Tanabata, a long-standing traditional festival, has suddenly become more and more popular in recent years. Influenced by the Western Valentine's Day, many people began to think of Valentine's Day in China. Because there is a moving love story behind it, Tanabata was taken by people at a glance. With the clamor of literati and the hype of businessmen, it seems that Tanabata, as a Valentine's Day in China, is becoming more and more popular among Chinese people. In fact, tracing back to the source, Qixi Festival has nothing to do with love at all. It was originally just a date that marked the change of summer and autumn seasons.
Cowherd and Weaver Girl, in ancient literature, originally appeared as the names of two stars.
These two star names were first seen in Dadong in the Book of Songs Xiaoya, and the cowherd in the poem was called Petunia.
The reason why the ancients paid attention to the stars in the sky was that the change of the position of the stars in the night sky could be used to mark the farming season and keep time, while the two stars, Petunia and Weaver Girl, were noticed by the ancients as signs of the arrival of autumn. This point is clearly stated in Xia Xiaozheng, an ancient agricultural calendar. It says: "In July, ... the first faint, and the Weaver Girl is heading east." The phrase "Weaver Girl is heading East" contains all the secrets of the story of the Cowherd and Weaver Girl's Tanabata Festival Tianhe.
Anyone with a little knowledge of astronomy knows that Vega is the fifth brightest star in the whole day and the brightest star in the night sky at high latitudes in the north, and because of Vega's high latitude, it can be seen in most months of the year. Therefore, Vega, which is high in the zenith and dazzling, is very eye-catching. The ancients must have observed the time according to its orientation change long ago. According to the calculation of astronomers, Vega just rose to the highest point of the year at dusk in July in the era of Xia Xiaozheng, that is, the night sky was near the zenith, that is to say, at this time, this bright star was hanging squarely above people's heads.
"The Weaver Girl is due east" means that the opening formed by two darker stars in the east of Vega is open to the east. So, what is the East? People in ancient times could see it at a glance as long as they looked up. The night sky at dusk, in the southeast of the Weaver Girl and on the east bank of the splendid Milky Way, is nothing but the Altair that makes the Weaver Girl miss you so much. At dusk in July, this kind of landscape in the night sky, in which the Milky Way runs straight through the north and south, the weaver girl hangs high at the zenith, and the cows and girls set each other off, will definitely leave a deep impression on the ancients. In Nineteen Ancient Poems, "The Altair, the girl of Jiaojiao River. ..... the image of "the water is full of flowers, the pulse is speechless" is the image portrayal of this unique astronomical phenomenon, and the story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl Meeting Tianhe on Tanabata Night is naturally deduced from this astronomical phenomenon. In other words, tracing back to the source, the story of Cowherd and Weaver Girl had nothing to do with the love and hate between men and women in the world, but was only a reflection of the knowledge of ancient astronomy.
The names of the two stars, Weaver Girl and Petunia, are also derived from their functions of observing images and timing.
As mentioned above, the Weaver Girl is the star of July. In July, the summer heat gradually faded, and the weather suddenly became cold. In the ancient times when men plowed and women knitted, it was time for women to spin and weave and prepare cold clothes. The Book of Songs in July says: "July is full of fire, and clothes are given in September." I said this. "Give clothes in September" means that September is the late autumn of everything, and it's time to wear cold clothes. If clothes are given in September, they must be cut in August. Then, in July, it is time for the weavers to fly and weave cloth. This agricultural ballad of the Western Zhou Dynasty, which began with the rise of "July fire", was probably sung repeatedly by the weavers at that time on the night of July while shaking the spinning wheel to weave. In the sky, the Weaver Maid shines brightly, on the ground, the Weaver Maid sings softly, and in the sky on earth, the star that shines on the work of the Weaver Maid on earth becomes the patron saint of the Weaver Maid on earth.
