The double ninth festival in 2027 falls on Friday 8 October 2027, the ninth day of the ninth lunar month (九月初九 jiǔyuè chūjiǔ). In 2026 it fell on Sunday 18 October 2026. In Chinese it is 重阳 (重阳 Chóngyáng), and in Singapore and Hong Kong many families know it by its Cantonese name, Chung Yeung.
Double Ninth Festival 2027 and 2026 at a glance
| 2027 | 2026 | |
|---|---|---|
| Date | Friday 2027-10-08 | Sunday 2026-10-18 |
| Lunar date | 九月初九 | 九月初九 |
| Day pillar | 庚申 (Gēng Shēn — Yang Metal over Metal Monkey) | 乙丑 (Yǐ Chǒu — Yin Wood over Earth Ox) |
| Month pillar (12:00) | 己酉 | 戊戌 |
| Day officer | 闭 Close | 平 Balance |
| Clashes | Tiger | Goat |
The date moves against the Western calendar because the festival is fixed to the lunar one. The Chinese lunar calendar page explains how the months are counted and why a festival can drift by several weeks from one year to the next.
Why nine, and why double yang
In the old number symbolism, odd numbers are yang and even numbers yin. Nine is the highest single-digit odd number, so it became the yang number (阳数 yángshù) par excellence. On the ninth day of the ninth month the nine appears twice, and two nines make “double yang”, which is exactly what 重阳 means. The fifth day of the fifth month is another doubled date, and our page on the Dragon Boat Festival (端午) covers its races, zongzi and meaning.
There is a second layer in the sound. 九九 (jiǔjiǔ) is pronounced like 久久 (jiǔjiǔ), “long-lasting”. That pun ties the double ninth festival to longevity, and through longevity to the elderly. It is one of the clearest examples of how a Chinese festival can rest on a number and a homophone at the same time.
Customs of the double ninth festival
The traditional customs are few and simple, and families keep as many or as few as suit them.
- Climbing heights (登高 dēnggāo): walking up a hill or a high place on the day.
- Chrysanthemum wine or tea (菊花 júhuā): the chrysanthemum is the flower of the ninth month, and a cup of chrysanthemum tea is the easiest custom to keep in a modern home.
- Dogwood (茱萸 zhūyú): wearing or carrying a sprig of dogwood.
- Honouring elders: because of the 久久 pun, it is also a day to visit and look after older relatives.
None of these is meant to produce a result. They are the ways families have marked the turn of autumn and paid attention to the old. The summer festival of Qixi keeps an equally simple set of customs, which our guide to the Qixi Festival in 2027 sets out alongside the cowherd and weaver girl story.
Chung Yeung grave visits in Singapore
In Singapore and Hong Kong, the festival is above all a second grave-visiting day. Many families go to tend their ancestors’ graves or columbarium niches, clean them, and leave offerings, much as they do in spring. If Qing Ming is the main annual visit, Chung Yeung is the autumn return. Our page on the Qing Ming festival covers the spring visit and its customs.
In the autumn calendar it comes after the mooncake festival.
The ninth lunar month is also the season of the Kusu Island pilgrimage to Tua Pek Kong.
The ninth lunar month in Singapore
The Double Ninth falls inside a month that is unusually busy in Singapore. Two other observances share it:
- The Nine Emperor Gods festival (九皇爷诞), kept over the first nine days of the ninth lunar month. Devotees dress in white, keep a vegetarian diet and visit the temples that honour the Nine Emperor Gods. In 2026 the nine days run from 10 October to 18 October 2026; in 2027, from 30 September to 8 October 2027, so the festival ends on the Double Ninth itself.
- The Kusu Island pilgrimage, when devotees take the ferry to the island’s temple of Tua Pek Kong through the ninth month.
So the grave visits and elder-honouring of Chung Yeung sit alongside a month of temple activity. For families who keep all three, the ninth month is one of the fullest in the calendar after the New Year, and the date of each is set by the lunar calendar.
The Ba Zi angle: a month change on the evening
On the Ba Zi (八字 bāzì) calendar, read at 12:00 Singapore time, Friday 8 October 2027 is the day 庚申 (Gēng Shēn — Yang Metal over Metal Monkey), in the month 己酉. The day officer is 闭 (Bì), Close, which the almanac lists as favourable for closing accounts, rest and sealing agreements, and unfavourable for openings. The day clashes with the Tiger. As with any generic day, this says little about one particular person; it is the calendar’s general tone. You can check the officer for any date on our Chinese calendar today page.
The more interesting detail is the evening. The solar term Cold Dew (寒露 hánlù) arrives at 2027-10-08 20:16, and a new Ba Zi month begins with it: 庚戌. So the double ninth festival of 2027 starts in the 己酉 month and ends in the 庚戌 month. A child born at lunch that day and one born late that evening share a day pillar but not a month pillar. Ba Zi months follow the 24 solar terms, not the lunar months, which is why the festival date and the month boundary can sit on the same day by coincidence.
That is the kind of boundary that matters in a real chart. If you or someone in your family was born on a solar-term day, the hour decides the month pillar. Enter the birth details into the free Ba Zi calculator and plot the chart free to see which side of the line it falls.