What are the holiday customs of the Double Ninth Festival?

The Double Ninth Festival, the ninth day of the ninth lunar month, is called the four traditional ancestor worship festivals in China together with New Year's Eve, Tomb-Sweeping Day and Zhongyuan Festival. The Book of Changes defines "nine" as yang number, and September 9 and 29 are the most important, so it is called "Chongyang". Because both the day and the month are nine, it is also called "Double Ninth Festival".

According to research, the Double Ninth Festival began in ancient times, formed in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, spread in the Western Han Dynasty and flourished in the Tang Dynasty. The existing written records about the Double Ninth Festival can be traced back to the pre-Qin classics. During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the festive atmosphere became stronger and stronger, and scholars chanted it. In the Tang Dynasty, the Double Ninth Festival was officially designated as a folk festival, and it has been cleaned up for many years.

Double Ninth Festival is an auspicious day. On this day, people go out to enjoy the scenery, climb high and overlook, watch chrysanthemums, insert dogwood, eat Chongyang cake and drink chrysanthemum wine. And often the whole family goes out. There are various customs of blessing everywhere. Therefore, the Double Ninth Festival is also called Cornus Festival, Gordon Festival and Chrysanthemum Festival. Song Wenzhi, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, said in a poem: "Celebrate Sanqiu in the evening and celebrate the Double Ninth Festival for nine days." It can be seen that the Double Ninth Festival in Tang Dynasty is very grand. What are the customs of the Double Ninth Festival? Let's take a look together.

Sacrifice to heaven and earth to celebrate the harvest.

In September of the lunar calendar, the earth is golden and everything is rich. People worship heaven, land and ancestors on the Double Ninth Festival to be grateful for this year's bumper harvest. At the same time, I also pray for a good weather and a good harvest in the coming year.

Climb the peak

The custom of climbing on the Double Ninth Festival has a long history. The ancients revered and worshipped mountains. The custom of "climbing high to pray for blessings" became popular as early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. There is also a saying that the whole family should go as high as possible in order to stay away from the plague healthily and safely. After the Double Ninth Festival, the weather turned cold and plants began to wither. Therefore, the double ninth festival mountaineering "tattoo" corresponds to the spring outing in Yangchun in March.

Eat Chongyang cake

Chongyang cake is also called flower cake, chrysanthemum cake and five-color cake, but there is no definite method to make it. At the dawn of the Double Ninth Festival, the children are carrying a cake on their heads, saying something in their mouths and wishing them all the best. This is the original intention of the ancients to make cakes in September. It is said that Chongyang cake should be made of nine layers, like a pagoda with two lambs on it, which means Chongyang (sheep). Some even put a little red paper flag, which is to replace dogwood with a little red paper flag. Light candles and lights. This means "lighting a lamp" and "eating a cake", not "climbing". At present, there are still various kinds of double ninth festival cakes in various places, and there is no fixed production method.

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"A stranger in a foreign land misses his family on holidays. I know from a distance where my brother climbed, and there is one person missing from the dogwood. " This poem by Wang Wei, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, is well known to all women and children, and often evokes the homesickness of wanderers. The poem also contains the information of the Double Ninth Festival-climbing a mountain and inserting dogwood. Cornus officinalis is a famous Chinese herbal medicine in China, and it is widely planted in the north and south of China, which is of great significance. People think that inserting Evodia rutaecarpa into the Double Ninth Festival can ward off evil spirits and eliminate disasters and solve problems. So, tie it to your arm, or put Cornus officinalis in a sachet and wear it on your head.

Appreciate chrysanthemums and drink.

Double Ninth Festival, also known as Chrysanthemum Festival, has the custom of appreciating chrysanthemums. There is a poem that says, "Since the Chrysanthemum Festival, you are drunk in Dongli." In the ninth month of the lunar calendar, commonly known as the Chrysanthemum Moon, a chrysanthemum party is held, and all the people in the city go to the meeting to enjoy chrysanthemums. Since ancient times, Chongyang parties have been drinking, enjoying chrysanthemums and writing poems.