Spinning began in July, so the custom of begging for cleverness on Tanabata was formed. In ancient times, on the night of Tanabata, women worshipped cowherd and weaver girl, tied colorful ribbons, put on seven-hole needles and watched spiders make webs. It is said that this can make them become ingenious. This custom was recorded as early as the Miscellaneous Notes of Xijing in the Jin Dynasty and the Chronicle of Jingchu Years in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. It is with this year-after-year begging ceremony that the story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl has been passed down from generation to generation.
Why must Chinese Valentine's Day display fruits and vegetables? This is only because in July, when melons and fruits are ripe, July says, "Eat melons in July, and break the pot in August", and "pot" refers to gourd. It is precisely because of the seasonal relationship between July and melons and fruits that the book "Spring and Autumn Together with Sincerity" in the Han Dynasty says, "Weaver girl, heavenly girl, is the master of melons and fruits." It can be seen that in the eyes of the ancients, Weaver Girl, the star of early autumn, has become a symbol of melons and fruits.
So, what is the relationship between the name of Petunia and the season? "Official Records of Historical Records" says: "Petunia is a sacrifice", which means that Petunia symbolizes sacrifice, and sacrifice refers to livestock such as cattle and sheep that are slaughtered at the festival. This statement implies the relationship between the name of Altair and its sacrifice. Cattle, sheep and other animals used as sacrifices have a certain period of breeding and growth. In ancient times, certain activities were held for each stage of raising sacrificial animals. In this regard, there is a clear record in the Book of Rites: in spring, all things breed milk and livestock breed, so it is necessary to count the number of young animals in March of late spring; In June, at the turn of summer and autumn, the vegetation is abundant and the grass is harvested, so the subjects contribute grass as feed for raising animals; In August, the mid-autumn month, the livestock's physique has been fixed, and the livestock with moderate compliance can be used as sacrifices; In September, the autumn moon, the sacrifice has grown; At the end of the twelfth lunar month, they sacrificed sacrifices to the gods and prayed for happiness. The "Moon Order" called August "following the sacrifice", indicating that August is an important time point in the livestock feeding cycle. At this time, at dusk, the bright Vega has left her head and slipped to the west, while another star on the east bank of the Milky Way, which is far away from the Vega, rises to the zenith immediately. Therefore, this star is regarded as the time symbol of the animal-watching month, and it is logical to name it Petunia. That is to say, the name of Altair is only because the ancients used it as the seasonal symbol of the month of Altair.
It can be seen that all the main links of Qixi stories and folk customs can be explained by their relationship with the age of 18. The rain on Tanabata in folklore naturally has nothing to do with the sadness of Weaver Girl. The reason why Tanabata is rainy is just because early autumn and July are the beginning of the continuous autumn rain in China.
Although there is a sad love story between the cowherd and the weaver girl, the Qixi custom has nothing to do with love at all. Tanabata, as the first festival in autumn, opens the curtain of autumn, and autumn drama is always a sad tragedy. Therefore, Tanabata is a sad day rather than a warm festival; It is not so much a day for all lovers in the world to be well, but rather a day of emotional separation since ancient times. Tanabata is not the season of love. Therefore, in the concept of the ancients, Tanabata is not an auspicious day for marriage, and the love of the cowherd and the weaver girl does not mean a full moon. This is all based on historical data.
China originally had its own Valentine's Day, which, like Saint Valentine's Day in the west, is not in autumn, but in spring.
In ancient times, spring festivals, including vernal equinox, flower dynasty, spring club, Qingming Festival, Shangsi, etc., were all love festivals with swaying amorous feelings, not to mention the boundless romantic feelings revealed in the poems sung in spring festivals since ancient times, and almost all those passionate talents and beauties were on Qingming Festival. In the final analysis, the spring when everything is in full bloom is the season that breeds love.
At present, Chinese people speculate on the concept of Valentine's Day on Qixi, one of the reasons is to compete with Valentine's Day in the west, and the intention can be described as good. However, in order to respond to foreign culture, the tradition is interpreted indiscriminately, which makes "tradition" a poor imitation of foreign culture. The original intention is to revive the tradition, but the result may be just the opposite, far from our true cultural memory.