A lonely stranger in the strange land

Today was a Bank Holiday to celebrate the Chung Yeung Festival -- one of the days in the year when you're supposed to honour the dead (interesting it's so close to Halloween). I know in the UK we're searching for an excuse for an October public holiday (Trafalgar day on the 22nd being my personal politically-incorrect favourite) - but a day to honour the dead is a pretty good excuse too.

If we'd had relatives buried here, we should have visited their graves and given them (the graves not the corpses) a wash and brush up.

Many hong kong-ers take picnics along and feast on their relative's graves. I've also just read in wiki that they also should climb high mountains -- NO BLOODY WONDER we could not move for people when we went for a quick walk round the Peak this morning.

Note to self: read wiki before leaving the front door.

We told Billy about the graveyard bit and he asked if we could take a picnic to someone's grave when we got home to the UK. Can you imagine? Sitting on Fred Blogs' damp gravestone in late October guzzling pork pies and tizer? Can you still get Tizer?

Anyway, here's what wiki says about the festival:

The Chung Yeung Festival (or "Double Ninth Festival" because it's dated on the ninth day of the ninth month in Chinese calendar) is a traditional Chinese holiday, mentioned in writing since before the East Han period. (East Han is near West Han - a placed noted for its great football team).

According to the I Ching, nine is a yang number, ninth day of the ninth lunar month or double nine, has too much yang (a traditional Chinese spiritual concept) and is thus a potentially dangerous date. Hence, the day is also called "Double Yang Festival" (重陽節). To protect against the danger, it is customary to climb a high mountain, drink chrysanthemum wine, and wear a plant named zhuyu (茱萸), Cornus officinalis. (Both chrysanthemum and zhuyu are considered to have cleansing qualities and are used in other occasions to air out houses and cure illnesses.)

Double Ninth may have started out as a day to drive away danger, but, like the Chinese New Year, over time it became a day of celebration. In contemporary times it is an occasion for hiking and chrysanthemum appreciation. Stores sell rice cakes (糕 "gāo" a homonym for height 高) inserted with mini colorful flags to represent zhuyu. Most people drink chrysanthumum tea, a few strict traditionalists drink homemade chrysanthemum wine. Children in school learn poems about chrysanthemum, and many localities host a chrysanthmum exhibit.

Mountain climbing races are also popular; winners get to wear a wreath made of zhuyu.

This is an often-quoted poem about the holiday:

"Double Ninth, Missing My Shandong Brothers" - Wang Wei (Tang Dynasty)
Original:

《九(jiǔ)月(yuè)九(jiǔ)日(rì)憶(yì)山(shān)東(dōng)兄(xiōng)弟(dì)》
王維
獨(dú)在(zài)異(yì)鄉(xiāng)為(wèi)異(yì)客(kè)，
每(měi)逢(féng)佳(jiā)節(jié)倍(bèi)思(sī)親(qīn)。
遙(yáo)知(zhī)兄(xiōng)弟(dì)登(dēng)高(gāo)處(chù)，
遍(biàn)插(chā)茱(zhū)萸(yú)少(shǎo)一(yī)人(rén)

And for those of you who can't read Chinese -- here's the English version:

As a lonely stranger in the strange land,
Every holiday the homesickness amplifies.
Knowing that my brothers have reached the peak,
All but one is present at the planting of zhuyu.

Love it!

M