Origin and Customs of Chongyang Festival

The origin of the Chongyang Festival can be traced back to the ancient times, when it was rumored that Chongyang was the hour of Yuan Di's attainment of Taoism. This is the original form in which the Chongyang Festival existed as a ritual in ancient times. The customs of the Chongyang Festival include: ascending the heights, eating Chongyang cakes, enjoying chrysanthemums and drinking chrysanthemum wine, inserting dogwoods and hairpin chrysanthemums, and making offerings to one's ancestors.

1, climb up

In ancient times, the folk in the Chongyang custom of climbing up, so the Chongyang Festival is also called "Denggao Festival". According to legend, this custom began in the Eastern Han Dynasty. In the Tang Dynasty, there were many poems written by literati, most of which were about the customs of the Chongyang Festival; Du Fu's seven rhymes, "Ascending to the heights", is a famous piece of writing about ascending to the heights of the Chongyang Festival. There is no standardized rule on the place of ascending to the heights, but it is generally to climb high mountains and towers. There is also the custom of eating "Chrysanthemum Cake".

2, eat Chung Yeung cake

According to historical records, Chung Yeung cake, also known as flower cake, chrysanthemum cake, five-color cake, the system is not fixed, more random. September 9 when the sky is bright, to piece of cake on the forehead of the children, the mouth read the words, wishing the children all things high, is the ancient people in September for the cake of the original intention. The delicate Chongyang cake to be made into nine layers, like a pagoda, above also made into two small sheep, in line with the meaning of Chongyang (sheep).

3, chrysanthemum and chrysanthemum wine

Chrysanthemum Festival is the golden autumn of the year, chrysanthemums are in full bloom, according to legend, chrysanthemum and chrysanthemum wine, originated in the Jin Dynasty, the great poet Tao Yuanming. Tao Yuanming was famous for living in seclusion, famous for his poetry, famous for his wine, and famous for his love of chrysanthemums; later generations followed his example, and the custom of enjoying chrysanthemums at Chrysanthemum Festival came into being. In the old days, the literati combined chrysanthemum-appreciation with drinking and feasting, in order to get closer to Tao Yuanming.

4, insert cornelian cherry

The custom of inserting cornelian cherry on Chrysanthemum Day was common in the Tang Dynasty. Ancient people believed that in the day of the Chongyang Festival insert cornelian cherry can take refuge in the disaster; or wear in the arm, or as a bag of incense to put the cornelian cherry inside the belt, there are inserted in the head of the. Mostly women, children wear, some places, men also wear. Chrysanthemum Festival to wear cornelian cherry, in the Jin Dynasty Ge Hong "Western Scripture Miscellany" has been recorded.

5, ancestor worship

The Chongyang Festival is one of the four traditional Chinese ancestor festivals, the ancient folk tradition of ancestor worship and pray for blessings. With the development and evolution of history, many local family concept and the concept of ancestor worship is becoming increasingly thin. In ancient times, the traditional custom of ancestor worship is still prevalent in the Lingnan area, and people will hold ancestor worship activities on the Chanyang Festival every year.