Double Ninth Festival in China || Origins & History of Chongyang Festival

The Ultimate Guide to the Double Ninth Festival || 2024 Date

The Double Ninth festival is an important festival not only in China but also in Japan and Korea, as well as around the world!

You might have heard of Chinese New Year and maybe even the Mid-Autum Festival (the one with the moon cakes!).

However, you’re a lot less likely to have heard of this festival that also goes by the name of Chongyang and Double Nine…

So in this blog, we’ll go over some key details and information about this popular Chinese holiday.

👉 In 2024, the Double Ninth Festival will be celebrated on October 11th

Double Ninth Festival | Introduction

Double Ninth Festival | Name

Double Ninth Festival | History/Origin

Double Ninth Festival | Customs/Celebrations

Double Ninth Festival | Taiwan: Senior Citizens’ Day

Double Ninth Festival | Japan & Korea

Double Ninth Festival || Introduction

A day to celebrate the elderly, Double Ninth Festival, Double Nine Festival, or Chongyang Festival is an important date in the Chinese calendar.

Although it should be noted, whilst it is celebrated in mainland China and Taiwan, it’s actually only an official public holiday in Hong Kong and Macau. 

Since 1989, it has been recognised in China as a day for elderly citizens and dedicated to the elderly as Senior’s Day.

It is therefore now a day that is popular for spending time with elderly citizens and elderly family members, celebrating with them and taking them on activities such as short hikes and outings in the mountains. 

Celebrating Moon Festival in Taiwan 2024 || A Complete Guide

Like other traditional Taiwanese holidays, the date of Moon Festival/mid-autumn festival is on August 15th of the Lunar calendar.

Double Ninth Festival || Name

As the name would suggest, Double Nine festival is celebrated on the 9th of the 9th math of the Lunar Calendar. 

It is also known as Double Yang Festival, or 重陽節 (Chóngyáng jié), as 9 is known to have a lot of ‘Yang’.

According to ancient Chinese beliefs, Yin is associated with the number 6 and is more feminine. It is also associated with elements of darkness. Whilst 9 is associated with Yang and is more masculine and associated with brightness.

This means that the date 9/9 is a very auspicious date.

👵👴 The name is also associated with the elderly. This is due to the character for 9 九 (Jiǔ) having the same pronunciation as 久 (Jiǔ), meaning long, aged, old.

Therefore, this festival is now also associated with longevity. 

Double Nine Festival || History and Origins

The Double Ninth festival can be traced all the way back to the Warring States period, which is over 2000 years ago.

However, during this time, it was only the royals who would celebrate Double Ninth. It wasn’t until the Tang Dynasty many hundreds of years later that it would become a traditional folk festival. 

Allegedly, it became a common festival because a maid from one of the royal families spilt all the secrets!

She was subsequently banished from the palace and married a normal civilian. She then told this civilian that during the Double Ninth Festival, the royal family would wear Zhuyu leaves (dogwood leaves) and consume all things chrysanthemum. 

So, everyone followed suit and it soon became a popular practice to celebrate the Double Nine Festival! 

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Double Nine Legend 

So, as with much of Chinese mythology and history, there is a tale for the origin of Double Nine Festival.

Note: various sources note various different names for both the man and the river in this story.

Here it goes… 

Long ago, there was a demon affecting the water in the river Nu and infecting people with the plague in the local village. Many were dying, including the parents of Human Jing, our protagonist. 

It is said that he decided to travel to Zhongnan Mountain in search of immortals to try to learn the secret of defeating this demon.

There, he was given Zhuyu leaves and chrysanthemum wine.

He was also given the knowledge that the demon would appear in the village on the 9th of the 9th of the Lunar calendar.

He returned to the village and prepared all of the villagers with chrysanthemum wine and Zhuyu leaves. 

He also instructs them to climb high into the trees for this day for protection. 

The 9th comes around, and sure enough, the demon appears. He becomes dizzy from the chrysanthemum wine and Zhuyu leaves, and Human Jing takes this opportunity to defeat and kill the demon. 

And suddenly much of the traditions during this time all make sense… Hiking (higher ground), chrysanthemum wine, and Zhuyu leaves… A strange combination that only now makes sense.

Double Nine Festival || Customs & Celebrations

On this day, hiking and climbing mountains are popular activities.

Chrysanthemum products can also be found in various forms such as tea and alcohol as the plant is known for its cleansing properties (maybe less so in its alcohol form, but you can be the judge!)

On Double Ninth festival, people will also go to pay respects to their ancestors, much like on Qing Ming Festival/Tomb Sweeping Day.  

People may go to pay respects to their ancestors by offering food and also burning incense. Others, especially in southern China, may go out and fly colourful kites. 

Fun Fact: Apparently so much incense is burnt on this day that sometimes they can cause frequent fires! 

What to Do on the Double Ninth Festival? 

Other popular things to do on this day include:

🍃 Wearing dogwood leaves (leaves believed to be able to wash away bad luck). 

🌺 Admire Chrysanthemum (a symbol of longevity). Chrysanthemum are in bloom around this time, so it’s probably why this is the choice flower! It also has great antioxidant properties. 

🧗 Climbing (going into high mountains, it also incorporates spending time with family as well as good health). 

🍰 Eating Chongyang Cakes (a type of steamed cake – eaten because 高 and 糕 are pronounced ‘gāo’; the first one means ‘high’, so eating cakes is the same as ‘high’, signifying higher standards of living). Sometimes, you’ll find a sheep on these cakes which is pronounced the same as the ‘Yáng’ in ‘ChongYang Festival’. 

What to NOT do on the Double Nine Festival?

It is not advised for women to do housework on this day as it would be disrespectful.

Due to the character of ‘9’ which can hold properties of meaning misfortune, it is not advised to ‘wish’ people a happy celebration on the Double Ninth festival.

Dragon Boat Festival in Taiwan || The Complete Guide 🐉

The Dragon Boat Festival 端午节 (duān wǔ jié), also called Double Fifth Festival, is celebrated on the fifth day of May of the lunar calendar.

Double Nine Festival || Taiwan: Senior Citizens’ Day

Don’t rush to book yourself into a beach resort just yet!

In Taiwan, the Double Ninth Festival is an observed holiday, meaning schools and businesses should run as usual and do not take the day off. 

In 1947, it was known as the Day for Physical Exercise (as many would climb mountains). This later changed and since 1953, it has been observed as Senior Citizen’s Day in Taiwan. It’s a day to celebrate the elderly.

In 1989, mainland China then also followed suit!

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Double Nine Festival || Japan & Korea

Japan

Known as Chōyō or Chrysanthemum Festival in Japan, it is one of the five important ancient festivals in Japanese culture.

An interesting thing to note is that in Japan, it is celebrated on the 9th of the 9th month according to the Gregorian calendar. So, every year, it falls on the 9th of September. 

This is very different from other countries for example China that celebrate it according to the Lunar Calendar, so the date changes every year on the Gregorian calendar. 

Chrysanthemum sake is also consumed during Double Nine in Japan. 

FIND OUT MORE || Check out all the Japanese National Holidays here!

Korea

In Korea, Double Ninth festival is known as Jungyangjeol (중양절). Chrysanthemum is a popular ingredient here too, where chrysanthemum pancakes are consumed. 

Both Korea and Japan hail being healthy on this day and therefore going out and hiking, having picnics, and cherry blossom viewing are all popular activities. 

FIND OUT MORE || Check out all the Korean National Holidays here!

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