Double Ninth Festival · Traditional Festival Feature

The Double Ninth Festival falls on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month. The ancients counted nine as a yang number; when sun and moon both hold yang and two nines coincide, it is called "Double Ninth," or "Chong Jiu." The custom is ancient: the Miscellaneous Records of the Western Capital notes that in the Western Han palace, "on the ninth day of the ninth month, people wore cornel, ate lotus cakes, and drank chrysanthemum wine to attain long life"—so the meaning of climbing high against misfortune and prolonging years was already complete in the Han dynasty. In the Southern Dynasties, Wu Jun's Continued Records of the Strange tells of Huan Jing of Runan, who studied the Way under Fei Changfang; warned that disaster would strike his household on the ninth day of the ninth month, he bade his family climb high, drink chrysanthemum wine, and tie cornel pouches to avoid it—and returning, they found their chickens and dogs all dead. The tale is touched with the supernatural, yet it speaks the heart of the festival: climb high to escape calamity, wear cornel to repel evil, drink chrysanthemum wine to ward off sickness. In the Tang dynasty, Double Ninth was formally recognized as a festival, and poets exchanged verses without end; in later ages, since nine sounds like "long-lasting," the day also acquired the meaning of enduring health, longevity, and reverence for the aged.

The first custom of Double Ninth is climbing high. In the clear, high air of autumn, one ascends mountains, city walls, or ancient pagodas and gazes far—this is called "bidding farewell to green," the counterpart of spring's outing at Qingming. Climbing is both an ancient rite against calamity and a ritual of autumn vista: wind filling the sleeves, sky and earth stretching wide, the cares of the heart opening with the view. Next come wearing cornel and drinking chrysanthemum wine. Cornel is warm in nature; the ancients believed it could drive away noxious vapors, and Wang Wei's line "one person missing from their cornel-wearing midst" turned this small red fruit into a token of longing. The chrysanthemum blooms defiant of frost; chrysanthemum wine was credited with dispelling illness and prolonging years. Admiring the chrysanthemum is another elegant rite: the flower is the recluse among blooms, and when deep autumn lays waste the hundred flowers, the chrysanthemum alone blazes on; to view it and chant it became the fixed program of every literary Double Ninth.

At table, the Double Ninth cake is indispensable. "Cake" sounds like "high"; having climbed high, one eats the cake to climb higher still—and by old custom, small flags were stuck in the cake to echo the cornel sprigs of the climb. In the north, date cakes and flower cakes are layered with dried fruit; in the south, chestnut flour may be used. It is deep autumn; the chrysanthemum wine is mellow, and crab roe and mutton are the season's finest fare.

The most famous verses for Double Ninth include:

Wang Wei, "Remembering My Brothers East of the Mountains on the Ninth Day of the Ninth Month" (Jiu Yue Jiu Ri Yi Shan Dong Xiong Di): 独在异乡为异客,每逢佳节倍思亲. 遥知兄弟登高处,遍插茱萸少一人. — Alone, a stranger in a strange land, I miss my kin twice as much on every festival day. From afar I know my brothers climb the heights, cornel sprigs everywhere—one person missing from their midst.

Meng Haoran, "Visiting an Old Friend's Cottage" (Guo Gu Ren Zhuang): 开轩面场圃,把酒话桑麻. 待到重阳日,还来就菊花. — We open the window to face the field and garden, wine in hand, talking of mulberry and hemp. When the Double Ninth comes round again, I shall return for the chrysanthemums.

Li Qingzhao, "Tipsy in the Flower's Shade" (Zui Hua Yin): 佳节又重阳,玉枕纱厨,半夜凉初透. 东篱把酒黄昏后,有暗香盈袖. — The festival returns—Double Ninth again; jade pillow, gauze curtain, the chill of midnight seeping through. After dusk I pour wine by the eastern fence, and a faint fragrance fills my sleeves.

Nine being the highest yang number, Double Ninth was given the symbol of "extreme yang": yang qi rises to its zenith, and at the zenith things turn—so the ancients climbed high and wore cornel to harmonize yin and yang, to turn from ill omen toward fortune; and the sound "jiu jiu" (nine nine / long long) turned that prayer into the most homely blessing for elders and kin. The chrysanthemum's reclusion, the cornel's guardianship, the far gaze from the high terrace—together they form the spiritual bedrock of Double Ninth: reverence for the seasons, remembrance of the departed, cherishing of the present.

In keeping with the twenty-four solar terms, Double Ninth usually falls between Cold Dew and Frost's Descent. At Cold Dew, in its third pentad, "the chrysanthemums turn yellow and bloom," and the autumn bloom is exactly the phenological ground for "when the Double Ninth comes round again, I shall return for the chrysanthemums"; around Frost's Descent, the hundred grasses are about to wither, and the ancients climbed the hills in this season to bid farewell to green—both a leave-taking of autumn and a preparation of body and mind for the coming cold. From the chrysanthemum gold of Cold Dew to the dew-white of Frost's Descent, Double Ninth stands on the spine of deep autumn, reminding the world: there is wind on the heights, cold asks for warmer clothes, and those before you are to be cherished.