The Chongyang Festival falls on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month. So it is also called the Double Ninth Festival. To celebrate the day, people usually climb mountains and enjoy chrysanthemum (菊花), so the festival is also known as the Height Ascending (登高) Festival or the Chrysanthemum Festival. Nine has the similar pronunciation (jiu) with “forever” in Chinese. So the Chinese government set the day as the Seniors’ Day in 1989.

During the Warring States Period, there was the Chongyang Festival. But it was only celebrated in the imperial palace (皇宫). From the Han Dynasty, it began to be popular among the common people. During the Jin Dynasty, there were customs of enjoying chrysanthemum and drinking wines on the day. It was not officially set as a festival until the Tang Dynasty. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, people in the imperial palace all ate flower cakes and climbed the mountain to celebrate. Climbing the mountain has been a kind of custom since the Western Han Dynasty.

Chrysanthemum means long life, so enjoying chrysanthemum and drinking chrysanthemum tea are also popular. Inserting Zhuyu and sticking chrysanthemum are also traditions to avoid the bad as they have special smells which can repel (驱逐) insects and keep out the cold.

Eating Chongyang cakes is another tradition on the festival. There is no fixed way of the cake. But the one with nine layers (层) with two sheep on it is the best. Two sheep mean Chongyang. Nine layers show people could do well in everything.