Double Ninth FestivalDouble Ninth Festival Origins

The Philosophy of the *Yijing*

The name “重阳” is rooted in the ancient Chinese theory of yin and yang. The 《易经》 classifies numbers into yin and yang: odd numbers are yang, even numbers yin. Nine is the highest of the yang numbers, the greatest yang number, and is also known as “old yang” (老阳). On the ninth day of the ninth lunar month, both the month and the day are represented by nine. Two nines are thus repeated, giving rise to the name “Double Nine” (重九); because two yang numbers coincide, the day is called “Double Yang” (重阳).

In the 《易经》, yang lines are represented by the number nine, which is treated as an ultimate number of Heaven and Earth. The 《楚辞·远游》 already contains the line “集重阳入帝宫兮，造旬始而观清都”. Here, however, “重阳” originally refers to the heavens—the accumulated layers of yang qi in the sky—and is not yet directly connected with the ninth day of the ninth month. Even so, the philosophical meaning of “yang at its utmost” embedded in the term later provided a deep cultural foundation for naming the ninth day of the ninth month “重阳”.

The Ming writer Zhang Dai (张岱) further explained in 《夜航船》: “九为阳数，其日与月并应，故号曰重阳”. Nine was not only the highest yang number; its pronunciation was also homophonically associated with “久”, meaning “long-lasting.” The ninth day of the ninth month thus came to carry auspicious meanings of long life, enduring vitality, health, and longevity. Through the combined influence of numerical philosophy and homophonic symbolism, an otherwise ordinary date was gradually elevated into an auspicious festival worthy of celebration.

From “九月九日” to the Double Ninth Festival

Before the name “重阳” became established, the festival was commonly known simply as “九月九日” or “九日”. Although the earliest roots of the festival can be traced to the pre-Qin period and perhaps even earlier, the earliest written record of “重阳节” as a named festival appears in the Three Kingdoms period. Emperor Wen of Wei, Cao Pi (曹丕), wrote in 《九日与钟繇书》:

“岁往月来，忽复九月九日。九为阳数，而日月并应，俗嘉其名，以为宜于长久，故以享宴高会。”

This is the earliest textual basis for investing the ninth day of the ninth month with the name “重阳”. Drawing on numerical philosophy and homophonic culture, Cao Pi interpreted the day as an auspicious occasion “宜于长久”, thereby helping establish the Double Ninth Festival’s cultural character as a festival of prayers for longevity.

The Jin-dynasty poet Tao Yuanming (陶渊明) wrote in the preface to 《九日闲居》:

“余闲居，爱重九之名。秋菊盈园，而持醪靡由，空服九华，寄怀于言”。

This is an early record of literati treating “重九” itself as an object of aesthetic appreciation and poetic reflection. By the Tang dynasty, the name “重阳” had become firmly established as the festival’s standard designation.

Alternative Names

Throughout history, the Double Ninth Festival developed an exceptionally rich system of alternative names. In addition to “重阳” and “重九”, it has also been called “登高节” because of the custom of ascending heights, “茱萸节” because of wearing dogwood, “菊花节” because of admiring chrysanthemums and drinking chrysanthemum wine, “女儿节” because of the custom of married daughters returning to their natal homes, as well as “九月九”, “九日”, and “重九”.

These different names reveal precisely the diversity of Double Ninth customs and the complexity of cultural fusion within the festival. “登高节” emphasizes the dimension of outdoor activity; “茱萸节” foregrounds the function of warding off evil and avoiding calamity; “菊花节” highlights aesthetic pleasure and seasonal enjoyment; and “女儿节” reflects the warmth of family ethics. Every alternative name is, in its own way, a mark left upon the festival by the long course of history.

The oldest roots of the Double Ninth Festival can be traced to the pre-Qin period, and perhaps even further back into high antiquity. These early sources did not directly refer to the ninth day of the ninth month itself, but rather to the multiple cultural meanings attached to the autumn season: harvest sacrifice, astral worship, and care for the elderly with prayers for longevity.

The Autumn Tasting Sacrifice

The ninth lunar month is the final month of autumn. By this time, crops have been gathered, the granaries are full, and cattle and sheep are well-fed—the ideal season for celebrating the harvest and making offerings to Heaven, Earth, and the ancestors. The 《吕氏春秋·季秋纪》 explicitly records important sacrificial activities held in the ninth month during the pre-Qin period:

“（九月）命家宰，农事备收，举五种之要。藏帝籍之收于神仓，祗敬必饬。”

It further states:

“是日也，大飨帝，尝牺牲，告备于天子。”

In the last month of autumn, the Son of Heaven was to make offerings to the Five Emperors and the ancestral temple, presenting newly harvested grain and sacrificial animals to Heaven and the ancestors as a formal report of the year’s abundance. This “autumn tasting” (秋尝) was one of the central annual sacrificial rites of the pre-Qin ritual system.

