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 mas-
culine and positive. The ancients believed that all natural phenomena could
be 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 brght clear weather and the joy of bringing in the harvest make for a fes-
tive 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 bookXu 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 Chong-
yang 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 his-
tory 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 moun-
tain?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.