivals, ancient folk tradition of ancestor worship and prayers. The traditional custom of ancestor worship is still prevalent in the Lingnan area, where people hold ancestor worship activities on the Chongyang Festival every year. Whether it is ancestor worship activities or ascending to a high altitude to look into the distance, its most fundamental role is to enhance people's sense of cultural identity and strengthen the cohesion of the family and society. In traditional customs, Qingming is the "Spring Festival" and Chongyang is the "Autumn Festival". The traditional custom of ancestor worship at Chung Yeung continues to this day.
4, eat Chongyang cake
Chongyang cake, also known as flower cake, chrysanthemum cake, five-color cake, is a representative of the festival of the ninth day of September Chongyang food. As a festival food, the earliest is to celebrate the grain harvest, happy to taste the new grain. Because "high" and "cake" resonate with each other, there is the auspicious meaning of getting higher step by step, and then there is the custom of eating cake on the 9th day of the 9th moon.
5, Pui dogwood
Anciently, the custom of nine nine dogwoods, so it is also called Cornucopia. The old Han folk festival custom, popular in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, the Huaihe River, the Yangtze River basin and other places. Cornus officinalis is a kind of fruit that can be used as traditional Chinese medicine. Ancient people believed that inserting cornelian cherry into the mountains on the Chongyang Festival could drive away insects and dampness, and expel wind and evil spirits. So they wore the cornelian cherry on their arms or ground it up and put it in a bag of incense, as well as sticking it on their heads. Mostly women and children wear, some places men also wear. Cornus officinalis is used as medicine and can be used to make wine to nourish the body and dispel diseases. Cornus officinalis and chrysanthemum hairpin were already common in the Tang Dynasty. Cornus officinalis has a strong flavor, has the effect of brightening the eyes, waking up the brain, getting rid of fire, driving away worms, removing dampness, driving away the wind, and can eliminate the accumulation of food, treating cold and heat. Insert cornelian cherry and other ancient custom is folk mountaineering to drive away the wind and evil behavior, Chongyang Festival Qing Qi upward, turbid gas sinking, people with natural medicine cornelian cherry and other adjustments to the health of the body to adapt to the natural climate change.
6, enjoy the feast and pray for life
The Chongyang Festival on the day of the custom of enjoying the feast and praying for life, sends people's blessings on the elderly health and longevity. Chrysanthemum feast and pray for life custom in ancient times in all parts of the widely spread, in some literary works also have related records, such as the Han Dynasty, "Xijing Miscellany": "September 9, wear cornelian cherry, eat pong bait, drink chrysanthemum wine, cloud makes people long life." And "Jing Chu chronicle" cloud: "September 9, the four people and the wild drinking feast." Chongyang Festival large-scale drinking and banqueting activities, in fact, by the festival to celebrate the harvest rituals and banquets developed, in the worship of ancestors on the basis of adding the longevity and drinking banquets, constitute the basis of the Chongyang Festival. To this day, the custom of honoring the elderly and praying for longevity is still popular in some parts of southern China.
In the course of its historical development, the Chongyang Festival has integrated a variety of folklore and carried a rich cultural connotation and heritage. First of all, in the concept of folklore, "nine" is numerically the largest number, with long-term significance people believe that longevity means longevity, therefore, Chongyang Festival is a festival given by people to wish the elderly a long and healthy life.