Must I follow Double Ninth Festival taboos against saying “happy festival” or visiting my parents’ home?

There is no need to frighten yourself with every taboo listed in a news article about the Double Ninth Festival. I saw an article listing six major taboos and did not find many of its claims particularly convincing. First examine why it says so and whether the reasoning holds.

For example, the ban on saying ‘Happy Double Ninth Festival’ was explained by two yang numbers, nine and nine, meeting and supposedly producing great misfortune. But using numbers to symbolise yang differs from saying that actual yang energy is strongest that day. I do not believe a wish for happiness brings harmful energy. The festival involves remembering family and ancestors, so people may less often exchange special greetings, but that does not mean saying one causes trouble.

Nor should a married daughter fear visiting her parents because of a claim that doing so harms her mother-in-law. My understanding concerns older preferences for sons, the view that a married daughter belonged to her husband’s family, and ideas about which family’s ancestors she should worship. This explores the background of an old custom, not establishes that going home harms someone. Modern gender equality does not carry such a strong taboo.

I likewise do not agree that couples must avoid sex, mothers must not cook, or two men born in the Year of the Goat must not discuss business that day. Letting elders rest can express care. Chrysanthemums may remind some recipients of funerals, so consider their feelings; that association is not limited to the Double Ninth. Understand each reminder and then judge it, rather than worry according to a list of taboos.