The 9th day of the 9th lunar month is the traditional Chongyang Festival, or Double Ninth Festival. Numbers 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 were thought to be of Yang characteristics, meaning masculine or positive, while numbers 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 were Yin, meaning feminine or negative. So the number nine in both month and day creates the Double Ninth Festival, or Chongyang Festival.
Also, as double ninth was pronounced the same as the word to signify “forever”, people associate it with longevity, so Double Ninth Festival is also called the Festival for the Elderly. As ascending a height is the main custom of Double Ninth Festival, it is also called “Height Ascending Festival”.
Double Ninth Festival has a long history, but its origin continues to be controversial. It is generally believed that it had been valued in the Spring and Autumn Period (770 BC-476 BC), but the activity was limited to the palace. Until the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-25 AD), it was gradually introduced into folklore. By the time of the Tang Dynasty (618-907), the Double Ninth Festival was formally designated as the folk festival.
The customary activities include climbing mountains, wearing cornel, enjoying chrysanthemum, drinking chrysanthemum wine and eating Double Ninth cakes. The activities of climbing and wearing cornel are associated with mythology.
According to legend, in the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220), there was a plague demon in Ruhe (river). Once it appeared, someone would die. One year, a young man named Heng Jing, whose parents had been devitalized by the plague demon, was determined to eliminate this scourge and finally took Fei Changfang, who had magical supernatural powers, as his teacher. Heng Jing got up as soon as the cock crows, studied diligently and practiced hard, with years passing in this way. One day, Fei Changfang said to him: “Tomorrow is the 9th day of the 9th lunar month, the plague demon will come out and do evil again. Since you have adept skills, it is time to go back to get rid of evil for the people.” And then he gave Heng Jing a packet of cornel leaves that could ward off evil and a pot of chrysanthemum wine, and told him way to use them. After that, Heng Jing rode a crane back home.
In the morning of the 9th day of the 9th lunar month, according to his teacher’s instruction, Heng Jing asked the local people to hide in the mountain nearby, gave everyone a cornel leaf and a cup of chrysanthemum wine, and prepared to subdue demon.
At noon, the plague demon jumped out from Ruhe River with squalls and flew to a nearby village. When it flew down the mountain and suddenly smelled the scent of cornel leaves and the smell of chrysanthemum wine, its face became pale and could not fly any more. At this time, Heng Jing stabbed it to death with a sword. Since then, the custom of ascending to a high place to avoid epidemics on the ninth day of September has been passed down.
The custom of wearing cornel emerged in the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD). Cornel is a plant with a strong scent; its fruit is edible and the stems and leaves can be used as medicine. On the day of the Double Ninth Festival, people would sew a piece of red cloth together with freshly picked leaves and fruits into a small bag and carry with them. The ancients believed that it could exorcise evil spirits, so it was called “Pixie Weng”. By the Tang Dynasty, inserting cornel gradually replaced wearing cornel and was extensively popular, and there were a large number of records in poetry, such as Thinking of My Brother On Mountain-Climbing by poet Wang Wei in the Tang Dynasty: “All alone in a foreign land, I am twice as homesick on this day; When brothers carry cornel up the mountain, each of them a branch -and my branch missing.” In the Song Dynasty (960-1279), inserting cornel was not so prevalent as before, and after the Song Dynasty it was replaced by using cornel directly for medicinal purposes. That custom has now completely gone.
For the later generations, ascending the heights on Double Ninth Festival has nothing to do with avoiding evils, but just for fun. On the 9th day of the 9th lunar month, which coincides with the end of the second month of autumn and the beginning of the last month, mountains are covered with red leaves, the clouds are pale and a light breeze is blowing, creating a lovely scene, so it is the best season for sightseeing. Therefore, the custom of climbing on Double Ninth Festival has continued. Around this time, Chrysanthemum exhibitions and Chrysanthemum admiring activities will be held around China, and some units will organize mountain climbing activities for the elderly.