At the heart of the autumn tasting sacrifice was gratitude—gratitude to Heaven and Earth for the harvest, and gratitude to the ancestors for safeguarding the year. This tradition formed one of the deepest cultural layers underlying the later Double Ninth Festival. As scholars have noted: “九月丰收已成，祭祀先祖、告备天子的活动，展现了丰收的喜悦，表达了对祖先神灵的告慰。周代立国以农耕为本，丰收是最大的愿望。” It was precisely this celebration of abundance and gratitude toward the divine that later gave the Double Ninth Festival its festive tone of “宴饮高会” and “享宴高会”.

Sacrifice to the “Great Fire Star”

Another important source of the Double Ninth Festival lies in ancient rites dedicated to the “Great Fire Star” (大火星). The Great Fire Star, identified with Antares in the Heart mansion, was one of the principal celestial markers by which ancient people determined the seasons. In spring, it appeared in the eastern sky at dusk, signaling the beginning of spring plowing; by the ninth lunar month, in late autumn, it disappeared below the western horizon at dusk, marking the end of the farming season and the approach of the long winter.

The 《夏小正》 states “九月内火”. Here, “内” is interchangeable with “纳”, meaning that the Great Fire Star retreats beneath the earth. Its disappearance deprived people, who relied on it as a marker of seasonal production and daily life, of an important temporal coordinate. At the same time, for those who revered the Great Fire as divine, its withdrawal provoked an undefined sense of fear. The dormancy of the fire deity signaled the coming of the long winter. Thus, just as the star’s appearance was greeted with a rite of welcoming fire, its disappearance was accompanied by a corresponding ritual of farewell.

This ceremony of seeing off the Great Fire Star forms one of the most ancient astronomical foundations associated with the Double Ninth Festival. The star’s disappearance was closely connected with the ninth lunar month: as it withdrew from view, people performed rituals to bid farewell to the fire deity and prepare for winter. Although the precise form of these ancient rites has long faded beyond recovery, the later custom of worshipping the kitchen god at the Double Ninth Festival in parts of Jiangnan has been regarded as a surviving trace of the old ninth-month rites dedicated to the “Great Fire.”

Autumn Care for the Elderly

The Double Ninth Festival is also closely connected with the ancient Chinese tradition of caring for the elderly in autumn. The 《礼记·月令》 records that in the eighth lunar month, during mid-autumn, elderly people were to be supported, supplied with tables and walking staffs, and given thin porridge and other food. This autumnal practice of caring for the aged is one of the earliest sources of the later Double Ninth themes of respecting the elderly and praying for longevity.

Some scholars explicitly argue that the ninth-day-of-the-ninth-month festival “来源于先秦秋季的养老节与秋尝之祭，节日中‘养老祈寿’的观念比‘辟邪消灾’有着更悠久的渊源”.

Why was respect for the elderly emphasized in autumn? Spring is the season of growth, when the union of men and women and the continuation of descendants are central themes. Autumn, by contrast, is the season when all things mature and move toward storage; caring for the elderly and praying for longevity accord with the natural rhythm of “spring birth, summer growth, autumn harvest, winter storage.” Ancient people arranged human affairs according to the wisdom of acting in harmony with the seasons. Worshipping ancestors, praying for blessings, and honoring the elderly in autumn all reveal the agrarian civilization’s deep understanding of the cycle of life.

Whether the ninth-day festival arose from harvest sacrifice, Great Fire Star worship, or prayers for longevity among the elderly, each explanation reflects the same underlying wisdom: the ability of an agricultural civilization to grasp the rhythm of autumn and organize human life in accordance with seasonal order.

Multiple Theories of Origin

Taken together, these pre-Qin sources have given rise to several major scholarly interpretations of the origins of the Double Ninth Festival:

Harvest-Sacrifice Theory — The festival developed from harvest rites held in the ninth lunar month during the late-autumn season of the pre-Qin period, when people offered sacrifices to Heaven and the ancestors after the harvest in gratitude for their blessings.

Great Fire Star Sacrifice Theory — The festival arose from ancient rites dedicated to the Great Fire Star. When the star disappeared in the ninth lunar month, people held farewell ceremonies.

Care for the Elderly and Longevity Theory — The festival grew out of the pre-Qin tradition of supporting elderly people in autumn. The 《礼记·月令》 records the care of the elderly in the eighth lunar month.

Averting Evil Theory — The festival arose from fear of the idea that “when yang reaches its extreme, change must follow.” People sought to avoid disaster by ascending heights, wearing dogwood, and drinking chrysanthemum wine.

These theories are each grounded in historical evidence and are not mutually exclusive. Rather, together they reveal the festival’s multiple origins across different historical dimensions. As scholars have observed, “节日的产生与发展与历法制度的演变息息相关”. The true formation of the Double Ninth Festival was the gradual fusion of these diverse sources through changes in the calendar system and transformations in society.

Over the course of its long historical development, the customs of the Double Ninth Festival grew increasingly rich and eventually formed a system centered on ascending heights, admiring chrysanthemums, wearing dogwood, drinking chrysanthemum wine, and eating Double Ninth cake.

Ascending Heights

The custom of ascending heights at the Double Ninth Festival has a long history. Because climbing to elevated places was so closely associated with the occasion, the festival was also known as the “Festival of Ascending Heights” (登高节).

