Written by Jaden Parker
Also called the Double Ninth Festival, the Chung Yeung Festival is celebrated yearly on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month. This year, it is celebrated on October 23rd. People from Hong Kong, Taiwan, mainland China, and Macau celebrate this holiday, but it is only a public holiday in Hong Kong and Macau. All those who partake acknowledge the holiday through revering ancestors by burning offerings and sweeping tombs. In China, their festival is called the Senior Citizens’ Festival, while Japan has Obon Day. In South Korea, they have the Chuseok holiday, which we’ve talked about before!
In Hong Kong, people climb mountains and clean their ancestors’ graves. Cleansing foods are eaten to flush out bad energy. It is similar to the Ching Ming Festival they celebrate in the spring. “Chung yeung” in Cantonese means “double yang,” an attribution to the masculine yang energy of the yin-yang symbol. This holiday occurs on the ninth day of the ninth month because nine is the largest single yang number with yang numbers being odd and yin numbers being even. Doubling nine signifies compassion for the world and being able to see the light in all situations, hence the reason that they hike and fly kites.
Nevertheless, some people fear that the double yang energy creates an overabundance of masculinity and unluckiness. So, they take part in acts of cleansing with cleaning graves and eating cleansing foods like chung yeung cakes. Chung yeung cakes are cakes made of rice flour and sugar and topped with nuts, dried fruit, or even dried chrysanthemum flowers. To wash down these delicious cakes, people drink chrysanthemum wine. The chrysanthemum flowers and traditions all date back to a story from the Eastern Han dynasty from the year 25 to 220. Although it wasn’t recognized until the Tang dynasty roughly 400 years later, all variations of the story revolve around a man named Huan Jing.
A version of the story sees Huan Jing save his village and family from a demon who wipes out villagers residing in valleys. When he moves his people up to a mountaintop, he comes back down and kills the demon with chrysanthemum wine. Some versions have Huan Jing defeat the demon in a swordfight. Thus, activities of the holiday reference the moral of this story to “go to higher ground for better luck.” Some even wear chrysanthemums or dogwood to ward off negativity.
Grave sites in Hong Kong are located on mountainsides. The position in the mountain equates to the position in life one is blessed with. As aforementioned, kite flying is equally customary. I tried my hand at making a kite and sharing the end result with all of you, but I failed horribly! Either way, it’s still so much fun to learn about holidays all over the world, especially if they’re ones you’ve never heard of before.
