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 held in the golden season of autumn, at harvest time. The bright clear sky and the joy of bringing in the harvest make for a festival happy atmosphere. The Chongyang Festival is usually perfect for outdoor activities. Climbing a mountain, carrying a spray of dogwood(茱萸)and drinking chrysanthemum(菊花)wine have become the traditional activities of the festival.
The dogwood is a plant with a strong fragrance(香气), 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(着凉)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 in the cities do not even know what a dogwood spray looks like.
Early in Han Dynasty, about 2000 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(发展成)into 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 plains 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(同音异义字) of the Chinese word for "high". Mountains are high, so eating cakes can, by a stretch of the imagination, take the place of going for a climb.
