A Special Day of Ancestor Memorials

13 Oct 2021

A significant Chinese holiday – Chung Yeung 

The Chung Yeung Festival falls on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month. This year, it will be October 14th, and it’s a public holiday for people to mourn their ancestors. 

Like the Ching Ming Festival in the spring, the Chung Yeung is a time for the entire family to gather at family burial plots to practice age-old ancestor worship. The graves are swept, and food is left as an offering. 

It is also tradition to hike to the city’s high points as it’s believed this will bring good luck. This goes back to a Han dynasty (202 BC to 220 AD) legend in which a soothsayer advised a man to take his family to high ground for the ninth day of the ninth moon. The man complied and discovered that all the inhabitants of his village had been slaughtered the next day, while he and his family had been spared by leaving for the hills. 

The weather is charming this time of year, so get out and enjoy this extraordinary festival.