Double Ninth Festival,or Chong Yang Festival(重 阳 节， 重in Chinese means“double”) is one of the Chinese traditional festival,celebrated on the Lunar Spe.09th, also known as Aged people’s Day.
Origins
As the ancient and mysterious book I Chang explained, number 6 was thought To be of Yin character, meaning feminine or negative, while numer 9 was Yang, meaning masculine or positive. So Lunar Sep.09th, which has double 9, was thought to be very positive day worth celebration. Besieds, the pronouncation of double nine in Chinese was the same as the words “Jiu Jiu久 久”, which means forever. So the chinese ancestor considered it as an auspicious day worth celebration too. That’s why ancient Chinese began to celebrate this festival long time ago.
Family reunion
Double Ninth Festival is also a time for family reunion and occasion to remember one’s ancestors. Usually outings of family members or close friends were organised to appreciate the harvest autumn scenery and strengthen the loves between them.
Climbing mountain
Double Ninth Festival, the custom of climbing mountains or ascending a height to avoid epidemics was passed down from long time ago. Anyway, autumn is the best season to climb mountains, since the pleasant weather,clear sky and crisp air. Even today, people still swarm to famous or little known mountains on this day.
Admire the beauty of chrysanthemum
Autumn is a right season to enjoy
the diversified species of flourishing chrysanthemum in China. The luscious chrysanthemum wine and tea were another wonderful gifts given by Chong Yang Festival. It is widely believed that Chrysanthemum tea can purify the heart and improve eyesight.
Chong Yang Gao(Cake)
also known as Hua Gao, Ju Gao and Fa Gao, was another invention for Chong Yang Festival by Chinese. For some places, there were no mountain to climb, and Gao(cake) had the same pronouncation with gao(height) in Chinese, so during the Chong Yang Festival, some places started to eat Gao(cake), and gradually it became a tradition in China.