Why is the Double Ninth Festival a Ghost Festival? The origin and history of the festival
The Double Ninth Festival is also called the Ghost Festival, because it is the grandest ancestor worship festival in China together with the New Year’s Eve, Qingming Festival, and Zhongyuan Festival.Whenever these four festivals come, the people will hold various activities to worship ghosts and gods., Over time, some people call these four festivals the Ghost Festival.
Introduction to the Double Ninth Festival
The Double Ninth Festival is a traditional Chinese festival that falls on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month every year.The number of "nine" is a yang number in the Book of Changes, and the two yang numbers of "nine and nine" overlap each other, so it is called "double yang"; because both the sun and the moon meet nine, it is also called "double nine".Ninety-nine returns to the truth, the beginning of one yuan, the ancients believed that nine-nine double yang is an auspicious day.In ancient times, during the Double Ninth Festival, there were many customs such as climbing high to pray for blessings, visiting chrysanthemums in autumn, wearing dogwoods, worshiping gods and ancestors, and feasting to pray for longevity.It has been passed down to the present, and the connotations of respecting the elderly have been added.On the day of Chongyang, we enjoy a high banquet and thank the elderly.Appreciating the autumn and being grateful and respecting the elderly are the two major themes of today’s Chongyang festival.
History of the Double Ninth Festival
The Double Ninth Festival originated from the worship of celestial phenomena, started in ancient times, popularized in the Western Han Dynasty, and flourished after the Tang Dynasty.According to the existing historical data and research, in ancient times, there were harvest sacrifices to the sky and ancestors in Jiqiu; it is recorded in the "Lv’s Spring and Autumn Period Jiqiu Ji" that the ancients sacrificed to the emperor and ancestors in September when the crops were harvested to thank the emperor, Ancestor Ende’s activities.This is the original form of the Double Ninth Festival as an autumn harvest sacrificial event.The Tang Dynasty was an important period in which traditional festival customs were combined and finalized, and the main part of it has been passed down to this day.The folk custom of worshiping ancestors on Chongyang has been around for thousands of years, and it is an ancient folk custom with profound significance.The Double Ninth Festival, New Year’s Eve, Qingming Festival and Zhongyuan Festival are also known as the four traditional Chinese ancestor worship festivals.
Festival customs of the Double Ninth Festival
During the continuation of history, the Double Ninth Festival not only integrates many folk customs, but also integrates many cultural connotations.traditional festival.Celebrating the Double Ninth Festival generally includes activities such as traveling to enjoy the scenery, climbing high and overlooking, watching chrysanthemums, picking Chinese herbal medicines, planting cornel, setting up a feast for the elderly, eating Chongyang cakes, making wine for health preservation, drinking chrysanthemum wine and other activities.Chongyang is the season of "clear air rises and turbid air sinks".In the golden autumn and September, the sky is high and the air is refreshing.In this season, climbing up and looking far away can achieve the purpose of refreshing, fitness and healing.Every day on the Double Ninth Ninth Festival, there are activities for the elderly to go on mountaineering and autumn excursions, exchange feelings and exercise.The younger generation of many families will also support the elderly elders to go out to the suburbs.The Double Ninth Festival has many folk activities and rich cultural connotations.
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