Is the Ancestral Worship Festival another name for the Dragon Boat Festival
The Ancestral Worship Festival is not another name for the Dragon Boat Festival, but rather another name for the Chongyang Festival.The Chongyang Festival is also called the Ancestral Worship Festival, and like the Spring Festival, the Qingming Festival, the Dragon Boat Festival, and the Ghost Festival, it is one of the traditional Chinese festivals for ancestral worship.
In ancient China, which was an agricultural society, the civilization of agriculture highly valued the experience of ancestors. The Chinese nation has long had the custom of respecting ancestors and being cautious in the end, with the tradition of offering sacrifices to ancestors during festivals to show filial piety and remember the roots.
Who is related to the tradition of climbing high on the Chongyang Festival
The custom of climbing high on the Chongyang Festival is related to the alchemist Zheng Anqi from the Qin Dynasty.According to legend, the custom of climbing high on the Chongyang Festival began when Emperor Qin Shi Huang ordered the alchemist Zheng Anqi to go to the Lingnan region to find the elixir of immortality. When Zheng Anqi found the nine-jointed fern on Baiyun Mountain, he fell off a cliff and flew up on a crane.
After that, people started to climb mountains on the Chongyang Festival to commemorate him, and this custom has been passed down until today, becoming the most representative traditional activity of the Chongyang Festival.
What are the meanings and significance of the Ancestral Worship Festival
"Filial piety" has always been the most important part of traditional Chinese virtues and is a moral concept deeply rooted in the blood of every descendant of the Chinese nation. The Chongyang Festival is a festival for respecting the elderly, also known as the Elderly Festival or the Respect-for-the-Old Festival. Therefore, the meaning of the Chongyang Festival is nothing more than "respecting the elderly". First, Respecting and Honoring the ElderlyFrom the perspective of cultural and historical inheritance, respecting, honoring, and loving the elderly is a traditional virtue of the Chinese nation. The term "Chongyang" (double yang) symbolizes longevity, as "nine" and "jiu" sound the same as "long lasting". In the Western Han Dynasty, people began to hold banquets to pray for longevity at this time. In 1989, the Chongyang Festival was designated as the Senior Citizens' Day, advocating the establishment of a social atmosphere of respecting, honoring, loving, and helping the elderly. This can be considered a new form of expression of the Chongyang Festival in modern China, shifting the significance of the Chongyang Festival from ancestors to the present generation, from history to the present.
Second, Honoring Ancestors and Filial Piety
The Chongyang Festival, together with the Winter Solstice, the Qingming Festival, and the Ghost Festival, is collectively known as the four major traditional Chinese festivals for ancestral worship. Chinese people have a tradition of being cautious in the end and remembering their ancestors, and they never forget to pay respects to their deceased ancestors during festivals. Offering food or flowers to express their feelings is a common practice across China. Although the forms of ancestor worship may differ due to religious beliefs, the meaning of commemorating ancestors remains the same. The respect for ancestors and the respect for the elderly reflect the filial piety, one of the fundamental aspects of Chinese tradition.
