Chongyang Festival :
The Chongyang Festival falls on the ninth
day of the nonth 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 feminine, negative principle, while
Yang is masculine and positive. The ancients
believed that all natural phenomena could
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esplained 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 muntain. 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,
carring 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 lalte 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 thouht the tradition of carrying a few sptigs
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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