When did the custom of respecting the elderly on the Double Ninth Festival begin?

The ninth day of the ninth lunar month is the traditional Double Ninth Festival, also called "Old People's Day".

When did the custom of respecting the elderly on the Double Ninth Festival begin?

The ninth day of the ninth lunar month is the traditional Double Ninth Festival, also called "Old People's Day". Because the Book of Changes defines "six" as the yin number and "nine" as the yang number, on September 9, the sun and the moon are combined with yang, and 29 is the most important, so it is called Chongyang, also known as Jiujiu. The Double Ninth Festival was formed as early as the Warring States Period. In the Tang Dynasty, the Double Ninth Festival was officially designated as a folk festival, which has been inherited ever since. The name of "Double Ninth Festival" was recorded in the Three Kingdoms period. According to Cao Pi's "Nine Days and Zhong You Book", it says: "From year to month, September 9 suddenly comes again. Nine is the number of yang, and the sun and the moon coincide. It is well known and considered suitable for a long time, so it is a feast. "

First of all, there is a custom of climbing mountains on the Double Ninth Festival. Autumn in September, the sky is crisp. In this season, climbing the mountain and overlooking it can achieve the purpose of relaxing body and mind, keeping fit and getting rid of diseases. The custom of eating Chongyang cake is related to mountain climbing. Gaohe cake is homophonic. As a holiday food, it was originally to celebrate the harvest of autumn grain and taste new grain. After that, the people have the auspicious meaning of climbing to eat cakes and climbing step by step.

The Double Ninth Festival has always had the custom of enjoying chrysanthemums, so it has been called Chrysanthemum Festival since ancient times. September of the lunar calendar, commonly known as Chrysanthemum Month, holds a chrysanthemum party on holidays, and people from all over the city go to the meeting to enjoy chrysanthemums. Since the Wei and Jin Dynasties in the Three Kingdoms, it has become fashionable for Chongyang parties to drink and enjoy chrysanthemums and recite poems. In the ancient customs of Han nationality, chrysanthemum symbolizes longevity. The custom of inserting Evodia rutaecarpa was popular in ancient times, so it is also called Cornus Festival. As a medicine, Cornus officinalis can make wine, strengthen the body and get rid of diseases. On this day, Wang Wei's "I miss my brothers in Shandong on vacation in the mountains" was written.

The ancients thought it was an auspicious day to celebrate, and they began to celebrate it from a very young age. Double Ninth Festival is a traditional festival of Han nationality, which combines various folk customs. The activities to celebrate the Double Ninth Festival generally include sightseeing, overlooking, chrysanthemum viewing, dogwood planting, double ninth festival cake eating, chrysanthemum wine drinking and other activities. Double Ninth Festival, because it is homophonic with "long", and nine is the largest number in the number, which means long life. Moreover, autumn is also the golden season of harvest in a year, and the Double Ninth Festival has far-reaching influence. People have always had special feelings for this festival. There are many excellent poems in Tang poetry and Song poetry to congratulate the Double Ninth Festival and chant chrysanthemums.

In the folk concept, the Double Ninth Festival is homophonic with "Nine Nine", which means longevity, health and longevity. Since the 1980s, some places in China have designated the ninth day of September in the summer calendar as the festival for the elderly, advocating the whole society to establish an atmosphere of respecting, loving and helping the elderly.

The state attaches great importance to the protection of intangible cultural heritage. On May 20th, 2006, this folk custom was approved by the State Council to be included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list. This year (2009), the Double Ninth Festival falls on 65438+ Gregorian calendar1October 26th.

The origin of Double Ninth Festival

Double Ninth Festival is a festival with a long history. Due to its long history, the formation of the festival is not easy to investigate. Therefore, there are different opinions about the origin of the Double Ninth Festival:

First of all:

The origin of Chongyang can be traced back to before the pre-Qin period. "Lu Chunqiu Qiu Ji Ji" says: "In September, the family was ordered to slaughter, and the fields were prepared for harvest, and five important things were listed. The Tibetan emperor's book is collected in the holy warehouse, and I only respect it. " "It's the day, Great Emperor. I'll taste the sacrifice and tell the son of heaven." It can be seen that there were activities of offering sacrifices to the emperor and ancestors to thank them for their kindness when the crops were harvested in autumn and September.

Jia, the imperial secretary in Xijing Miscellanies of the Han Dynasty, said: "On September 9, Pei Yun ate the bait and drank chrysanthemum wine, and the clouds made people live longer." According to legend, since then, there has been the custom of seeking longevity on the Double Ninth Festival. This is influenced by the ancient wizards (later Taoist priests) who pursued immortality and collected drugs to take. At the same time, there are also large-scale banquet activities, which developed from the Qingfeng banquet in the pre-Qin period. The Chronicle of Jingchu Age said: "On September 9th, four people got together for a picnic." Duke Du of Sui wrote: "I don't know when the banquet on September 9 started, and it hasn't changed since I was stationed in the Song Dynasty." Longevity and feast form the basis of the Double Ninth Festival.

During the Three Kingdoms period, Cao Pi, the Emperor of Wei Wen, wrote in Nine Days and Zhong You: "The New Year arrives in September, and then suddenly it returns to September 9th. Nine is the number of yang, and the sun and the moon coincide. Compared with its name, it is suitable for a long time, so it is a feast. " It can be seen that holiday customs have been finalized. The theme of the Double Ninth Festival is to seek longevity, wear dogwood, brew chrysanthemum wine, enjoy chrysanthemums, make wine and offer sacrifices to the gods. Spread to this day, it has increased the connotation of respecting the elderly and is more meaningful. In addition, there are hiking picnics and various games. [ 1]

Second:

One of the prototypes of the Double Ninth Festival is the ancient fire sacrifice ceremony.

As a symbol of the ancient seasonal star, the fire of September (Antares) retired, which was called "the fire of September" in summer. The retirement of Mars not only made the ancients who had always regarded Mars as a symbol of seasonal production and life lose the coordinates of time, but also made the ancients who worshipped fire feel inexplicable fear. The dormancy of Vulcan means a long winter. Therefore, in Fire, although the situation of ancient sacrificial ceremonies is obscure, we can still find some traces of ancient customs from the utensils of the Double Ninth Festival in later generations. For example, in some places in the south of the Yangtze River, Chongyang has the custom of offering sacrifices to stoves, which is the fire god at home, thus showing the clue of offering sacrifices to "fire" in ancient September. The ancients regarded Chongyang, Shangsi or cold food, September 9 and March 3 as the corresponding spring and autumn festivals. Liu Hanxin's Miscellaneous Notes on Xijing said: "Go to the third grade in March, play games with girls in September, and then climb the mountain." The correspondence among thinking, cold food and Chongyang is based on the appearance of "fire".