The origin of tanabata
Tanabata, formerly known as Begging for Cleverness Festival. Qixi Begging for Qiaoqi originated in the Han Dynasty. In the Miscellanies of Xijing written by Ge Hong in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, it is recorded that "women in the Han Dynasty often use the seven-hole needle on the stone reliefs of the Han Dynasty on July 7 to open the front floor, and everyone is Xi Zhi", which is the earliest record of begging for Qiaoqi that we have seen in ancient literature. In later Tang and Song poems, women's begging for cleverness was repeatedly mentioned. In the Tang Dynasty, Wang Jian wrote a poem that "the stars are shining with pearls, and the palace moths are busy with begging for cleverness". According to "The Legacy of Kaiyuan Tianbao", every time Emperor Taizong and his concubines had a banquet in the Qing Palace on Tanabata, the ladies-in-waiting begged for their own ingenuity. This custom was also enduring among the people and continued from generation to generation.
Tanabata originated from people's worship of nature. According to historical documents, at least three or four thousand years ago, with people's understanding of astronomy and the emergence of textile technology, there were records about Altair Vega. People's worship of stars is far more than Altair and Vega. They think that there are seven stars representing directions in the east, west, north and south, which are collectively called Twenty-eight Nights, of which the Big Dipper is the brightest and can be used to tell the direction at night. The first star of the Big Dipper is called Kuixing, also known as the champion. Later, with the imperial examination system, the champion in the middle school was called "Dakui Tianxia Scholar", and the scholars called Tanabata "Kuixing Festival", also known as "Book-drying Festival", keeping the trace that the earliest Tanabata originated from the worship of stars.
Tanabata also comes from ancient people's worship of time. "Seven" is homophonic with "period", and both the month and the day are "seven", which gives people a sense of time. In ancient China, the sun and the moon were combined with the five planets of water, fire, wood, gold and earth to be called "Seven Obsidian". Seven numbers are staged in time among the people, and the calculation of time often ends with "July 7th". In old Beijing, when doing Dojo for the dead, it was often complete with "July 7th". It is still reserved in Japanese to calculate the current "week" with "seven obsidians". "Seven" is homophonic with "auspicious", and "July 7th" has the meaning of double auspicious, which is an auspicious day. In Taiwan Province, July is called "Joy brings good luck" month. Because the shape of the happy character in cursive script is like "seventy-seven", the 77-year-old is also called "Happy Birthday".
Chinese Valentine's Day has always been connected with the legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, which is a very beautiful and eternal love story and has become one of the four major folk love legends in China.
Later, on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, according to legend, when the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl meet at the Magpie Bridge, the girls will come to the flowers and the moon, look up at the stars, look for the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl on both sides of the Milky Way, hoping to see their annual meeting, begging God to make themselves as ingenious as the Weaver Girl, and praying that they can have a happy marriage, thus forming Chinese Valentine's Day.
About the origin and legend of Qixi, it is widely circulated among the people all over the country, with many versions, but the basic content is basically the same. So where exactly is the story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl? There are also many sayings. Luquan in Hebei, Taicang in Jiangsu, Yiyuan in Shandong, Hetao in the Yellow River and Fukuoka in Japan are all known as the birthplaces of the story of "Cowherd and Weaver Girl". In fact, most of these statements represent people's good wishes, such as Fukuoka in Japan, which is just a good wish of the local people.