What is the Double Ninth Festival?

The Double Ninth Festival, also known as the Old Man's Day, falls on September 9th of the lunar calendar every year. It is a traditional festival of the Han people. In the Book of Changes, six is ??designated as a yin number and nine is designated as a yang number. On September 9th, the sun and the moon merge.

Yang, the two nines overlap each other, so it is called Double Ninth Festival, also called Double Nine.

The Double Ninth Festival has been formed as early as the Warring States Period. In the Tang Dynasty, the Double Ninth Festival was officially designated as a folk festival, and has been followed by all dynasties ever since.

Folks have the custom of climbing on this day, so the Double Ninth Festival is also called the Climbing Festival. In addition, there are also other sayings such as the Dogwood Festival and the Chrysanthemum Festival.

When people celebrate the Double Ninth Festival, they usually climb mountains, admire chrysanthemums, drink chrysanthemum wine, plant dogwood trees, and eat cakes.

In addition, since the homophonic pronunciation of the ninth day of the ninth lunar month is long, which means long-term, so ancestor worship and filial piety activities are often carried out on this day.

Customs related to the Double Ninth Festival 1. Climbing high The Double Ninth Festival first has the custom of climbing. In the golden autumn of September, the sky is high and the air is crisp. Climbing high in this season can achieve the purpose of feeling relaxed and happy, keeping fit and curing diseases.

2. Eating Double Ninth Cake is related to climbing. There is a custom of eating Double Ninth Cake.

Gaohe cake is a homophonic word. As a festival food, it was first used to celebrate the harvest of autumn grains and to enjoy new crops. Later, the folk people began to climb high and eat cakes to gain the auspicious meaning of climbing higher and higher step by step.

3. Appreciating chrysanthemums on Double Ninth Festival has always been a custom of appreciating chrysanthemums, so it has also been called the Chrysanthemum Festival since ancient times.

The ninth month of the lunar calendar is commonly known as the chrysanthemum month. A chrysanthemum conference is held during the festival, and crowds of people attend the festival to appreciate the chrysanthemums.

Since the Wei and Jin Dynasties in the Three Kingdoms, it has become fashionable to gather for drinking, appreciating chrysanthemums and composing poems on the Double Ninth Festival.

In ancient Han customs, chrysanthemums symbolize longevity.