Double Ninth Festival

The 9th day of the 9th lunar month is the traditional Chongyang Festival, or Double Ninth Festival. It usually falls in October in the Gregorian calendar (on the ninth day of the ninth month of the Chinese lunar calendar). In an ancient and mysterious book Yi Jing, or The BOOk of Changes, the number "6" was thought to be a yin character, meaning feminine or negative, while the number "9" was thought to be yang, meaning masculine or positive. So the number nine in both month and day create the Double Ninth Festival, or Chongyang Festival. Chong in Chinese means "double."Also, as double ninth was pronounced the same as the word to signify "forever," both are "Jiu Jiu," the Chinese ancestors considered it an auspicious day worth a celebration. That's why ancient Chinese began to celebrate this festival a long time ago.
The custom of ascending a height to avoid epidemics was passed down from long ago. Therefore, the Double Ninth Festival is also called 'Height Ascending Festival." The height people will reach is usually a mountain or a tower. Ancient literary figures have left many poems depicting the activity. Even today, people still swarm to famous or little known mountains on this day.
On this day, people will eat Double Ninth Gao (or Cake). In Chinese, gao(cake) has the same pronunciation with gao (height). People do so to hope for success in everything they are engaged in. There is no fixed way to make Double Ninth Cake, but some cakes will have as many as nine layers, to look like a tower.
In 1989, the Chinese government changed the Double Ninth Festival as Seniors'Day. Since then, all government units, organizations and street communities have organized an autumn trip each year for those who have retired from their posts. At the waterside or on the mountains, the seniors will find themselves merged into nature. Younger generations will bring older ones to suburban areas or send gifts to them on this day.