Why is the Double Ninth Festival also called the "Chongjiu Festival"?

　　"Alone in a foreign land, I am a stranger; every festive occasion makes me miss my loved ones even more. From afar, I know my brothers have climbed to a high place, and they are all wearing dogwood, except one person is missing." This poem "Remembering My Brothers in Shandong on the Ninth Day of the Ninth Lunar Month" by Wang Wei, a poet of the Tang Dynasty, fully expresses the homesickness of the Double Ninth Festival.

　　The Double Ninth Festival is one of China's traditional festivals, falling on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month. "Nine-nine" is a homophone for "long-long" in Chinese, so ancient people would worship their ancestors and carry out activities to respect the elderly on this day. Drinking chrysanthemum wine and eating Double Ninth cakes are also long-standing customs.

　　However, how exactly did the Double Ninth Festival come into being?

　　Why is it also called the "Chongjiu Festival"?

　　The Double Ninth Festival is also known as the Climbing Festival, Chongjiu Festival, Chrysanthemum Festival, etc. According to the Confucian concept of yin and yang after the middle of the Han Dynasty, there are six yin numbers and nine yang numbers. Nine is a yang number, so it is called the Double Ninth Festival.

　　At the end of the Warring States Period, the "Ji Qiu Ji" (Records of the Last Month of Autumn) in "Lu Shi Chun Qiu" (Master Lü's Spring and Autumn Annals) mentioned that "(in the ninth month), order the household manager to ensure the completion of farm work and summarize the key points of the five grains", and "on this day, grandly offer sacrifices to the emperor, taste the sacrificial animals, and report the completion to the Son of Heaven".

　　It can be seen that at that time, there were already sacrificial activities during the autumn ninth month when crops were harvested, to express gratitude to heaven and ancestors.

　　In the Han Dynasty, the connotation of the Double Ninth Festival further changed. "Xi Jing Za Ji" (Miscellaneous Records of the Western Capital) said: "On the ninth day of the ninth month, wear dogwood, eat peng'er (a kind of cake), and drink chrysanthemum wine, which is said to make people live a long life." It is said that from this time on, praying for longevity also became an important custom of the Double Ninth Festival.

　　In the Southern and Northern Dynasties, "Jing Chu Sui Shi Ji" (Records of the Seasons in Jingchu) stated: "On the ninth day of the ninth month, people from all walks of life go to the countryside to drink and feast together." The "drinking and feasting" activity mentioned in the text developed from the banquets celebrating the harvest in the pre-Qin period. By this time, praying for longevity and feasting constituted the foundation of the Double Ninth Festival.

　　In the Tang Dynasty, it was designated as an official festival. Since then, the customs of the Double Ninth Festival have continued to expand and enrich, and have been passed down to the present day.

　　Another possible origin of the Double Ninth Festival

　　Interestingly, there are other theories about the origin of the Double Ninth Festival. In the article "On the Folk Customs of the Double Ninth Festival", Xiao Fang, a professor at Beijing Normal University and a folklore expert, mentioned that one of the prototypes of the customs of the ninth month festival is the ancient ceremony of sacrificing to "Da Huo" (the Fire Star).

　　Here, "Da Huo" refers to the Fire Star. "Xia Xiao Zheng" (The Xia Minor Calendar) says "In the ninth month, the Fire Star sets". As an ancient seasonal star sign, the disappearance of "Da Huo" in the ninth month of autumn (the last month of autumn) caused inexplicable fear among the ancient people who revered it as a god. The cold and long winter was about to come.

　　The ancient production level was relatively backward, and severe winter often meant cold and food shortages. When the Fire Star set, just as there were ceremonies to welcome it when it appeared, people would hold corresponding send-off sacrificial ceremonies.

　　The specific procedures of such sacrificial rituals are almost unrecorded today. But traces can still be found. In some areas in the south of the Yangtze River, there is a custom of sacrificing to the kitchen god on the Double Ninth Festival: "On this day, it is usually clear. People offer red bean rice to the kitchen god", and the "kitchen god" is the "fire god" of the home.

