The ninth day of the ninth month in the lunar calendar is the Double-Ninth Festival (Chongyang Festival). Ancient people thought nine a positive number, so the festival was regarded double positive (Chongyang in Chinese). Ancient customs included mountain climbing, drinking, admiring chrysanthemum, arranging dogwood branches, eating colorful steamed cakes and so on.
The Double-Ninth Festival comes in late autumn, with the summer hear diminished. The day is always clear with gentle autumn breeze, which creates a golden opportunity for mountain-climbing and sight-seeing. So on that day, people, regardless of age or sex, all come to have fun at mountain areas with a chrysanthemum-ornamented hat on the head and dogwood-inserted bags in hands. A well-known poem Thinking of My Brothers in Shandong Province on the Double-Ninth Day, written by a great poet of the Tang Dynasty, Wang Wei, describes the scene: “All alone in a foreign land/I am twice as homesick on this branch in hand – but only my branch was missing.” Dogwood, also named Yuejiao and “Exorcist” in old times, can be used in medicine and was said to have the power of exorcising evil spirits. As a matter of face, it has a strong aroma which can drive away insects, remove dampness and relieve chill and fever.
In recent years, the festival has been connected with Chinese traditional virtue of respecting the elderly. Maybe the reason is the “Kiujiu” (the ninth day of the ninth lunar month) sounds similar to the word longevity in Chinese. The day is named “Elderly’s Day” or “The Day for Respecting the Aged”, which not only contains the original meaning of the festival, but also expresses the common respect for the aged people and good wishes for longevity.