The Double Ninth Festival is a traditional Chinese folk festival, which is held on the ninth day of September in the lunar calendar every year. In the Book of Changes, the number of "nine" is positive, and the number of "nine nine" is equal to that of "nine nine", so it is called "double yang"; It is also called "Double Ninth" because both the sun and the moon meet nine. The return to the true in September, the beginning of one yuan, the ancients thought that the Double Ninth Festival was an auspicious day. In ancient times, people used to climb high to pray for blessings, worship gods and ancestors, and drink feasts to pray for longevity. Inherited so far, it has added the connotation of respecting the elderly. Climbing high and appreciating autumn and thanksgiving and respecting the elderly are two important themes of today's Chongyang Festival activities.
Schedule of Double Ninth Festival in recent years
| particular year |
date |
lunar calendar |
the Chinese zodiac |
week |
| two thousand and twenty-four |
2024-10-11 |
The ninth day of September in the first lunar year |
Loong |
Friday |
| two thousand and twenty-five |
2025-10-29 |
September 9th, Yisi Year |
snake |
Wednesday |
| two thousand and twenty-six |
2026-10-18 |
The ninth day of September in the year of Bingwu |
horse |
Sunday |
| two thousand and twenty-seven |
2027-10-08 |
September 9th, Ding Weinian |
sheep |
Friday |
| two thousand and twenty-eight |
2028-10-26 |
September 9th, the fifth lunar month of the fifth lunar year |
monkey |
Thursday |
The Double Ninth Festival originated from the worship of celestial phenomena in ancient times, popularized in the Western Han Dynasty, and flourished after the Tang Dynasty. According to the existing historical data and textual research, in ancient times, there were harvest worship and ancestor worship activities held in the autumn; The ancients offered sacrifices to the Emperor of Heaven and ancestors during the harvest of crops in September, and thanked the Emperor of Heaven and ancestors for their kindness. This is the original form of the Double Ninth Festival as an autumn harvest sacrifice activity. The Tang Dynasty was an important period for the blending and shaping of traditional festivals and customs, and its main part has been inherited to this day.
In the historical development and evolution, the Double Ninth Festival is a mixture of various folk customs, bearing rich cultural connotations. In the folk concept, "nine" is the largest number in the number. It has the meaning of long life, and it expresses people's wishes for the health and longevity of the elderly. On May 20, 2006, the Double Ninth Festival was included in the first national intangible cultural heritage list by the State Council. The Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of the Rights and Interests of the Elderly, revised and passed by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress in 2012, stipulates that the ninth day of the ninth lunar month is the Elderly Day every year.
