The origin of tanabata
"Qixi" originated from people's worship of natural phenomena. As early as ancient times, people had an understanding of astronomical phenomena, and the sky star areas corresponded to geographical areas. In later Tang and Song poems, women's begging for cleverness was repeatedly mentioned.
Folk customs of Qixi Festival
On July 7th, the Seven Mothers' Meeting was called "Worship Seven Sisters" in Guangdong, and "Worship Seven Mothers" in Fujian and Taiwan. Before the founding of New China, Tanabata was a grand festival for beautiful girls. In the old days, pretty girls begged Qi Jie to teach her ingenious skills, but in fact, the so-called "begging for cleverness" was just "fighting cleverness". It was very lively to celebrate the Seven Qiao Festival in Guangdong in the old days. Before the festival, the girls prepared all kinds of fancy toys in advance, and made all kinds of flowers, fruits, ladies, utensils, palace models and other things with medulla tetrapanacis, colored paper, sesame seeds and rice grains. Soak the seeds and mung beans in a small box and make them germinate. When the buds grow to more than two inches long, they will be used for offering sacrifices to the gods. Or organize everyone to gather in the Zongxiang Guild Hall, and lay down all kinds of colorful incense tables to offer sacrifices to the Cowherd and the Weaver Maid. The "incense tables" are filled with flowers, fruits, rouge powder, paper-made small flowered clothes, shoes, daily necessities and embroidery, and so on.
Dietary customs in Chinese Valentine's Day
1, proper fruit: proper fruit is the most famous festive food for Qixi. Proper fruit, also called "Qiaoqiao Fruit", has many styles. "Begging for clever fruit" is a traditional sacrifice and beauty of Chinese Valentine's Day. On Tanabata night, people bring "fruit begging for cleverness" to the courtyard, and the whole family sit around and taste the craftsmanship of being a "proper fruit". Now this custom is no longer popular in many places, and the traditional food "begging for clever fruit" has also evolved into a variety of cakes. There are many styles in proper fruit, and the main materials are oil, noodles, sugar and honey.
2. Crispy candy: In some pastry shops in our country, some crisp candy with the image of Weaver Girl will be made on this day, commonly known as "homo habilis" and "Qiao Crispy", which is also called "Send to homo habilis" when sold. People believe that people who eat this kind of crisp candy will become ingenious.