Every year, the seventh day of the seventh lunar month is a folk Chinese Valentine's Day in China, which is a romantic and mythical love festival. There are many unique customs around the country when the festival comes, so today's calendar will introduce you to the customs and legends of Chinese Valentine's Day in southern Fujian.
On the seventh day of July, when worshipping the "Seven Mothers" on the seventh day of the seventh month, Minnan region not only kept the same customs as other regions, but also had its own unique folk customs with strong folk colors of Fujian and Taiwan.
in the rural areas of southern Fujian, it is said that the seventh day of July is the birthday of the "seven fairies". The "seven fairies" are not a fairy, but seven goddesses, commonly known as "seven mothers", so the people call this day "seven mothers' birth". This may be the evolution of Tanabata folk circulation in southern Fujian with strong religious atmosphere.
Since ancient times, in the eyes of working women in southern Fujian, "Qi Nian Ma" is the embodiment of beauty, kindness, love and good luck. She can not only bring love, warmth and happiness to children, but also protect their healthy growth. Therefore, there is a folk custom of "worshiping the heavenly sun" on Tanabata.
According to the Records of Quanzhou Prefecture, the Spring Festival is characterized by "begging for cleverness", "aging melons and fruits" and "children worship their grandchildren". According to this custom, in the first year after a child is born, the first Tanabata will be a "new contract", which means the new worship of "Qi Nian Ma" as the adoptive mother (called "Qi Mu" in Minnan dialect), and on the same day, the "life-renewing thread" tied to the wrist of the newborn on the Dragon Boat Festival will be untied.
At the age of 16, the Chinese Valentine's Day in that year was to "wash the deed", which meant to baptize him when he grew up and broke away from his "seven mothers". With the development of the times, this folk custom has been abandoned by many urban families, but its remains can still be seen in the countryside.
according to the traditional custom, Qixi in southern Fujian is dedicated to "seven mothers", which has a strong folk color. On Tanabata, housewives often get up early, cook dumplings and rub sugar dumplings (poke a small hole in the glutinous rice balls, and the child to be born will have dimples. Another saying is that this small hole is used to hold the tears when the cowherd and the weaver girl leave); Some also fry some peanuts, then grind them into pieces, mix them with white sugar, and sprinkle them on them after the sugar crust is cooked, so that the sugar crust tastes more fragrant and q-shaped.
of course, we must not forget to prepare a table of offerings. The offerings offered in Quanzhou for the worship of "Qi Nian Ma" generally include candied fruit, melons and fruits, "baked rice", three sacrifices, wine cups, etc., and wait until noon to worship "Qi Nian Ma". The altar for worship is usually placed at the door of the master's bedroom, because it is necessary to worship the "bed mother" inside.
the legend of tanabata in southern Fujian. there are wonderful stories about tanabata in southern Fujian. According to the legend in southern Fujian, when the Emperor of Heaven was furious with the seven fairies and married Yong Dong, he separated the loving couple with the Milky Way as the boundary, and then allowed them to meet once every seven days, and ordered the magpie to convey this command to them. I didn't expect the magpie to be anxious or dumb, but mistakenly reported the seven-day meeting as a meeting on July 7 every year. Up to now, southern Fujian still retains the "guest bird (happy bird)
However, although the magpie reported the wrong news, the news was misinformed, but it was the order of the Emperor, so it was necessary to correct the mistake and could not be changed, so the Emperor punished the magpie to bridge the gap between the cowherd and the weaver girl on Tanabata every year to help them meet each other.
It is said that on the seventh day of July, magpies were not seen on earth because they were all bridged. After the Qixi Festival, magpies are bald, which is because the cowherd and the cow's hoof trample when they cross the magpie bridge. Therefore, after the sacrifice to the "Seven Mothers", people will throw a bag of glutinous rice on the roof to reward the magpies for their hard work.
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