Chongyang Festival (Double Nine Festival)

Time: September the 9th according to the lunar calendar
Because number 9 was stipulated a yang number in ancient China, so the 9th day of September became Chongyang Festival, also called Double Nine Festival. Chinese think the 9th day of September is a good day, so this festival has been celebrating long time ago.
Since the establishment of the People's Republic of China, Chongyang Festival has been designated as Senior People's Day. On that day, young people usually buy traditional food to the olds and also the seniors usually get together to enjoy the traditional activities to celebrate the festival.
As passed from generation to generation, same as the other traditional festivals in China, on the day of Chongyang Festival, there are several activities prepared for celebrating this joyous festival:

Climbing Hills
When talking about the Chongyang Festival, the most popular custom will be Climbing Hills. In September, the golden month of autumn with comfortable temperature, climbing the hills to have a bird's eye view of the land will be wonderful, good for the healthy. There are no rules on how high people should climb, just relax!

Eating Chongyang Cakes
Another custom on the festival is eating Chongyang Cakes, which has been preserved since ancient times. As the food for the festival, it once for the celebrations of grain harvest. As time goes by, people eat Chongyang Cakes while climbing the hills, implied meaning of rise step by step in the world.

Appreciate Chrysanthemums
On the day of Chongyang Festival, appreciate the chrysanthemums is the activity should not be missed. In the middle of autumn, chrysanthemums are in full bloom, so September is also called the chrysanthemum month. Chrysanthemum symbolizes longevity, so during the festival, local citizens usually go to chrysanthemum exhibitions to appreciate colorful chrysanthemums.

Drink Chrysanthemum Wine
Drinking chrysanthemum wine is also one of the must do things on Chongyang Festival. The origin of this custom could date back to a famous poet Taoyuanming in Jin Dynasty. Because of his beautiful poetry, a lot of people influence by it. So during the old times, appreciating chrysanthemums and drinking chrysanthemum wine on Chongyang Festival had become the fashion.

Wearing Cornels
Cornel is a medicinal material that can ward off disease. This custom of wearing cornels was very popular among Tang Dynasty. People believed that wearing the plants, they would exorcise and ward off evil spirits.

Not only these above, people from different nationality and different regions have different activities to celebrate Chongyang Festival. Just show their own respect to the ancestors.