Double Ninth Festival
Special Food in Double Ninth Festival – Chinese Folklore
On the Double Ninth Festival, people would like to drink chrysanthemum wine and have chrysanthemum cakes.
The chrysanthemum is a plant often used as a Chinese herbal medicine. People in ancient times believed that, in addition to detoxification, chrysanthemum could drive away evil spirits and prevent on from getting a chill in late autumn. It thus becomes a tradition for the Chinese to drink chrysanthemum wine on the festival, to avoid evil spirits and misfortunes. Besides, the Chinese word for wine is Jiu, a homonym of the Chinese word for “long”, symbolizing longevity.
Another special food for this festival is chrysanthemum cakes. The Chinese word for cake is gao, a homonym of the Chinese word for “high”, symbolizing progress and promotion at work and in daily life and improvement in life year by year. In addition, mountains are high, so eating cakes can take the place of going for a climb-by a stretch of the imagination.
Things Chinese Do in Double Ninth Festival – Chinese Folklore
As mentioned above, on Chongyang Festival, people climb a high mountain drink chrysanthemum wine, and wear Cornus leaves in order to protect themselves from danger and evil. Also on this holiday, some Chinese also visit the graves of their ancestors to pay their respects.
Indeed, the Double Ninth Festival may have started out as a day to drive away danger, but like the Chinese New Year, over time it has become a day of celebration. In contemporary times it is an occasion for hiking and chrysanthemum appreciation.
Most people drink chrysanthemum tea, while a few strict traditionalists drink homemade chrysanthemum wine. Children in school learn poems about chrysanthemums, and many localities host a chrysanthemum exhibition. Mountain climbing races are also popular; winners get to wear made of cornus.
Origin of Double Ninth Festival – Chinese Folklore
The Double Ninth Festival, also named Chongyang Festival, falls on the ninth day of the ninth month of the Chinese lunar calendar, hence it gets the name of Double Ninth Festival.
Chong means double and yang represents active, masculine. According to the traditional Chinese theory of yin and yang, both the 9th month and the 9th day of the month belong to yang, so is the name “Chongyang (double yang)”.
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