Introduction to the Chinese Valentine's Day

In my country, on the night of the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, the weather is warm and the vegetation is fragrant. This is what people commonly call the Chinese Valentine's Day, and some people also call it the "Qiao Qiao Festival" ” or “Daughter’s Day”, this is the most romantic festival among traditional Chinese festivals, and it was also the day that girls valued most in the past.

On a clear summer and autumn night, stars are shining in the sky, and a vast white Milky Way stretches across the north and south. There is a shining star on each of the east and west banks of the river, facing each other across the river, and that is Altair and Vega.

It is a folk custom to sit and watch the Altair and the Vega on the Chinese Valentine's Day. According to legend, on this night every year, it is the time when the Weaver and the Cowherd meet on the Magpie Bridge. The Weaver Girl is a beautiful, intelligent and ingenious fairy. On this night, mortal women beg her for wisdom and skill, as well as a happy marriage. Therefore, the seventh day of July is also called the Qiao Qiao Festival.

People say that on the night of the Chinese Valentine's Day, if you look up, you can see the Milky Way meeting of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, or you can overhear the loving words of the two people when they meet in the sky under the fruit stand.

On this romantic night, the girls laid out seasonal fruits and vegetables in front of the bright moon in the sky, worshiped the sky, and begged the goddess in the sky to give them intelligent hearts and dexterous hands, so that Her knitting skills are skillful, and she also begs for love and marriage. In the past, marriage was a lifelong event for women that determined whether they would be happy or not. Therefore, countless loving men and women in the world would spend this evening, in the quiet of the night, praying to the stars for a happy marriage.

The origin and legend of Qixi Festival

Qixi Festival is about begging for skill. This festival originated in the Han Dynasty. Ge Hong’s "Xijing Miscellaneous Notes" of the Eastern Jin Dynasty states that "Han colorful girls often wear seven holes on July 7th." The record of "needling in Kaijin Tower and everyone getting used to it" is the earliest record of begging for skill that we have seen in ancient documents. In later poems of the Tang and Song Dynasties, women's begging for skill was also frequently mentioned. Wang Jianyou of the Tang Dynasty said in a poem that "the stars in the dim sky are adorned with pearls, and the palace ladies are busy begging for skill on the Chinese Valentine's Day". According to "The Legacy of Kaiyuan Tianbao", Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty and his concubines had a night banquet in the Qing Palace every Chinese Valentine's Day, and the maids begged for tricks. This custom also endured among the people and continued from generation to generation.

During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, the Qixi Festival begging for skillful things was quite grand. There was also a market specializing in begging for skillful items in the capital, which was known as the Qiqiao Market. Song Luoye and Jin Yingzhi's "Drunkard's Talk" says: "On the Chinese Valentine's Day, people buy and sell begging items in front of Panlou. From July 1st, the carriages and horses choked, and three days before the Chinese Valentine's Day, the carriages and horses could not pass, and they were choked one after another. , no more can be found, and they disperse at night." Here, from the grand occasion of purchasing begging items in the Qiqiao Market, we can infer the lively scene of the Qixi Qiqiao Festival at that time. People start buying begging items since the first day of July. The market is bustling with traffic and people. As the Chinese Valentine's Day approaches, the market has become a sea of ??people, making it difficult for cars and horses to move. Looking at the customs, it seems to be no less beautiful. The most grand festival - the Spring Festival, shows that the Qiqiao Festival is one of the favorite festivals of the ancients.