Year comes by month, and suddenly September 9th returns-A reminder of the Double Ninth Festival
The 9th day of the ninth month of the lunar calendar is the traditional Double Ninth Festival, also known as the "Elderly People's Day". Because in the Book of Changes,"six" is designated as the yin number and "nine" is designated as the yang number, on the 9th of September, the sun and the moon meet each other, and the two nine are heavy, so it is called Chongyang, also called Chongyang. The Double Ninth Festival was formed as early as the Warring States Period. In the Tang Dynasty, Double Ninth Festival was officially designated as a folk festival and has been continued to this day in successive dynasties. The name of "Double Ninth Festival" is found in records, but it dates from the Three Kingdoms Era. According to Cao Pi's "The Book of the Nine Days and the Zhong Yao":"The year passed and the moon came, and suddenly September 9th returned. Nine is the number of yang, and the sun and the moon correspond together. Customs praise its name and think it is suitable for a long time, so it is used to enjoy a banquet and have a high meeting."
There is the first custom of climbing on the Double Ninth Festival. In September, the sky is crisp and crisp. Climbing and looking from afar during this season can achieve the purpose of relaxing and relaxed, exercising fitness and eliminating diseases. Related to climbing high is the custom of eating Chongyang cake. Gao and cake are homophonic. As holiday food, they were first intended to celebrate the harvest of autumn grain and taste new grain. Later, people came to the auspicious meaning of climbing high to eat cake and climbing step by step.
On the Double Ninth Day, there has always been a custom to admire chrysanthemums, so it was also called the Chrysanthemum Festival in ancient times. The ninth month of the lunar calendar is commonly known as the Ju Moon. The festival holds a chrysanthemum conference, and people from the city go to the conference to enjoy the chrysanthemums. Since the Three Kingdoms and Wei Dynasties, it has become fashionable to gather and drink alcohol, admire chrysanthemums and compose poems at Chongyang. In ancient Han customs, chrysanthemums symbolize longevity. In ancient times, the custom of inserting dogwood trees was also popular, so it was also called the dogwood festival. When used as medicine, dogwood can be made into wine to nourish the body and eliminate diseases.
The ancients thought it was an auspicious day worth celebrating, and this festival began early. Double Ninth Festival is a traditional Han festival formed by a mixture of various folk customs. Activities to celebrate the Double Ninth Festival generally include activities such as traveling to enjoy the scenery, climbing high and overlooking, viewing chrysanthemums, planting dogwood everywhere, eating Double Ninth Cake, and drinking chrysanthemum wine. Jiujiu Chongyang is the same as "Jiujiu", and nine is the largest number among the numbers, which has the meaning of long longevity. Moreover, autumn is also the golden season for harvest in the year. The Chongyang Festival has far-reaching implications. People have always had special feelings for this festival. There are many excellent poems celebrating Chongyang and chanting chrysanthemums in Tang and Song poems.
In folk customs, Jiujiu Chongyang, because it is the same pronunciation as "Jiujiu", contains the meaning of long life, health and longevity. In 1989, my country designated the ninth day of the ninth lunar month as Elderly People's Day every year, advocating that the whole society establish a culture of respecting, respecting, loving and helping the elderly. Therefore, the Double Ninth Festival has a new meaning.
The country attaches great importance to the protection of intangible cultural heritage. On May 20, 2006, this folk custom was approved by the State Council to be included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage lists. This year (2009) Double Ninth Festival falls on October 26 in the Gregorian calendar.
The origin of the Double Ninth Festival is a festival with a long history. Due to its age, the formation of the festival is not easy to investigate clearly. Therefore, there are various opinions about the origin of the Double Ninth Festival: