Double Ninth Festival 重阳节

Held on the 9th day of the 9th lunar month, Double Ninth Festival is also called Chongyang Festival. In Chinese, nine is regarded as a yang number (which means masculine as opposed to yin which is feminine). The ninth day of the ninth month is the day that has two yang numbers and “Chong” in Chinese means double, which is how the name Chongyang came into being. It is a day for people to eat Chongyang cake①, drink chrysanthemum (菊花) wine, climb mountains, and pay homage(敬意) to chrysanthemums.

Just as other Chinese festivals have their own unique story, so does the Chongyang Festival. It is said that, during the Eastern Han Dynasty, a devil inhabited the Ru River(汝江) caused disease in the neighboring people. The parent of a young man, named Huanjing, died because of the devil’s magic. In order to rid the people of the devil, Huanjing went through extraordinary lengths to find an immortal to teach him swordsmanship(剑术) in order to expel the devil. On the eighth day of the ninth lunar month, the immortal told Huanjing that the next day the devil would appear and he should go back to get rid of the devil and the disease. Taking a bag of dogwood(水木) and some chrysanthemum wine, Huanjing returned to his hometown. On the morning of the ninth day of the ninth lunar month, Huanjing led all the villagers each holding a piece of dogwood leaf and a cup of chrysanthemum wine to the nearest mountain. At noon, when the devil came out from the Nu River, the devil suddenly stopped because of the fragrance from the dogwood and the chrysanthemum wine. At that moment Huanjing fought the devil with the sword for a few rounds and killed the devil. Since then the custom of climbing mountains, drinking chrysanthemum wine and holding onto dogwood on the ninth day of the ninth month had become popular.

Nowadays, people still keep the tradition of eating Chongyang cake, drinking chrysanthemum wine, climbing mountains and appreciating chrysanthemums, but the custom of wearing dogwood is no longer popular.  

Chongyang Cake is a steamed cake having two layers with nuts and Chinese dates sandwiched between them. Since cake in Chinese is pronounced “gao” meaning high, people think climbing a high mountain is the same as eating cake. Also, personal progress is thought to be made in the following days after eating the cake, for “high” also means moving to a higher level.

   Chrysanthemums have the function of an antitoxin (抗毒素) and can drive the evil away. Chinese people believe that by drinking chrysanthemum wine, all kinds of diseases and disasters can be cured and prevented. Thus, drinking chrysanthemum wine is an indispensable part of the festival.

    As nine is pronounced “jiu” meaning long in Chinese, so people endow the word “jiu” with the meaning of longevity with a person’s life. In the year of 1989, Chongyang Festival was designated as Senior’s Day - a day to respect the elderly. Many companies organize trips for senior citizens to climb mountains on the day. Members of a family also accompany their elders to have outings.

Abridged and revised from

http://www.chinahighlights.com/festivals/the-double-ninth-festival.htm

Notes:

① Chongyang cake：重阳糕。重阳糕亦称“花糕”，汉族重阳节食品。流行于全国大部分地区。农历九月初九是重阳节，也叫敬老节，民间要蒸重阳糕孝敬老人。为了美观中吃，人们把重阳糕制成五颜六色，还要在糕面上洒上一些木犀花（故重阳糕又叫桂花糕）。