What to eat at the Double Ninth Festival in the South?

Eating Chongyang cake on the Double Ninth Festival is very popular in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai. Chongyang cake has various forms, mainly glutinous rice flour, sugar and red beans, and some red dates or chestnuts are also added. We usually buy some "Chongyang cakes" for the elderly or relatives and friends on this Double Ninth Festival. Chongyang cake has a layer of brown sugar and a cake with some candied fruit or red dates and chestnuts on it, which is very popular.

"Eat the Double Ninth Festival only after eating the Double Ninth Cake", because "Cake" and "Gao" are homonyms. There are not many mountains here, and people all use "Eating Cake" to mean "climbing the mountain", but the Double Ninth Cake is sweet and difficult to digest, so the elderly should eat less.

Historical origin

The Double Ninth Festival originated from the worship of celestial phenomena, and evolved from the ancient sacrifice of autumn and seasonal harvest. This is recorded in Lu Chunqiu Qiu Ji Ji. The ancients offered sacrifices to the Heavenly Emperor and ancestors during the harvest in September, and felt grateful for their kindness. In the historical development and evolution, the Double Ninth Festival has integrated many kinds of folk customs and also carried rich cultural connotations.

There are many folk activities in the Double Ninth Festival with rich cultural connotations. In the baptism of thousands of years, the Double Ninth Festival has also spawned activities such as climbing high and overlooking, watching chrysanthemums, giving banquets to respect the elderly, eating double ninth cake and drinking chrysanthemum wine.

"Different winds in ten miles, different customs in a hundred miles", the Double Ninth Festival has lasted for thousands of years, and the customs and habits of different places are also different. For example, in the customs of Hong Kong and Macao compatriots, Qingming is the "Spring Festival" and Chongyang is the "Autumn Festival". On September 9th, cattle and sheep will be allowed to feed on their own in Longan County, Guangxi, and a kite will be flown at the Double Ninth Festival in Haicheng County, Fujian Province.