Chongyang Festival in China (04/10)

Chongyang Festival (Chinese trad. 山 ⁇ 河) — double nine holiday. It falls on the ninth day of the ninth month of the lunar calendar. According to ancient beliefs, this day is considered happy.

On this day, people continue the custom of climbing the mountain (this is called denggao — going up), feasting on cakes, drinking wine infused with chrysanthemum petals and admiring these flowers. Climbing the mountains during the Chongyang holiday — is a kind of ritual, the symbolic goal of which is — getting rid of disasters and hardships in life, a prayer for happiness.

During the Chongyang festival, holiday cakes were baked from wheat or rice flour. Cakes were decorated with apricot seeds, dates, chestnuts, melon seeds, raisins, and nuts.

Since the late 1980s, Chongyang has become a significant date for older people. Every year on this day, various events are held throughout the country in honor of the older generation; they are invited to ceremonial meetings and amateur art shows. In many Chinese families, younger family members honor their elderly relatives and give them gifts.

2031