tanabata, formerly known as qiqiao 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. 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 According to historical documents, at least three or four thousand years ago, with people's understanding of astronomy and the emergence of textile technology, there were records about Altair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". "Tanabata" is also a phenomenon of digital worship. In ancient times, people listed the seventh day of the first month, the third day of March, the fifth day of May, the seventh day of July, and the ninth day of September, plus the double of February 2 and the multiple of June 6, as auspicious days. "Seven" is the number of beads in each column of the abacus, which is romantic and rigorous, giving people a mysterious aesthetic feeling. "Seven" and "wife" are homonyms, so Qixi has largely become a festival related to women.

this is the earliest way to beg for cleverness, which began in Han dynasty and flowed to later generations. "Miscellaneous Notes on Xijing" said: "Women in the Han Dynasty often wear seven-hole needles in the Kaijin Building on July 7, and people have Xi Zhi." The Chronicle of Jingchu Years Old by Liang Zongmou of the Southern Dynasties said: "On July 7th, it was the women of the evening family who tied the colored floor through seven holes, or used gold and silver as needles." "Geographical Records" said: "Emperor Wu of the Qi Dynasty began to view the city on the first floor. On July 7th, imperial court officials made many attempts to pierce the needle. The world calls it a needle-piercing building. " Wang Renyu's "The Legacy of Kaiyuan Tianbao" in the Five Dynasties said: "On Tanabata, the palace was built with brocade, which was hundreds of feet high, and it could beat dozens of people in the world. Chen roasted melons and fruits with wine, set up seats, worshipped cows and women with two stars, and his concubines each wore nine-hole needles and five-color lines to the moon. It was a good time to pass. Move the song of Qing merchants, and have fun. The home of the natives is effective. " Yuan Tao Zongyi's "yuanshi county Yeting Lu" said: "Nine tables are cited, and the Qixi Festival is a place to seek cleverness. In the evening, the ladies-in-waiting go on stage to thread Kyubi no Youko needles with colorful silk. Those who finish first are clever, and those who finish late are called losers. Each contributes to the gift. "

Spider-loving should be clever

This is also an earlier way of begging for cleverness, and its popularity is a little later than that of needling for cleverness, which probably started in the Northern and Southern Dynasties. In the Southern Dynasties, Liang Zonggu said, "A Record of the Age of Jingchu"; "It's evening, Chen melon and fruit in court to beg for cleverness. If you have a happy subnet on the melon, you think it corresponds. " Wang Renyu's "The Legacy of Kaiyuan Tianbao" in the Five Dynasties said: "On July 7th, we all caught spiders in small boxes until dawn; Think of cobwebs as sparse and dense. A secret person has many clever words, but a rare person has few clever words. Folk works, too. "The Dream of China in Tokyo, written by Meng Yuan-yuan in the Song Dynasty, said that on the seventh day of July," put a spider in the zygote, and look at it the next day. If the net is round, it is just a coincidence. " Song Zhoumi's "When I was a year old" said; "How long does it take to store small spiders in the house and wait for the density of the web?" Tomita Rucheng's "Pleasure of Xi Chao" said that on Tanabata, "It is very clever to hold spiders in a small box and watch the density of their web the next morning." From this, it can be seen that the methods of testing ingenuity are different in the past dynasties. The existence of the visual network in the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the thinness of the visual network in the Tang Dynasty, the roundness of the visual network in the Song Dynasty, and later generations follow the customs of the Tang Dynasty.

Needle-throwing and skill-testing

This is a variant of the custom of needle-piercing and skill-seeking on Qixi, which originated from needle-piercing and was different from needle-piercing, and it was a popular Chinese Valentine's Day custom in Ming and Qing Dynasties. Ming Liu Dong and Yu Yizheng's "A Brief Introduction to the Scenery of the Imperial Capital" said: "On the afternoon of July 7th, we lost a clever needle. When women are exposed to the water, the water film looks unfamiliar, while the embroidery needle floats and looks at the shadow of the underwater needle. Those who have clouds, flowers, birds and animals, shoes and scissors, and eggplant shadows are called clever begging; Its shadow is as thick as a hammer, as thin as silk, and as straight as axis wax, which is a mistake. " Zhili Records also said that in Liangxiang County (now southwest of Beijing), "On July 7th, women begged for cleverness and threw needles into the water, relying on the shadow of the sun to check their work, and they were still begging for cleverness at night." Please ask Yu Minzhong to quote Miscellaneous Notes of Wan Department from the Examination of Old News in the Sun: "On July 7th, Yan Dou women threw small needles into the water. Or scattered like a flower, moving like a cloud, as thin as a line, as thick as a cone, because of the ingenuity of divining women. "

