Climbing high to pick chrysanthemums is a Xi of the Chongyang Festival.
The Chung Yeung Festival, also known as the Chung Ninth Festival, is a traditional Chinese festival that falls on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month every year. In traditional Chinese culture, "nine" is considered to be the largest yang number, and "ninety-nine" is the two yang numbers overlapping, hence the name "Chongyang", also known as "Chongjiu". In our country, the ancients believed that the Double Ninth Festival was an auspicious day, and climbing and picking chrysanthemums were important contents of the Double Ninth Festival.
The ancients believed that during the Chongyang Festival, the yang energy reached its peak, and then the yang energy would gradually decline, and people would be disturbed by evil energy, so on the day of the Chongyang Festival, they would choose to climb high, on the one hand, absorb more yang energy, increase their own resistance, on the other hand, choose to climb high to avoid the invasion of evil energy, over time, Chongyang Festival climbing has become a traditional Xi.
Chongyang Festival also has the Xi of picking chrysanthemums, which is related to the meaning of chrysanthemums. Chrysanthemums were regarded as a symbol of good luck and longevity in ancient times, and Chung Yeung Festival is the time when chrysanthemums are in full bloom. Therefore, people choose to climb high to pick chrysanthemums during the Chung Yeung Festival to pray for longevity and good luck. According to legend, since the Western Han Dynasty, there has been a custom of picking chrysanthemums to pray for longevity during the Double Ninth Festival. Therefore, picking chrysanthemums during the Chung Yeung Festival also has the meaning of praying for longevity and health. In the literary history of our country, there are many poems describing the Double Ninth Festival and chrysanthemums, among which the most popular "Picking Mulberries and Chongyang" is the best: "Life is easy to grow old, and it is difficult to grow old. Now it is Chongyang, and the yellow flowers of the battlefield are extraordinarily fragrant. The annual autumn wind is strong, not like spring. It is better than spring, and the sky is frosty. The poet not only organically combines the Double Ninth Festival with chrysanthemums, but also changes the tradition of "sad autumn" in the history of Chinese literature, and uses yellow flowers (chrysanthemums) to express the poet's broad mind and high revolutionary optimism, which makes people feel excited to read.
In addition to climbing and picking chrysanthemums, the Chung Yeung Festival also has activities such as planting dogwoods, eating Chongyang cakes, drinking chrysanthemum wine, family reunions, and thanksgiving and respecting the elderly. In the poem "Memories of Shandong Brothers on September 9th" written by the Tang Dynasty poet Wang Wei, the poem "Knowing the Brothers from a Distance to Ascend to the Heights, One Less One Dogwood is Everywhere" highly summarizes the situation of the ancients celebrating the Double Ninth Festival. Dogwood, a fragrant plant, is also a traditional Chinese medicine with the effects of insecticide, disinfection, cold and wind, matures around the Chung Yeung Festival, so people plant dogwood during the Chung Yeung Festival to pray for health. In 1989, China designated the annual Chung Yeung Festival as the Day of the Elderly, advocating that the whole society respect, respect, love and help the elderly, adding a layer of modern elements to the Chung Yeung Festival.