Several explanations have been offered for the origin of this custom. One links it to ancient mountain worship, based on the belief that mountain deities could protect people from disaster. Another associates it with ascending heights to escape calamity: in an age before the development of modern science, people believed that at the Double Ninth, earthly qi rose while heavenly qi descended, filling the world with harmful influences and making the day inauspicious. A third explanation relates it to “ascending heights to bid farewell to the green season” (登高辞青)—the Double Ninth was regarded as autumn’s final outdoor excursion, and people climbed high to say farewell to the season.

As Professor Wang Laihua of the Tianjin Academy of Social Sciences has summarized, there are roughly three main explanations for the custom: ascending to avoid disaster, mountain worship, and ascending to bid farewell to autumn.

Chrysanthemum Appreciation and Chrysanthemum Wine

The Double Ninth Festival falls precisely when chrysanthemums are in full bloom. Blossoming proudly in late autumn after most other flowers have withered, chrysanthemums became symbols of purity, integrity, and resilience. The custom of admiring chrysanthemums at the Double Ninth has a long history.

The 《西京杂记》 already records a Han-dynasty method of brewing chrysanthemum wine:

“菊花舒时，并采茎叶，杂黍米酿之，至来年九月九日始熟，就饮焉，故谓之菊花酒。”

Chrysanthemum wine required a full year to mature—from one Double Ninth to the next—and the process itself embodied a patient waiting upon time. In antiquity, chrysanthemum wine was regarded as an auspicious wine that should be drunk at the festival to ward off disaster and pray for blessing.

Wearing Dogwood

Dogwood is one of the most important cultural symbols of the Double Ninth Festival. Ancient people often inserted it into their hair or wore it on the body as an ornament. Dogwood has a strong fragrance and was traditionally regarded as useful for repelling insects and dampness, dispelling harmful wind, relieving digestive stagnation, and treating disorders of cold and heat. At a time of seasonal transition between warmth and cold, wearing dogwood was believed to contribute positively to the prevention of illness.

Because the ancients also believed it could repel evil, the Double Ninth Festival was sometimes called the “Dogwood Festival” (茱萸节). Wang Wei’s celebrated line “遥知兄弟登高处，遍插茱萸少一人” has become an enduring literary image of this custom.

Eating Double Ninth Cake

Just as the Mid-Autumn Festival has mooncakes and the Dragon Boat Festival has zongzi, the Double Ninth Festival also has its characteristic seasonal food: Double Ninth cake (重阳糕). In the Han dynasty it was called “蓬饵”, and in later periods it developed into Double Ninth cake or flower cake.

The character “糕” is homophonically associated with “高”, meaning “high.” It refers not only to the height of ascending, but also evokes the expression “芝麻开花节节高”, carrying auspicious wishes that life may rise step by step and all things continue upward. Small colored flags are often inserted into Double Ninth cakes, symbolizing climbing to greater heights and suggesting that those who eat the cake may likewise rise step by step in life.

Today, there is no single fixed variety of Double Ninth cake. Soft cakes eaten in different regions on the festival are generally grouped under the collective name “重阳糕.”

The formation of the Double Ninth Festival was the result of thousands of years of accumulated Chinese cultural tradition continually renewed by the spirit of successive ages. Its roots lie in ancient autumn sacrificial rites and astral worship; its earliest contours emerged in pre-Qin harvest ceremonies and rites of farewell to the Great Fire Star; its basic body of customs took shape in the courts and communities of the Han; it gained the name “重阳” amid Daoist thought and literati culture during the Wei and Jin periods; it became an officially recognized state festival in the Tang; and through broad participation across society in the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, it reached maturity and was transmitted onward.

From the pre-Qin “秋尝之祭” to the Han practices of “佩茱萸、食蓬饵、饮菊花酒”; from Cao Pi’s Wei-Jin ideal of “宜于长久” to its designation as one of the Tang dynasty’s “三令节”; from Song-dynasty “重阳糕” and grand chrysanthemum feasts to the Ming-Qing “女儿节” and traditions of respecting the elderly—the Double Ninth Festival underwent a long evolution from sacrifice to folk custom, from warding off evil to praying for longevity, from elite culture to popular participation, and from religion to ethics. It preserves the reverence and gratitude of ancient agrarian civilization toward Heaven, Earth, and the divine, while also carrying the most elemental hopes of generations past for long life, health, and peace.

On May 20, 2006, the Double Ninth Festival was included in the first National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage. In 2012, it was legally established as “老年节”. From the pre-Qin tradition of caring for the elderly in autumn to the contemporary Seniors’ Festival, the Double Ninth has crossed more than two millennia of history. Its cultural core of respecting elders and honoring family has not become obsolete; on the contrary, amid the deepening realities of an aging society, it possesses an unprecedented contemporary significance.

As scholars have summarized, Double Ninth culture is a comprehensive cultural system integrating harvest celebration, outings, sacrifice, chrysanthemum culture, entertainment, warding off evil, respect for teachers, women’s culture, poetry, and other dimensions. The Double Ninth Festival, a celebration that has come down from remote antiquity, continues in the present day to illuminate the hearts of Chinese people through its rich cultural depth and profound human concern.

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