The Origin of the Chongyang Festival
Speculation One: "Yang" Numbers in the Yi Jing (Book of Changes)
The name "Chongyang" comes from the ancient text "Yi Jing", where it says "Yang line is nine". In the Yi Jing, the number "six" is considered yin, while the number "nine" is considered yang, and also known as the "extreme number", representing the "nine heavens". On the ninth day of the ninth lunar month, both the day and the month are nine, hence called "double nine", and because two yang numbers are combined together, it is called "Chongyang". In the Ming Dynasty, Zhang Dai's "Night Voyage Boat" mentions: "Nine is the yang number, and since the day and the month both coincide with nine, it is called 'Chongyang'.""Nine" represents the old yang, the ultimate yang number. When two ultimate yang numbers are combined, it leads to "nine nines return to one", the beginning of the first principle, and the renewal of all things. Therefore, the ancients believed that Chongyang was an auspicious day worth celebrating. There was a custom of banquets and prayers for longevity. In folk beliefs, since "nine" is the largest number in the numerical system, and "nine nines" sounds like "long lasting", it is given the meaning of eternal life, long-lasting life, and good health.
Speculation Two: Harvest Offering to Heaven
The origin of the Chongyang Festival can be traced back to the ancient times. It is said that Chongyang was the day when Emperor Yuan attained enlightenment. There are written records of activities related to Chongyang customs as early as the "Lüshi Chunqiu · Jiqiu Ji": "In the ninth month, the head of the household is ordered to prepare for the harvest, and to summarize the five main crops. Store the imperial land's harvest in the divine granary, and be meticulous and respectful. On this day, hold a grand feast for the deity, offer sacrifices, and inform the emperor of the completion." This indicates that there were already activities of offering to the heavenly deities and ancestors during the autumn harvest of the ninth month, to express gratitude to the deities and ancestors. This was the original form of the Chongyang Festival as a ritual activity in ancient times. According to "Xijing Zaji," during the Western Han Dynasty, a palace lady named Jia Peilan said: "On the ninth day of the ninth month, wear dogwood, eat rice cakes, and drink chrysanthemum wine, which is said to make people live longer." It is said that from this time on, the custom of seeking longevity on Chongyang began. It is believed that this was influenced by ancient witches (later Taoists) who pursued immortality and took medicines. At the same time, there were large-scale banquets, which developed from the banquets held during the Qin and Zhou dynasties to celebrate the harvest. As recorded in "Jingchu Suiji": "On the ninth day of the ninth month, all four classes of people hold a banquet in the fields." Seeking longevity and holding banquets formed the basic content of the Chongyang Festival.Speculation Three: Ancient Ceremony of Worshiping the Bright Star
One of the prototypes of the Chongyang Festival is the ancient ceremony of worshiping the bright star. "Xia Xiaozheng" mentions "internal fire in the ninth month," indicating that the withdrawal of the "bright star" not only caused the ancients, who used the bright star as a marker for seasonal production and life, to lose their temporal coordinates, but also made the ancients, who revered the bright star as a deity, feel a sense of fear. The dormancy of the fire god signifies the arrival of a long winter. Therefore, during the "internal fire" period, just as there was a welcoming fire ceremony when the bright star appeared, people would hold corresponding farewell rituals.In the Han Dynasty, Liu Xin's "Xijing Zaji" states: "On the third day of the third month, and on the ninth day of the ninth month, women play games, and thus perform the purification rites and climb high mountains." The correspondence between the Shangsi Festival and the Chongyang Festival is based on the appearance and disappearance of the "bright star." This is also a folk manifestation of the rituals and beliefs related to the Chongyang Festival. With the development of society, people gained new understanding of the seasons, and the ritual of worshipping the bright star in September gradually declined. The ancient ritual forms can still be found in some parts of southern China in the current practice of worshipping the kitchen god (the household fire god) on Chongyang.
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