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 Chongyang
Festival
(Today is Chinese traditional Chongyang Festival. The Chongyang
Festival falls on the ninth day of the ninth month of the
Chinese lunar calendar, so it is also known as the Double
Ninth Festival.)
The festival is based on the theory of Yin and Yang, the
two opposing principles in nature. Yin is the feminine, negative
principle, while Yang is masculine and positive. The ancients
believed that all natural phenomena could be explained by
this theory. Numbers are related to this theory. Even numbers
belong to Yin and odd numbers to Yang. The ninth day of the
ninth lunar month is a day when the two Yang numbers meet.
So it is called Chongyang. Chong means double in Chinese.
Chongyang has been an important festival since ancient times.
The festival is held in the golden season of autumn, at harvest-time.
The bright clear weather and the joy of bringing in the harvest
make for a festive happy atmosphere. The Double Ninth Festival
is usually perfect for outdoor activities. Many people go
hiking and climbing in the country, enjoying Mother Nature's
final burst of color before she puts on her dull winter cloak.
Some will carry a spray of dogwood.
It is hard to say when these customs were created. But there
are many stories which are closely related. The book Xu Qi
Xie Ji, written by Wu Jun in the sixth century has one such
story.
 In
ancient times, there lived a man named Huan Jing. He was learning
the magic arts from Fei Changfang, who had become an immortal
after many years of practicing Taoism. One day, the two were
climbing a mountain. Fei Changfang suddenly stopped and looked
very upset. He told Huan Jing, "On the ninth day of the
ninth month, disaster will come to your hometown. You must go
home immediately. Remember to make a red bag for each one of
your family members and put a spray of dogwood in every one.
Then you must all tie your bags to your arms, leave home quickly
and climb to the top of a mountain. Most importantly, you must
all drink some chrysanthemum wine. Only by doing so can your
family avoid this disaster."
On hearing this, Huan Jing rushed home and asked his family
to do exactly as his teacher said. The whole family climbed
a nearby mountain and did not return until the evening. When
they got back home, they found all their animals dead, including
chickens, sheep, dogs and even the powerful ox. Later Huan
Jing told his teacher, Fei Changfang, about this. Fei said
the poultry and livestock died in place of Huan Jing's family,
who escaped disaster by following his instructions.
And so it happened that climbing a mountain, carrying a spray
of dogwood and drinking chrysanthemum wine became the traditional
activities of the Chongyang Festival.
The dogwood is a plant with a strong fragrance, and is often
used as a Chinese herbal medicine. People in ancient times
believed it could drive away evil spirits and prevent one
from getting a chill in late autumn. So its history as a medicine
goes back many centuries. But the custom of carrying a spray
of dogwood during the Double Ninth Festival is slowly dying
out and many people, especially young people in the cities,
do not even know what a dogwood spray looks like.
Even though the tradition of carrying a few sprigs of dogwood
dies out, that of climbing mountains is reaching new heights.
Early in the Western Han Dynasty, about 2,000 years ago,
people used to climb a high platform outside the capital city
of Chang'an on the occasion of the Chongyang Festival. For
many, it was the last outing of the year before the onset
of winter. The custom evolved into its present form, when
people go climbing to get some exercise as well as enjoy the
autumn scenery.
 But
what about those people who live in flat regions far from
any mountain? The problem is solved by going for a picnic
and eating cakes. The Chinese word for cake is "Gao,"
a homonym of the Chinese word for "high." Mountains
are high, so eating cake can, by a stretch of the imagination,
take the place of going for a climb.
Since nine is the highest odd digit, people take two of them
together to signify longevity. Therefore, the ninth day of
the ninth month has become a special day for people to pay
their respects to the elderly and a day for the elderly to
enjoy themselves. It has also been declared China's day for
the elderly.
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