Did You Know?
In mainland China the same date is also treated as a day for honoring the elderly, because the word for nine sounds like the word for "long-lasting."
Chung Yeung Festival
🇭🇰 Hong Kong SAR China
- Public Holiday
- Countrywide
- Variable date
Overview
Chung Yeung Festival, also known as the Double Ninth Festival, falls on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month. It is a traditional Chinese occasion tied to autumn, family remembrance and climbing to high places. In Hong Kong it is a public holiday, and its Gregorian date changes each year with the lunar calendar.
What It Is
On Chung Yeung, many Hong Kong residents head outdoors for hikes up hills and country trails, giving the day the feel of an autumn excursion. Others spend it visiting the graves of their ancestors, tidying the sites and bringing offerings, often as a family group. Chrysanthemums, closely linked with the festival, appear in seasonal flower displays and in the traditional chrysanthemum tea. Because the date follows the lunar calendar, it lands on a different day each autumn, and offices and schools close for the public holiday.
Why It Matters
The name means "double yang." In traditional Chinese numerology, nine is a yang number, so the ninth day of the ninth month doubles that energy and was considered both powerful and risky. A well-known legend from the Eastern Han period tells of Fei Changfang advising his student Huan Jing to take his family to high ground, carrying dogwood sprigs and drinking chrysanthemum wine, to escape a coming calamity. Climbing heights and drinking chrysanthemum wine grew from that story into customs of protection, health and long life, and the day became a time for honoring family, elders and ancestors.
Holiday in Context
Hong Kong families traditionally visit ancestral graves twice a year: at Ching Ming in spring and again at Chung Yeung in autumn. The two occasions mirror each other, one at the start of the warm season and one as the year cools, and many families treat Chung Yeung as the second half of the same remembrance cycle.
Countries Celebrating
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