It was an old custom to spread a layer of soil on a small wooden board a few days before Tanabata, sow the seeds of millet, let it grow green seedlings, and then put some small huts and flowers on it to make it look like a small village in Tiansheren, called a "shell board", or soak mung beans, adzuki beans and wheat in a magnetic bowl until it grows. All parts of the south are also called "bubble cleverness", and the sprouted bean sprouts are called clever buds, and even the needles are replaced by clever buds, which are thrown on the water to beg for cleverness. Wax is also used to mold various images, such as the characters in the stories of Cowherd and Weaver Girl, or the shapes of vultures, mandarin ducks and other animals, and float on the water, which is called "floating on the water". There are also baby dolls made of wax, which women can buy home and float in the water and soil, so as to be auspicious for their children, which is called "metaplasia".

Dedicated to "Mohelie"

Mohelie is a children's plaything in Chinese Valentine's Day in the old days, that is, a small clay doll. Its image is mostly a half-arm dress with lotus leaves, holding lotus leaves. On July 7th, every year, in Kaifeng, "the tile outside Dongsongmen in Panlou Street, the tile outside Xiliangmen in Zhouzhou, the tile outside Beimen, the street outside Nanzhuquemen and Xingjie Ma, they all sell grinding and drinking music, which is a small plastic puppet". In fact, the music of grinding and drinking after the late Song Dynasty is no longer a small puppet, on the contrary, it has become more and more refined. The size and posture of Mohelie vary, and the biggest one is as high as three feet, which is comparable to that of a real child. The materials made are carved with ivory or carved with bergamot incense, and the dressing of grinding and drinking music is extremely exquisite. There are painted wood carvings as column seats, or red sand cages as covers, and the toys held in the hands are mostly decorated with precious stones. The cost of grinding and drinking music is often as high as thousands of dollars. To worship the weaver girl on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month

"Worship the weaver girl" is purely a matter for girls and young women. Most of them make an appointment with their friends or neighbors in advance for five or six people, up to a dozen people, to jointly hold it. The ceremony was held by laying a table under the moonlight, and offering sacrifices such as tea, wine, fruit, five sons (longan, red dates, hazelnuts, peanuts and melon seeds) on the table. There are a few more flowers, tied with red paper, inserted in bottles, with a small incense burner in front of them. Then, the young women and girls who have made an appointment to attend the worship of the Weaver Girl will fast for one day, take a bath and come to the host's home on time. After burning incense before the case, everyone will sit around the table, eating peanuts and melon seeds, and meditating on their own thoughts while facing the Weaver Girl sign. If girls want to be beautiful or marry a husband, and young women want to have a baby early, they can pray silently to Vega. Play until midnight.

worship kuixing

it is said that July 7th is kuixing's birthday. Kuixing literature, scholars who want to seek fame especially admire Kuixing, so they must worship him on Tanabata and pray for him to bless their success in the exam. Lord Kuixing is the Kuidou star, the Kuixing in the Twenty-eight Nights, the first star of the Big Dipper, and also the Kuixing or the champion. In ancient times, scholars were called "the greatest scholar in the world" or "winning the championship in one fell swoop" because Kuixing was in charge of the exam. According to folklore, Lord Kuixing was ugly, his face was covered with spots and he was lame. Someone wrote a limerick to make fun of him: if you don't promote it, why decorate it? Even if it is lead, don't cover it. Marrying Ma Gu into two beauties is no worse than coming to the hive. Leave claws under the eyebrows, and geese tread on the sand beside the nose and mouth. It is nothing more than taking a nap in front of the eaves, and the wind blows plum blossoms on your forehead. Xiang Jun's jade toe is the most bizarre, with one step higher and one step lower. When you walk leisurely, you want to dance, and the fluttering degree is like a mouth. Only the roads in the world are dangerous, and I am so tired that I am surprised. Don't laugh, the waist branches are often half folded, and the temporary swaying is also colorful. However, this Lord Kuixing was extremely ambitious and worked hard, and he went to high school. When the emperor palace examination visited him, he asked him why his face was covered with spots. He replied, "The pockmarked face is full of stars"; Asked why he was lame, he replied, "Jumping on one foot". The emperor was very satisfied and accepted him. Another completely different legend says that Lord Kuixing was full of knowledge before his death, but unfortunately he failed in every exam, so he threw himself into the river in grief and indignation. Unexpectedly, he was rescued by the turtle fish and ascended to heaven to become a champion. Because Kuixing can influence the literati's test luck, so every July 7th, his birthday, scholars solemnly worship.

