The origin of the Double Ninth Festival can be traced back to the early Han Dynasty. It is said that in the palace, on September 9th every year, you should wear Cornus officinalis, feed it with bait and drink chrysanthemum wine to live longer. After the love princess Qi of Emperor Gaozu Liu Bang was killed, the maid-in-waiting Jia was also expelled from the palace, and this custom spread to the people.
In ancient times, people had the custom of climbing mountains on this day, so the Double Ninth Festival was also called "Mountain Climbing Festival". According to legend, this custom began in the Eastern Han Dynasty. There are many climbing poems in the Tang Dynasty, most of which are the custom of writing the Double Ninth Festival. Du Fu's Seven Laws "Ascending the Mountain" is a famous article about climbing the mountain in Chongyang. There is no uniform rule for climbing mountains. Generally, we climb mountains and towers. There is also the custom of eating "Chongyang cake". Exquisite Chongyang cake should be made into nine layers, like a pagoda, with two lambs on it, which conforms to the meaning of Chongyang (sheep). Some people even put red paper flags on Chongyang cakes and light candles. This is probably replacing "crawling" with "lighting" and "eating cakes", and replacing Cornus officinalis with a little red paper flag.
The Double Ninth Festival also enjoys chrysanthemums and drinks chrysanthemum wine, which originated from Tao Yuanming. Tao Yuanming is famous for his seclusion, his poems, his wine and his love for chrysanthemums. Later generations have followed suit, so Chongyang has the custom of enjoying chrysanthemums. In the old days, in order to get close to Tao Yuanming, scholar-officials often combined chrysanthemum appreciation with banquets. In the Northern Song Dynasty, Kaifeng was the capital, and chrysanthemum appreciation on Chongyang was very popular. At that time, there were many kinds of chrysanthemums. After the Qing dynasty, the custom of enjoying chrysanthemums was particularly prosperous, and it was not limited to September 9, but it was the most prosperous around the Double Ninth Festival.
The custom of inserting Evodia rutaecarpa in the Double Ninth Festival was very common in the Tang Dynasty. The ancients thought that inserting Evodia rutaecarpa in the Double Ninth Festival could take refuge and eliminate disasters. Or wear it on your arm, or make a sachet and put it in it, or wear it on your head. Most of them are worn by women and children, and in some places, men also wear them. Ge Hong's Miscellanies of the Western Classics in the Jin Dynasty recorded that Kaunus participated in the Double Ninth Festival.
In addition to wearing dogwood, chrysanthemum is also inserted in the Double Ninth Festival. This happened in the Tang Dynasty and has been popular since ancient times. In the Qing Dynasty, the custom of Beijing Double Ninth Festival was to stick chrysanthemum branches and leaves on the doors and windows, "to eliminate evil and filth, and to make money and treasure." This is the vulgarization of the chrysanthemum on the head. In the Song Dynasty, some people cut ribbons into dogwood and chrysanthemum and gave them to each other.