Double Ninth Festival, also known as Chongyang Festival, Shaiqiu Festival or Autumn Outing, is a traditional festival of China. There are many customary celebration activities including outing, climbing, appreciating chrysanthemum, wearing the zhuyu plant (cornus officinalis), eating Chongyang cake and drinking chrysanthemum liquor. Observed on the 9th day of the ninth month in Chinese lunar calendar every year, the Double Ninth Festival is one of four Chinese festivals to pay respects to our ancestors (the other three ones are Spring Festival, Qingming Festival and Zhongyuan Festival).

As early as the Warring States period (475 – 221 BC), it has come into being. Till the Tang Dynasty (618 – 907), it was officially confirmed as a festival. Since then, the tradition has echoed down the ages till today.

In 1989, the Double-ninth Festival was designated as the Seniors' Day.

Shangqiu (Appreciation of Autumn)

Double Ninth Festival is the best time to appreciate the autumn. Till today, the tradition of "Shaiqiu" is still prevalent in some mountain villages of South China. Hence, for those who are keen on rural tourism, heading out to the countryside for folkways and Shaiqiu Festival has been the fashion. “Shaiqiu”, a practice of typical folkways, carries distinctive regional hallmarks. Due to the complex terrain, mountainous villages of Hunan, Guangxi, Anhui, Jiangxi and other provinces lack flatland. Therefore, the villagers had to avail themselves of the flat spaces around their houses, and the windowsills and roofs to sundry crops on shelves or hand dry them. With time, this practice has evolved into a kind of traditional folkways. Meanwhile, this distinctive living style and scenario of hang drying crops in the countryside have gradually found favor with painters and shutterbugs who poetically name the practice “Shaiqiu”. Years on, the tradition of Shaiqiu has faded away in some regions, while it has been a “pageant” for farmers to celebrate the bumper crop in Huangling Village, Wuyuan County, Jiangxi Province. As all manner of fruits and vegetables grow ripe, the Shaiqiu Festival comes around at Huangling Village and a festive ceremony will be held. Moreover, after being rated as the “Most Beautiful Chinese Icon” by the Ministry of Culture, Shaiqiu Festival at Huangling Village has blossomed into a “totem” and calling card of rural tourism. Come Shaiqiu Festival, Wuyuan County will see hundreds of thousands of sightseers every year.

Ascending a height to enjoy a distant view

During the Double Ninth Festival, there is a strong tradition of Ascending a height to enjoy a distant view. With the advent of crisp clear autumn days, climbing mountains can put you in a good mood and build up your body.

As early as the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC–220 AD), Chang’an Zhi (Records of Chang’an City) ever recorded that people of Chang’an, the then capital, went on an outing for autumnal sceneries on Double Ninth Festival. In addition, the historical anecdote of “Meng Jia’s fallen fat” which happened during the Eastern Jin Dynasty also bears a relation with the tradition.

Eating Chongyang Cake

Chongyang cake, otherwise known as flower cake, chrysanthemum cake and five-color cake, has no fixed recipe. When dawn broke on Double Ninth Festival, people put a piece of cake on the forehead of their children while murmuring auspicious wishes. This is why our ancestors make Chongyang cake. For the best Chongyang cake, the bull’s eye is nine layers, pagoda shape and two lambs on the top to express the homophony of Chongyang (two lambs). In addition, some Chongyang cakes came with a red paper flag and a candle. Perhaps people wanted to replace zhuyu plant with the cute red paper flag, for the candle (deng in Chinese phonetic alphabet) and the cake (gao in Chinese phonetic alphabet) are exactly a homophone for climbing high (denggao in Chinese phonetic alphabet). Even till today, there still isn’t a fixed recipe for Chongyang cake, and the soft cakes people eat on the Double Ninth Festival are all called Chongyang cake.

Appreciating Chrysanthemum

All along, it is customary to appreciate chrysanthemum on the Double Ninth Festival in Chinese culture. Hence, since ancient times, this festive has been nicknamed Chrysanthemum Festival. When September, colloquially referred to as Chrysanthemum Month, came around, a chrysanthemum pageant used to be staged, and all the people of the city turned out to feast their eyes on chrysanthemum. Since the Three Kingdoms and Wei and Jin Dynasties, a gathering on the Double Ninth Festival for a drinking spree, an eyeful of chrysanthemum and an inspiration for poems has become all the rage. Notably, in traditional Chinese culture, chrysanthemum is symbolic of longevity.

Drinking chrysanthemum liquor

Chrysanthemum has components conducive for health. As early as the Jin Dynasty, Ge Hong ever recorded that villagers of Nanyang Mountain who depended on spring water with chrysanthemum lived a long life in his Baopuzi. And it is also customary for Chinese people to drink chrysanthemum liquor on the Double Ninth Festival. In the eyes of Chinese ancient who considered the liquor as a mascot to get rid of trouble and pray for auspiciousness, chrysanthemum liquor was a real must for the Double Ninth Festival.

As early as the Han Dynasty, chrysanthemum liquor has emerged. Centuries down the line, many stories about presenting chrysanthemum with the wish of longevity and making chrysanthemum liquor ever happened. For example, Emperor Wen Cao Pi of the state of Cao Wei in the Three Kingdoms period ever presented chrysanthemum to Zhong Yao (to wish him a long life) and Emperor Jianwen of Liang ever wrote a poem called Picking Chrysanthemums to describe the practice of making chrysanthemum liquor. Till the Ming and Qing Dynasties, chrysanthemum liquor still reigned supreme. Gao Lian of the Ming Dynasty ever mentioned chrysanthemum liquor as a popular fitness drink in his Zunshengbajian.

Wearing Zhuyu Plant

Wearing zhuyu plant was also all the fashion on the Double Ninth Festival. Hence, the festival was also nicknamed Zhuyu Festival. Zhuyu plant with medicinal effect can make wine, build up body and cure diseases. As early as the Tang Dynasty (618 – 907), wearing Zhuyu plant and chrysanthemum has become very prevalent. With strong fragrance, Zhuyu plant have properties of not only deworming, detoxification and relieving ailment said due to cold but also helping digestion and curing chills and fever. By legend, folk people believed that the September 9th was a black-letter day with double whammy. So, they liked wearing Zhuyu plant on the day to avoid disaster and pray for auspiciousness. Hence, people nicknamed it “disaster-avoiding greybeard” all along.