China Qixi Valentine's Day Customs and Habits
1. Begging for cleverness. The most common custom of Valentine's Day in China is all kinds of begging activities carried out by women on the evening of July 7th. Most girls 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. Proper fruit is the most famous holiday food in Chinese Valentine's Day. Proper fruit, also called "Kiki Fruit", has many styles. The main materials are oil, flour, sugar and honey.
2. Worship the Weaver Girl. On Qixi night, girls want to be beautiful or marry a husband, and young women want to have children early. They can lay a table under the moonlight, put sacrifices such as tea, wine, fruit, five sons (longan, red dates, hazelnuts, peanuts and melon seeds) on the table, insert flowers and bundles of red paper in the bottle, and put a small incense burner in front of the flowers, so that they can pray silently to the Weaver Girl. Girls who worship the Weaver Girl should fast for one day and take a bath.
Dye your nails. Speaking of nail dyeing on Tanabata, many people may find it strange. The custom of Tanabata in southwest China is to dye nails, which is also found in many county records of Sichuan Province, as well as in Guizhou and Guangdong. Young girls in many areas like to wash their hair with the sap of trees during festivals. It is said that not only young and beautiful, but also unmarried women can find the right husband as soon as possible. Dyeing nails with flowers and plants is also a hobby of most women and children in holiday entertainment, and it is also closely related to reproductive beliefs.
4. Women wash their hair. Shampooing is a very common thing at ordinary times, so what is the different significance of women's shampooing on Tanabata? Legend has it that taking spring water and river water on Tanabata, just like taking water from the Milky Way, has the sacred power of cleanliness. Therefore, it is of special significance for women to wash their hair on this day, which means that with the holy water of the Milky Way, they will be protected by the goddess Vega.
Traditional food of tanabata
1, creature
The custom of begging for cleverness in Juancheng, Cao Xian, Pingyuan and other places is very interesting: seven good girls collect food and vegetables, jiaozi, and wrap a copper coin, a needle and a red date into three jiaozi respectively. After begging for wisdom, they got together to eat jiaozi. It is said that they were rich, good at sewing and got married early.
Step 2: Suitable fruit
On this day, all parts of Zhejiang make various small objects with flour, which are called "proper fruits" after being fried in oil. In the evening, appropriate fruits, lotus, white lotus root and Hong Ling are displayed in the yard. Proper fruit is the most famous holiday food in Chinese Valentine's Day. Proper fruit, also called "Kiki Fruit", has many styles. The main materials are oil, flour, sugar and honey. "Dream of China in Tokyo" refers to it as "laughing boy" and "eating fruit patterns", and the patterns include holding incense and winning prizes.
3. flower melon
Handy women will also create various patterns related to the legend of Qixi. In addition, the melons and fruits that can be used skillfully can also be varied. Or carve melons and fruits into exotic flowers and birds, or emboss patterns on the surface of melon skin, which is called "flower melon".
Appropriate fruits and melons are the most common Qixi foods. However, in history, different dynasties had different dietary customs. For example, soup cakes were popular in Wei Dynasty on July 7th. In the Tang Dynasty, festival foods included cakes on July 7th, which was designated as the book-drying festival. Each of the three provinces and six departments gives a certain amount of banquet money, which is called the "book-printing party". Tanabata is also a day suitable for dispensing medicines. It is said to be a secret recipe with pine and cypress as medicinal materials. This magic pill was made with dew on July 7th. Taking one pill can prolong life for ten years, and taking two pills can prolong life for twenty years. In addition, there are bait pine nuts, arborvitae seeds, stacked lotus leaves and so on. , are called the medicine of immortality. The more practical prescriptions are dried Sophora juice for hemorrhoids, fried bitter gourd for eyes, and pedicled melon for diarrhea. Only those who have tried know how effective it is. Now in Hangzhou, Ningbo, Wenzhou and other places in Zhejiang, people will make all kinds of small objects out of flour and put them in a frying pan, which is called "proper fruit". Evening, appropriate fruits, lotus, white lotus, Hong Ling, etc. Will be placed in a clean yard, and relatives and friends at home will sit together.
The custom of Valentine's Day in China.
Guangdong
In Guangdong, people began to prepare in June, soaking rice, wheat and mung beans in porcelain bowls to germinate. Near Chinese Valentine's Day, a magpie bridge will be built and all kinds of exquisite handicrafts will be made. On the night of Qixi, people put on the square table in the hall, and put on all kinds of colorful flower and fruit products and needlework.
southern Fujian
In southern Fujian, the local people call the Weaver Girl "Seven Mothers", which is the god to protect children's safety. The custom in southern Fujian is to eat pomegranate, boiled eggs, meat, brown sugar and glutinous rice on Tanabata to repel insects and prevent plague.
Hebei (Neiqiu)
The temple fair in Neiqiu County, on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, is very rare in the whole country as a temple fair specially for cowherd and weaver girl. The highlight of the temple fair sacrifice is the ceiling, which is opened in front of the Jade Emperor Temple and surrounded by offerings such as dragon chairs, robes and colored shoes. The pilgrims burn incense and worship in front of the ceiling and shed day and night, beating musical instruments and reading their own stories and folk songs. During the temple fair, the most popular is to sing divine dramas and take turns to stage traditional love dramas, such as carrying the flower bridge, the West Chamber, playing golden branches, eight-part essay, fireworks and so on. Competing with Tianhe, also known as Cowherd and Weaver Girl, must be sung on the seventh night of July. The temple fair is over when all the sacrifices are incinerated.