drying books and clothes

It is reported that Sima Yi was very suspicious of Cao Cao because of his high position and power. In view of the political darkness at that time, in order to protect himself, he pretended to be crazy and hid at home. Wei Wudi is still not at ease, so he sent a close friend to make history secretly explore the truth. It was July 7th, and Sima Yi, who pretended to be crazy, was also drying books at home. Make history back to leave Wei Wudi, Wei Wudi immediately ordered to sima yi back to the office, otherwise can be taken into custody. Sima yi only obediently obeyed and returned to the DPRK. Another kind of people, in troubled times, express their depression by being a degenerate. They despise etiquette and oppose customs. Liu Yiqing's "Shi Shuo Xin Yu", volume 25, said that on July 7th, everyone printed books, and only Hao Long went to lie in the sun. When people asked him why, he replied, "I printed books". On the one hand, this is to despise the custom of printing books, on the other hand, it is also to boast about the talent in one's belly. Drying your belly is also drying books. In the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the custom of drying clothes in the Han Dynasty created opportunities for rich families to boast about their wealth. Ruan Xian, one of the "Seven Sages of Bamboo Forest", looked down upon this style. On July 7, when his neighbor was drying clothes, he saw that the shelves were full of silk and satin, dazzling. Ruan Xian unhurriedly picked up a worn-out dress with a bamboo pole. Someone asked him what he was doing, and he said, "I can't avoid customs, talk to you!" From these short stories, we can see how prosperous the custom of drying books and clothes on Tanabata was.

For Niu Qingsheng

Children will pick wild flowers and hang them on their horns on Tanabata, which is also called "Happy Birthday to Niu". Because it is said that after the Queen Mother of the West separated the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl with the Tianhe River, the old cow asked the Cowherd to scrape off its skin and drive its cowhide to see the Weaver Girl. In order to commemorate the sacrifice spirit of the old cow, people have the custom of "celebrating the life of the cow"

eating the festival food of proper fruit

Tanabata, and proper fruit is the most famous. Proper fruit, also known as "Kiki Kiki Fruit", has many styles. The main material proper fruit is oil surface molasses. "Dream of China in Tokyo" refers to "laughing at children" and "fruit eating patterns", while the patterns include holding incense and winning. During the Song Dynasty, there were already Tanabata proper fruit for sale in the city streets. If you buy a catty of proper fruit, there will be a pair of dolls dressed in armor, such as door gods, known as "General Fruit Food". Proper fruit's practice is: first put the white sugar in the pot and melt it into syrup, then add the flour and sesame seeds, mix well, spread it on the table, cool it, cut it into long squares with a knife, especially fold it into a spindle-shaped dough, and fry it until it is golden. Handy women will also create various patterns related to the legend of Qixi. In addition, the melons and fruits used for begging for cleverness can also be varied. Or carve melons and fruits into exotic flowers and birds, or embossed patterns on the surface of melon skin. Proper fruit, known as "Flower Melon", and Flower Melon are the most common Tanabata foods. In history, however, different dynasties had different food customs. For example, soup cakes were popular in the Wei Dynasty on July 7th. In the Tang Dynasty, the festival foods included cakes on July 7th, and July 7th was designated as the book-drying festival. Each of the three provinces and six departments was given a certain amount of money for the banquet, which was called the book-drying party. Tanabata is also a suitable day for dispensing medicines. It is said that it is a secret recipe with pine and cypress as medicinal materials. This magical pill is compounded with dew on July 7th. Taking one pill can prolong the life span for ten years, and taking two pills can prolong the life span for twenty years. In addition, there are bait pine nuts, cypress seeds, folded lotus leaves, etc., all of which are called immortal medicines. More practical prescriptions include drying Sophora juice to treat hemorrhoids, frying bitter gourd to treat eyes, picking melon pedicels to treat diarrhea and so on. How effective it is, only those who have tried it will know. Nowadays, in Hangzhou, Ningbo, Wenzhou and other places in Zhejiang, people will also make various small items with flour and put them in a frying pan, which is called "proper fruit". In the evening, proper fruit, Lotus, White Lotus, Hong Ling, etc. will be placed in the cleaned courtyard, and relatives and friends at home will sit together.