A festival with roots unravelling all the way back to 25AD, the double ninth festival is enriched with history and culture. With a legendary story that has survived to be told over 2000 years later, the double ninth festival is a traditional Chinese festival that has been celebrated for centuries.

Known as the double ninth festival due to the being celebrated on the 9th day of the 9th month of the lunar calendar, according to the Chinese culture, the ninth day on the ninth lunar month has too much of the yang character, therefore bringing with it misfortune and evil. Therefore, to ward illness away, the double ninth festival is celebrated with certain customary actions taking place. These include:

History:

Like most festivals, the double ninth festival has ancient legends that are supposedly the origin of many of the customs of this festival. The legend behind the double ninth festival involves a man name Huan Jing who lived during the East Han dynasty. A devil was belived to cause disease around the Ruhe river killing many of the those who resided around the river. Huan Jing took upon the mission to learn the magic arts to kill the devil. He sought knowledge from an immortal who taught him how to kill the devil and informed him that the devil will appear on the 9th day of the 9th lunar month. When Huan Jing returned to the Ruhe river, he asked his family to climb a mountain and sent everyone a Zhuyu leaf and a glass of Chrysanthemum wine. When the devil emerged from the water, the scent of Zhuyu and Chrysanthemum supposedly made it dizzy resulting in Huan Jing's success in killing the devil and ridding the place of illnesses.

Customs of the double ninth festival:

Many of the customs of the double ninth festival emerged from the legend. Incredibly, these customs have been continued are are still celebrated thousands of years later.

 Climbing a mountain

During the double ninth festival, in Ancient china it was a tradition to follow in the steps of Huan Jing’s family and ascend to a high place. This custom was supposedly started during the East Han dynasty and can take various forms from either climbing a mountain, tower or simply ascending to a higher place. People initially believed it wards of illnesses, however today, it’s a beautiful time to enjoy the views and natural beauty.

 Drink Chrysanthemum wine and enjoy Chrysanthemum

Not only is the flower beautiful but it can also be enjoyed as a cup of wine following the footsteps of the famous poet Tao Yuanming. Born during the Jin dynasty, it si said that the idea of enjoying Chrysanthemums and drinking it’s wine originated from Tao Yuanming. Many people followed in his pursuit and eventually it became a well known and important custom of this festival.

Wearing Zhuyu and stick Chrysanthemum:

Ancient Chinese tradition has it the Zhuyu can help avoid disasters and Chrysanthemum can be used to ward off evil. Therefore, on the double ninth festival, Zhuyu is often worn around their arm or in a sachet tied around the waist and women insert Chrysanthemum sticks in their own hair.

Eat Chongyang cakes 

The word for cakes in Chinese characters is ‘gao’ which is similar for the word high. It’s a clever play on the word. Chongyang cakes are 9-year cakes shaped like a tower and made with a wish to get promotions. It can be decorated with a red flag on the top and a few candles. Join in the festivities by trying this Chongyang cake recipe:

Recipe for Chongyang cake

Ingredients

• 180g long-grained non-glutinous rice (Taiwan) / Indica rice flour
• 150g glutinous rice flour
• 200g red bean paste
• 140g water
• 20g coconut oil
• 30g maple syrup
• 35g powdered sugar/icing sugar
• Dried fruit
• 1 - 8 inch bamboo steamer/metal pan steamer/table top steamer/wok + bowl + plate

Method

1. Mix the long-grained non-glutinous rice (Taiwan) / Indica rice flour and glutinous rice flour together. Add the coconut oil, maple syrup, powdered sugar and water and combine. Sift twice until there are no lumps.
2. Prepare your steamer. Alternatively, you can place some water in a wok, place a bowl on top of the wok and place a plate/saucepan on top of the bowl. 
3. Pour some water into the steamer and boil. Preheat the steamer for 5 minutes. Remove the top section from the heat
4. Place greaseproof paper into the steamer
5. Spread the red bean paste onto the greaseproof paper. Spread a layer of the powder evenly over the paste.
6. Reheat the steamer for 5 minutes and steam the mixture for 5 minutes.
7. Repeat steps 5-6 until the desired number of layers has been achieved.
8.  When you reach the last layer, sprinkle a layer of dried fruits and nuts over the top and sprinkle some water over the top before steaming.