4 Best Ideas to Celebrate the Double Ninth Festival in China
The Chongyang Festival also known as the Double Ninth Festival is celebrated every 9th of the 9th month of the Chinese Lunar calendar. This festival is sometimes referred to as the Elderly Festival. According to records from the book Yi Jing, the number 6 represents the Yin element, while the number 9 is considered to represent the Yang element.
So the 9th day of the 9th month of the Chinese calendar, both the date and the month are elements of Yang. That is why this celebration is called the Festival of the Nine Doubles. In ancient times, people believed that the 9th of the 9th month deserved to be celebrated.
Many people hold various activities to celebrate Double Ninth Festival. Some of them like enjoying the blooming of chrysanthemums, inserting Zhuyu leaves, eating Chongyang cakes and drinking chrysanthemum wine.
1. Climbing The Mountain
In ancient China, people climbed high places, such as hills and mountains at the Chongyang Festival, so this celebration is also known as the “High Places Climbing Festival”.
This tradition is thought to have originated in the Eastern Han Dynasty, where at that time people generally climbed mountains or pagoda towers to enjoy the view from a high place.
2. Eat Chongyang Cake
According to historical records, Chongyang cake is also known as flower cake, chrysanthemum cake and five-colored cake. Chongyang cake is a nine-layer cake shaped like a tower. On the top of the cake there should be two lambs made of flour. Some people put a small red flag on the top of the cake and light candles.
3. Enjoy The Beauty Of Chrysanthemum Flowers & Drinking Chrysanthemum Wine
The Chongyang Festival is the golden time of the year. It is said that the first person to enjoy the beauty of Chrysanthemum and drink Chrysanthemum wine at the Chongyang Festival was a poet named Tao Yuanming, who lived during the Jin Dynasty.
Tao Yuanming was famous for his poems and greatly admired the chrysanthemum. Many people followed in his footsteps, so drinking Chrysanthemum wine and enjoying the beauty of Chrysanthemum flowers became a tradition. During the Song Dynasty, enjoying the beauty of chrysanthemums became popular and became an important activity on the day of the celebration.
After the Qing Dynasty, people became more and more crazy about this chrysanthemum plant, not only at the Chongyang Festival, but also on other occasions, they went out of the house to enjoy the beauty of this plant.
4. Inserting Zhuyu Leaves and Pinning Chrysanthemum Flowers
During the Tang Dynasty, inserting Zhuyu leaves at the Chongyang Festival became popular. The ancient people believed that inserting Zhuyu leaves could ward off disaster and disease. Women pin chrysanthemums in their hair or hang them on windows and doors to ward off evil creatures.
