Published on : 04/10/2024
Chung Yeung Festival is coming on October 11 of this year. Traditionally in Hong Kong, there will be customs of hiking and tomb sweeping, but the scale is smaller compared to Ching Ming Festival. But in Guangdong region, it is totally different story.
In addition to hiking, there are a variety of traditional folk activities, such as worshiping ancestral temples, eating Chung Yeung cakes, drinking chrysanthemum wine, and flying kites. Moreover, this day is also China's "Senior Citizen's Day", and there will be a lot of activities for the elderly.
Now, let's take a look at the customs of different places in the Greater Bay Area.
Guangzhou: Climbing Baiyun Mountain and turning the windmill for good fortune
In Guangzhou, the Chung Yeung Festival hiking ritual (重陽節登高祭祖) has been listed as a Guangzhou city-level intangible cultural heritage project.
During the festival, many citizens will be hiking together, believing that it can drive away bad luck for themselves and their families.
With this aim, many hills in Guangzhou are opened for hiking purpose. The famous ones include Baiyun Mountain (白雲山), Yuexiu Mountain (越秀山), Panyu Lotus Hill Mountain (番禺蓮花山), and Huadu Pan'gu Mountain (花都盤古山).
The crowds are not limited to traditional middle-aged and elderly people whom they are worshiping ancestors, there are a considerable number of young people as well.
On the eve of Chung Yeung Festival, a group of friends or families will carry handy windmills while walking on the hill, believing that the windmill will bring good luck. The crowds under the night sky fill up the mountain with laughter, just like those in the flower market during Chinese New Year.
The people of Guangzhou will have a special ritual when hiking on the hill, which is to find "Nine Acorus (九菖蒲)". It’s said that a Taoist doctor in the pre-Qin Dynasty, Zheng Anqi, who once practiced medicine in the area of Baiyun Mountain.
In an epidemic year, he climbed up the mountain looking for Acorus in order to save people, but unfortunately fell down the hill. To commemorate him, people built the "Zheng Immortal Shrine (鄭仙祠)" in Baiyun Mountain and set the day of his ascendance as "Zheng Immortal Festival (鄭仙誕)," with mountain-climbing as an activity.
As Chung Yeung Festival also has the custom of hiking, people gradually combined the two into one, and then it became a ritual of walking up the hill looking for the legendary Nine Acorus.
In addition, people will also wear flowers like Chinese cornelian dogwood (山茱萸) and chrysanthemums (桂花), drink chrysanthemum wine, hoping to avoid disaster and bring good luck.
Foshan: Autumn Sacrificial Rites and Autumn Parade
Autumn Sacrificial Rites (秋祭) is a custom for the people of Foshan during Chung Yeung Festival.
Autumn Sacrificial Rites at Foshan Ancestral Temple has a history of thousand years. In ancient times, people would climb up the hills to worship their ancestors.
Today, Foshan's Autumn Sacrificial Rites is also a part of the Autumn Joy Festival (a unique festival in Foshan), which is a grand celebration for the autumn harvest.
The Autumn Sacrifice Rites is the opening act of the Autumn Joy Festival, held in Foshan Ancestral Temple. It features traditional Chung Yeung Festival ancestor worship customs such as the procession, offering sacrifices, incense burning, slicing roasted pig, etc.
In addition, there will be performances such as striking the bell, drumming, reading sacrificial texts, and sacrificial dances, demonstrating the people of Foshan's respect for ancestors.
Dongguan: Climbing Guanyin Mountain and offering long incense
Guanyin Mountain (觀音山) is one of the landmarks for Dongguan people to climb for blessings.
Guanyin Mountain, located within the territory of Zhangmutou Town (樟木頭鎮) in Dongguan, is said to be the first place where the Guanyin Bodhisattva of Great Mercy stayed when she first arrived in China.
The ancient temple on top of Guanyin Mountain, built during the Tang Dynasty, is known for the legend that Guanyin Bodhisattva can be manifested into thirty-six forms. The Temple is running prosperous for years.
At the Guanyin Square in the National Forest Park of Mount Guanyin (觀音山國家森林公園) stands the world's largest granite statue of Guanyin Bodhisattva.
The long Rainbow Staircase is the signature of the park and is also the mandatory path to climb up to the top. You can offer exceptionally long incense at Guanyin Mountain, praying for the blessings.
Huizhou: Flying kites
Besides hiking and ancestor worshiping, Huizhou people have ritual of kite-flying tradition during the Chung Yeung Festival.
In the north of China, kite flying is generally happening in the Ching Ming Festival, but in the south of China, it is more easily be seen at the Chung Yeung Festival.
Due to the unique monsoon maritime climate in Lingnan, the weather in Huizhou during Chung Yeung Festival is cool and windy, making it the best season for kite flying.
There is a folk song in Huizhou saying, "The 9th day of the ninth month is Chung Yeung, fly a kite, and the string loves to be long." It is said that flying kites on Chung Yeung Day can "let bad luck be fly away".
The higher and further the kite flies, the more people can be stayed away from bad luck. Some people even trying every effort to break the string to let the kite disappear into clouds, believing that bad luck will also be disappear at the result.
Another interpretation suggests that flying kites on Chung Yeung is to "bring out good lucks and fortunes." The better the kite flies, the more blessings they will be got.
Huizhou will hold a large kite festival, allowing people to fly kites together in a field, making it a grand celebration of Chung Yeung Festival in Huizhou.
Chung Yeung Festival and Senior Citizen's Day
Chung Yeung Festival is also known as "Double Ninth Festival", because of the word "double ninth" (重九) has the meaning of long life, this traditional festival has been given the additional meaning of showing respect for the elderly in modern times.
Since 2012, when the National People's Congress established the 9th day of the ninth lunar month as "Senior Citizen's Day," (老年節), many places have activities showing respects for the elderly during the Chung Yeung Festival.
Guangzhou, Jiangmen and other cities have held large-scale activities or feasts for the elderly. Some restaurants also offer various discounts to express their respects to the elders.
This year, there will be a three-day holiday on Chung Yeung Festival. If you are planning to go to the Greater Bay Area, don't forget to try the festival rituals.
Read more: Huizhou's paper kites flying: Driving away bad luck and adding blessings
Read more: The transformation of Chung Yeung traditions from ancient to modern times