Double Ninth Festival

Double Nine Festival
Chai Wan Cemetery, Hong Kong, 2015
Official name	Double Ninth Festival (重九節) (重阳节)
Also called	Chung Yeung Festival (重陽節) Chōyō (重陽) 중양절 Tết Trùng Cửu Chrysanthemum Festival (菊の節句)
Observed by	Chinese, Japanese, Taiwanese, Korean, Vietnamese
Date	9th day of the 9th lunar month
2016 date	October 9
2017 date	October 28
2018 date	October 17
2019 date	October 7
Frequency	annual

The Double Ninth Festival (Chung Yeung Festival in Hong Kong, Chōyō (Japanese: 重陽^?), Vietnamese: Tết Trùng Cửu), observed on the ninth day of the ninth month in the Chinese calendar, is a traditional Chinese holiday, mentioned in writing since before the East Han period (before AD 25). The day is also known as the Chrysanthemum Festival (菊の節句) in Japan.

According to the I Ching, nine is a yang number; the ninth day of the ninth lunar month (or double nine) has too much yang (a traditional Chinese spiritual concept) and is thus a potentially dangerous date. Hence, the day is also called "Double Yang Festival" (重陽節). To protect against danger, it is customary to climb a high mountain, drink chrysanthemum liquor, and wear the zhuyu (茱萸) plant, Cornus officinalis. (Both chrysanthemum and zhuyu are considered to have cleansing qualities and are used on other occasions to air out houses and cure illnesses.)

On this holiday some Chinese also visit the graves of their ancestors to pay their respects. In Hong Kong, whole extended families head to ancestral graves to clean them and repaint inscriptions, and to lay out food offerings such as roast suckling pig and fruit, which are then eaten (after the spirits have consumed the spiritual element of the food). Chongyang Cake is also popular. Incense sticks are burned. Cemeteries get crowded, and each year grass fires are inadvertently started by the burning incense sticks.