①When clear and refreshing autumn arrives and chrysanthemums (菊花) cover the world, it’s time for the Chinese Chongyang Festival.

②The Chongyang Festival falls on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month. So it is also called the Double Ninth Festival. To celebrate the day, people usually climb mountains and enjoy chrysanthemums, so the festival is also known as the Height Ascending (登高) Festival or the Chrysanthemum Festival. Nine has the similar pronunciation with “forever” in Chinese. So the Chinese government set the day as the Seniors’ Day in 1989.

③During the Warring States Period, there was the Chongyang Festival. But it was only celebrated in the imperial palace (皇宫). From the Han Dynasty, it began to be popular among the common people. During the Jin Dynasty, there were customs of enjoying chrysanthemums and drinking wines on the day. It was not officially set as a festival until the Tang Dynasty. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, people in the imperial palace ate flower cakes and climbed the mountain to celebrate. Climbing the mountain has been a kind of custom on the Chongyang Festival since the Western Han Dynasty.

④The chrysanthemum is very popular as the flower means long life, so enjoying chrysanthemums and drinking chrysanthemum tea are also popular. Inserting (插) Zhuyu and sticking chrysanthemums are traditions to avoid the bad as they have special smells which can repel (驱逐) insects and keep out the cold. Eating Chongyang cakes is another tradition on the festival. There is no fixed way of the cake, but the one with nine layers (层) with two sheep on it is the best. Two sheep mean Chongyang. Nine layers show people could do well in everything.

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After the Lantern Festival, the next one on the Chinese lunar calendar (农历) is the Huazhao Festival. It has been held in celebration of the flower goddess’ birthday since the times of ancient China. Since the weather is different in different places, people celebrate on the 2nd, 12th, or 15th day of February on the Chinese lunar calendar. Here is a list of customs (风俗) for you to spend the festival.

Praying (祈祷) to the flower goddess

Offering flowers, drinks or fruits to the flower goddess for good luck is a famous activity in many places in the hope of winning protection from the flower goddess.

Having a spring outing

Since the festival is in early spring, it is just the time to have an outing to enjoy all the wonderful nature.

Planting flowers and vegetables

People grow flowers and vegetables to celebrate the festival. It was believed that flowers and vegetables planted on that day would be more likely to survive (存活).

Picking wild vegetables

Wild vegetables in early spring were believed to have the function (功能) of improving health and stopping illness. So people nowadays still do that.