DOUBLE NINTH FESTIVAL                         NYCHINATOWNcom

2001: October 25

    The Chinese have named the ninth day of the ninth lunar month Double Ninth Festival (Chongyang Jie). The main activities on this day include making trips to the country, hiking, walking up hills, looking at autumn blooms and paying respect at the graves of one's ancestors.

    The ninth day of the ninth lunar month is special because the ancients believed that the number nine is a numeral of the yang (positive) element. Therefore this day is called chongyang meaning "double yang."

    It is believed when the yang element reaches its extreme, it wilts and the yin (negative) element takes over. This is true in the case of the Double Ninth Festival because it marks the close of autumn (yang) and the beginning of winter (yin).

    There is also another version of how the Double Ninth Festival originated. The mythical ancestor of the Chinese people, the Yellow Emperor, was said to have become immortal and ascended to heaven on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month. This is how the Chinese of later generations came to venerate their ancestors on this day.

Stories of the Double Ninth Festival
   Over the centuries there have been many stories associated with the Double Ninth Festival. The most famous one is about how Huan Jing escaped calamity by going into the hills.

    It is said that during the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220 AD), there lived a man called Huan Jing whose     teacher was a fortune-teller with prophetic powers. Huan followed his teacher and learned various magical arts and spells for averting calamities and assisting mankind.

    One day Huan's teacher told him, "On the ninth day of the ninth month, disaster will strike your family. The situation is critical. You must lead your entire family into the countryside and walk up into the hills. Everyone must wear a bit of dogwood and drink chrysanthemum wine."

    Huan did as his teacher said and brought his whole family and the rest of the villagers up to the hills early in the morning. When they returned to the village in the evening, they found all their dogs, chickens, cows and goats had died of the plague. Huan was deeply shocked. Only obeying his teacher had kept his family and fellow villagers from perishing.

    Huan then explained to the villagers that the fragrance of dogwood and chrysanthemum wine could dispel the plague.
   This story was handed down from generation to generation. People followed Huan's example and hiked up the hills on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month in the hope that they too could avoid bad fortune. This is how the custom of hiking on the Double Ninth Festival came about.

The Significance of the Double Ninth Festival
   The Double Ninth Festival is a day for trips to the country and hikes up the hills. It is also a day for paying respect to one's ancestors and thinking about friends and relatives who are far away. The Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD) poet Wang Wei wrote a poem describing his feelings when he spent the Double Ninth Festival away from his family, and his thoughts of those back home. Thoughts of My Brothers in Shandong on the Ninth Day of the Ninth Month
   A stranger like me in a foreign place, Thoughts of home grow on festive days. I know my brothers have hiked up the hills, All carrying dogwood - without me.

Kite-flying
   Children in many provinces fly kites on this day. Since the weather during this time of year is excellent for kite flying, many families go to the countryside to take advantage of it. The kites are usually in the shape of animals such as centipedes, eagles, butterflies among others. The saying that "the wind blows and the kites bite" refers to kite-flyers attempting to cut one another's strings with their own. This horse play is all done in the spirit of fun and when a kite falls the gathering will cheer.

Chrysanthemum Festival
   In the past, Chinese carried dogwood on their bodies and drank chrysanthemum wine when they hiked up the hills. Dogwood is an herb with a strong fragrance and it acts as an insect repellant. Chrysanthemum wine, on the other hand, detoxifies the body, helps in weight loss and is good for the eyes. Chrysanthemums figure so prominently in the celebration of the Double Ninth Festival that the day is also known as the Chrysanthemum Festival. One of the blooms that people went to see in the countryside was the chrysanthemum. People also picked the petals and leaves to brew next year's chrysanthemum wine. This custom was quite effective in preventing diseases prevalent during the autumn.

    Today the notion of dispelling calamities and evil on the Double Ninth Festival is no longer held by most people. The festival has evolved into a day of hiking in the hills and paying homage to one's ancestors. Hiking in the hills on a cool autumn day with friends and family, and breathing in the fresh air - surely this must be healthy enough to avert some calamities!