Double Ninth Festival foods

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.

Since "nine" is the highest odd digit, people take two of them together to signify longevity. Therefore, the ninth day of the ninth month has become a special day for people to pay their respects to the elderly and a day for the elderly to enjoy themselves. It has also been declared China's Day for the Elderly.

On that day, people will eat Double-Ninth Gao (or Cake), which is also called rice cake with bean paste, chrysanthemum cake, or five-color cake. In Chinese, gao (cake) has the same pronunciation with gao (height). It tastes soft and delicious. If being daintier, people will make the Double-Ninth cake into the shape of a nine-layer pagoda, and some will further insert one piece of red paper flag or candle on the cake.