Pray for skill. Begging for cleverness is a custom on July 7. On the night from the first day of the seventh lunar month to the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, girls in new clothes beg for ingenious ideas from the weaver girl in the yard, which is called "begging for ingenious ideas". It is said that Qi Mei is an expert in weaving women in heaven. In the past, women begged Seventh Sister to teach her clever skills.

Begging for the Skillful Festival means that the Weaver Maid asks for a pair of skillful hands and skills, and also prays for being beautiful, having a pair of skillful hands and marrying a good husband, which is the beautiful wish of her daughters. The seventh day of the seventh lunar month is a traditional festival for the Han nationality in China. Because the main participants in this day's activities are young girls, the content of the festival activities is mainly begging skills, so people call this day "begging skills festival" or "Qixi" or "Daughter's Day".

Qixi Qiqiao originated in the Han Dynasty. Ge Hong's Miscellaneous Notes on Xijing in the Eastern Jin Dynasty records that "women in the Han Dynasty often wear seven-hole needles on July 7 in the building, and everyone wears them", which is the earliest record of begging for cleverness in ancient literature we have seen. In later Tang and Song poems, women's begging for cleverness was repeatedly mentioned. In the Tang Dynasty, Wang Jian wrote a poem "The stars are bright and the pearls are bright, and Gong E is busy begging for cleverness". According to "The Legacy of Kaiyuan Tianbao", every time Emperor Taizong and his concubines held a banquet in the Qing Palace on Tanabata, the ladies-in-waiting begged with their own ingenuity. This custom is also enduring among the people and passed down from generation to generation.

During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, Qiaqiao was quite grand, and there was also a market in Beijing that monopolized Qiaqiao goods, which was called Qiaqiao City by the world. Song He's series "Talking about Drunken Weng" said: "Tanabata, the property is a gimmick. From July 1 ST, horses and chariots were swallowed, and three days before Chinese Valentine's Day, horses and chariots were not allowed to pass, and they stopped driving again and again until the night. " Here, we can infer the lively scene of the Jocci Festival from the grand occasion of buying Qiao Qi goods from Qiao Qi. People began to buy flattering items on the first day of July, and the flattering market was full of traffic and people came and went. By the time of Tanabata, the Qiqiao market has become a sea of people, which seems to be no less than the biggest festival-the Spring Festival, indicating that Qiqiao Festival is one of the favorite festivals of the ancients. Nowadays, most of the ways to get smart are for girls to try their best to make small things and put some melons and fruits on them. Different regions have different ways to please others, and each has its own interests.

Local customs:

Zhejiang customs

For example, in Hangzhou, Ningbo, Wenzhou and other places, on this day, all kinds of small objects are made of flour and fried in oil, which is called "Tuoguo". At night, Tuoguo, lotus, white lotus root and Hong Ling are displayed in the yard. A girl put a needle on the moon and prayed that the Weaver Girl would give her skillful skills. If she dresses well, it's called Qiao. Or catch a spider and put it in a box. If it is already woven, open the box the next day. There is also a saying that you catch spiders at noon.

In the countryside of Shaoxing, there will be many young girls hiding under the lush pumpkin shed that night. If you can hear the whispers when the cowherd and the weaver girl meet in the dead of night, the girl to be married will definitely get this eternal love in the future.

In order to express people's hope that the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl can live a happy family life every day, in Jinhua, Zhejiang Province, every family will kill a chicken on July 7, which means that the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl will meet on this night, and if there is no rooster to announce the dawn, they will never part.

Guangdong customs

The begging festival in Guangzhou is unique. Before the festival comes, the girls prepare colorful paper, medulla tetrapanacis, rope and so on. And weave them into all kinds of fancy gadgets. They also put seeds and mung beans in a small box and soaked them in water to make them germinate. When the bud grows to more than two inches long, it is used to worship the gods, which is called "rice for worshipping the immortals" and "rice for worshipping the gods". From the sixth night to the seventh night, the girls put on new clothes and jewelry for two nights in a row. After all the arrangements are made, they burn incense and light candles and bow down to the stars, which is called "welcoming the immortals". From the third night to the fifth watch, they will worship seven times in a row. After worshipping the immortals, the girls passed through the pinholes with colored threads in their hands. For example, those who can wear seven pinholes in one breath are called skillful hands, and those who can't wear seven pinholes are called skillful hands. After Tanabata, the girls exchanged small crafts and toys to show their friendship.

Before the founding of New China, Tanabata was a grand festival for women. It is said that qimei is an expert in weaving heaven. In the past, women "begged" Qi Jie to teach her clever skills. In fact, the so-called "seeking cleverness" is just "fighting cleverness". In Guangzhou, no matter whether the family is rich or poor, girls will dress up and light incense sticks. "Prepare all kinds of fancy toys in advance, and make all kinds of flowers, fruits, ladies' palaces, etc. with medulla tetrapanacis, colored paper, sesame seeds and rice grains, which is very intrigued" (see Guangzhou Year).

Fujian customs

On Valentine's Day in Fujian and China, Weaver Girl should be allowed to enjoy and taste fruits and vegetables, so that she can wish a bumper harvest of fruits and vegetables in the coming year. The offerings include tea, wine, fresh fruit, five kinds of seeds (longan, red dates, hazelnuts, peanuts and melon seeds), flowers, pollen from female cosmetics and a censer. Generally, after fasting and bathing, everyone takes turns to burn incense and worship God and pray silently. Women not only seek wisdom, but also children, longevity, beauty and love. Then everyone eats fruit, drinks tea and chats, and plays clever games. There are two kinds of begging for wisdom: one is "divination", that is, asking yourself whether you are smart or stupid with divination tools; The other is clever match, that is, whoever wears the needle quickly is clever, and the slow one is called "losing cleverness". People who "lose their intelligence" should prepare some small gifts for smart people.

In some areas, "Seven Sisters Club" was organized, and "Seven Sisters Club" from all over the country gathered in Zongxiang Guild Hall, put on various incense tables, and offered sacrifices to Cowherd and Weaver Maid at a distance. All the "incense tables" are made of paper, and the tables are filled with flowers, fruits, rouge powder, paper floral dresses, shoes, daily necessities and embroidery, and so on. The "Seven Sisters Club" in different regions will work hard on the incense table to see who makes it exquisite. Nowadays, this activity has been forgotten, and only a few ancestral halls still set up incense tables on this festival to worship the cowherd and the weaver girl. The incense table is usually prepared on the seventh day of July, and the Weaver Maid is asked for help at night.