Chongyang Festival

  Chongyang Festival, also known as Chongyang Festival or Chongyang Day, is an important traditional Chinese festival that falls on the ninth day of the ninth month of the ninth lunar month, i.e., sometime in October on the solar calendar. It originates from ancient Chinese folklore and customs, and has been listed as a national intangible cultural heritage protection project.

  The Chongyang Festival has a unique way of celebrating and symbolising the festival, as shown below:

  Ascending heights and hiking: Ascending heights is one of the most important activities of the Chongyang Festival. People like to climb mountains, go on excursions and hiking, etc., which implies that they are far away from the mundane world and pursue nobility and progress in their career.

  Race nine dragon boat: in the south of the Yangtze River, Chung Yeung Festival, there is the custom of racing nine dragon boat, people organise dragon boat races, which means praying for peace, praying for a good harvest and driving away evil spirits.

  Eating Chrysanthemum Cake and Chrysanthemum Wine: Chrysanthemum Festival also has special food and drinks. People like to eat Chongyang cake, a sweet pastry made mainly of glutinous rice, which has a perfect shape, soft taste and auspicious meaning. Chrysanthemum wine is also consumed. Chrysanthemum has the effect of clearing heat and removing toxins, signifying the elimination of disasters and diseases.

  Ancestor and Tomb Sweeping: The Chung Yeung Festival is also a traditional day of ancestor and tomb sweeping in China, where people go to their family cemeteries or ancestors' hometowns and offer flowers, food, and paper money to express their thoughts and nostalgia for their departed loved ones.

  In ancient China, Chongyang Festival was regarded as the day when Yang energy was at its peak, and was regarded as Chongyang, which was endowed with many symbolic and blessing meanings. In modern times, Chung Yeung Festival has also become a day to promote bonding, reunite family members and enhance physical and mental health, and people usually gather with family members and close friends to spend joyful time together.