　　Xiao Fang said that ancient people often regarded the Double Ninth Festival as corresponding to the Shangsi Festival or the Cold Food Festival, and the ninth day of the ninth month as corresponding to the third day of the third month as the major spring and autumn festivals. Ge Hong's "Xi Jing Za Ji" states: "On the Shangsi Festival of the third month and the Double Ninth Festival of the ninth month, scholars and women go out to play, and take part in ablution rituals and climbing activities here." The correspondence between the Shangsi, Cold Food Festival and the Double Ninth Festival is based on the appearance and disappearance of "Da Huo".

　　The "landmark" of the transition between autumn and winter

　　As time passed, due to changes in the calendar and other reasons, the ritual of sacrificing to the fire in the ninth month gradually declined, but customs such as climbing high still remained. In terms of time, the Double Ninth Festival has become one of the landmarks of the transition between autumn and winter in people's lives, and the festival customs are carried out around people's feelings at this season.

　　"Climbing high" is the core content of the Double Ninth Festival customs, which probably originated in the Han Dynasty. In the Jin Dynasty, the Double Ninth Festival had the customs of admiring chrysanthemums and drinking wine. Tao Yuanming wrote in the preface to "Living in Leisure on the Ninth Day": "I live in leisure and love the name of the Double Ninth. The autumn chrysanthemums fill the garden, but I have no way to get wine, so I can only wear the nine flowers (chrysanthemums) and express my feelings in words." It can be seen that by this time, wine and chrysanthemums were already available.

　　Wearing dogwood, climbing high, and drinking chrysanthemum wine are all for warding off disasters and misfortunes. Dogwood has a strong fragrance and itself has the functions of repelling insects, reducing dampness, dispelling wind evil, relieving food accumulation, and treating colds and fevers. Therefore, people choose to wear dogwood to ward off evil spirits and pray for good luck, so the Double Ninth Festival is also called the "Dogwood Festival".

　　When it comes to the "food culture of the Double Ninth Festival", the Double Ninth cake must have a place. "Gao" (cake) is a homophone for "high" in Chinese. As a festival food, it was first used to celebrate the harvest of autumn grains and to enjoy the new grains. Later, the custom of eating cakes when climbing high emerged, implying the auspicious meaning of making steady progress.

　　Xiao Fang said that the Double Ninth Festival is also a day for married daughters to return home. Taking married daughters home to eat Double Ninth cakes is another custom of the festival. There is a folk saying: "On the ninth day of the ninth month, bring back the daughter to rest her hands." Therefore, like the Dragon Boat Festival, the Double Ninth Festival is also called the "Daughters' Festival". This, like the shefan (communal food), reflects the meaning of life.

　　In modern society, what positive significance does the Double Ninth Festival have?

　　In modern society, the Double Ninth Festival still has positive significance.

　　In a modern society where almost everyone is busy, the Double Ninth Festival calls on people to get close to nature. It is exactly the time for autumn outings with clear sky and crisp air. People can leave the noisy city and experience the feelings of the ancients who "climbed high to look at the mountains and seas".

　　Xiao Fang believes that the Double Ninth Festival is also a traditional festival for praying for longevity. It has opened up a clear sky for people who cherish life, and has found its own position in modern social life with its specific humanistic value.

　　"The Double Ninth Festival contains the connotation of respecting and honoring the elderly. We can take this opportunity to organize some activities to show care for the elderly," Xiao Fang suggested. In the activities to respect the elderly, elderly people can be invited to tell stories about traditional culture, and young people can also get beneficial moral and spiritual influence from them.

　　At the end of "On the Folk Customs of the Double Ninth Festival", Xiao Fang concluded that "the singing and chanting during the 'countryside drinking and feasting' are far better than the shallow drinking and singing in bars, and the fragrance of chrysanthemum wine for praying for longevity is better than that of delicious coffee. Du Mu's poem written when climbing high on the ninth day: 'It's hard to have a laugh in the mortal world; I must return with chrysanthemums all over my head.' Although the mood is somewhat low, 'it can nevertheless be taken as an encouragement for us to climb high during the autumn festival'."