Begging for cleverness is a custom in China at the age of seven. On the night of the seventh lunar month (or the night of the sixth), girls in new clothes beg for cleverness from Vega in the courtyard, which is called "begging for cleverness". Most of the ways of begging for cleverness are that girls try their best to make small items and put some melons and fruits on them. Traditional folk begging for cleverness varies from place to place, each with its own interests. In modern times, threading needles, steaming steamed buns, branding clever fruits, giving birth to clever buds, and decorations made of dough sculpture, paper-cutting and colored embroidery are also extensions of the custom of begging for cleverness.
Begging for cleverness is the most common custom in Chinese Valentine's Day, that is, girls engage in various begging activities on the night of the seventh day of July.
Qixi Begging for Cleverness originated in the Han Dynasty. Ge Hong's Miscellanies of Xijing in the Eastern Jin Dynasty recorded that "women in the Han Dynasty often put a seven-hole needle on the Kaijin Building on July 7th, and everyone was Xi Zhi", which is the earliest record about Begging for Cleverness 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 skills. This custom was also enduring among the people in China and continued from generation to generation.
On the occasion of the Song and Yuan Dynasties, Qiaqiao was quite grand, and there was also a market in the capital that monopolized Qiaqiao items, which was called Qiaqiao City by the world. Song Luoye and Jin Ying's series "Talk about Drunken Weng" said: "On Tanabata, Panlou bought and sold gimmicks. From July 1 ST, the horses and chariots swallowed, and three days before the Qixi Festival, the horses and chariots were not allowed to pass, and they stopped again and again, and they did not get it until the night. " Here, we can infer the lively scene of Qiqiao Festival at that time from the grand occasion of buying Qiqiao objects from Qiqiao City.
People began to buy articles for begging for cleverness on the first day of July, and the market for begging for cleverness was full of traffic and people. By the time of Tanabata, the market for begging for cleverness had simply become an ocean of people, and it seemed no less than the biggest festival-Spring Festival, indicating that the festival for begging for cleverness was one of the favorite festivals of the ancients.
In the Han dynasty, women put a small spider (called fruit in ancient times) in a box, which was characterized by its skillful weaving. In the Tang Dynasty, spiders were put on melons. In the Song and Yuan Dynasties, the shadow of a needle in the water was considered clumsy. Slender is clever, scattered is clumsy.
Nowadays, most of the ways of begging for cleverness are that girls try their best to make small items and put some melons and fruits on them. The ways of begging for cleverness in different regions are different and have their own interests.
The begging activities in Jinan, Huimin, Gaoqing and other places in Shandong Province are very simple, just displaying melons and fruits for begging. If there are spider webs on melons and fruits, it means begging skillfully. However, in Juancheng, Caoxian, Pingyuan and other places, the custom of eating clever rice and begging for cleverness is very interesting: seven good girls collect food and vegetables, jiaozi, and wrap a copper coin, a needle and a red date into three dumplings respectively. After begging for cleverness, they get together to eat dumplings. It is said that they are blessed with money, skillful with needles and early married with dates. In some places, the activities of begging for cleverness festival are of the nature of competition, similar to the ancient custom of fighting cleverness. In modern times, it is customary to make clever bud soup by threading needles, steaming skillfully, branding skillfully fruits, and in some places. Generally, grains are soaked in water on the first day of July, and cut buds to make soup on Tanabata. Children in this area pay special attention to eating clever buds, and decorations made of dough sculpture, paper-cutting and colored embroidery are the evolution of the custom of fighting clever buds. The shepherd boy will pick wild flowers and hang them on the horns on Qixi Day, which is called "Happy Birthday to the Cow" (it is said that Qixi is the birthday of the Cow).
Zhucheng, Tengzhou and Zoucheng call the rain on Qixi "acacia rain" or "acacia tears" because it is caused by the meeting of cowherd and weaver girl. Legend has it that there are very few magpies in Jiaodong and southwestern Shandong, and they all went to the sky to build a magpie bridge.
Sheepskin fan drum
Xihe County, located at the northern end of Longnan City, Gansu Province, has a long history. The long history of more than 7,000 years has formed a profound and profound cultural accumulation, which has enabled Xihe County to accumulate a large number of rich cultural and artistic heritages. Folk cultural activities such as begging for cleverness, folk songs, spring dressing, sheepskin fan encouragement, playing social fire, etc., have a strong local flavor and distinctive local characteristics, and have been passed down for many years. It is in this atmosphere that the custom of begging for cleverness has been completely preserved.
China Xixi and Qiqiao Daughter's Festival, which lasts for seven days and eight nights, starts from the evening of June 30th of the lunar calendar every year and lasts until the evening of July 7th. The whole activity is divided into seven parts: sitting skillfully, welcoming skillfully, offering skillfully, worshiping skillfully, entertaining skillfully, giving skillfully and sending skillfully. Every link is accompanied by singing and dancing, and there are several characteristic ceremonies, so a large number of begging lyrics, music scores, dance forms and worship ceremonies related to farming civilization, as well as textile women workers, costumes, props and fruit offerings related to life are preserved. Its activity time is long, the scale is large, the number of participants is large, and the folk custom program is completely preserved, which is unique in the country.
Zhejiang custom
Such as Hangzhou, Ningbo, Wenzhou and other places, on this day, all kinds of small objects are made of flour, which are called "proper fruit" after frying in oil, and proper fruit, lotus, white lotus root and Hong Ling are displayed in the courtyard at night. A girl puts a needle on the moon to pray that the weaver girl can give her skillful skills. If she wears well, she is called "skillful". Or catch a spider, put it in a box, and open the box the next day if it has been woven. (There is also a saying that it catches spiders at noon)
In the rural areas of Shaoxing, there will be many young girls hiding under the flourishing pumpkin shed that night. If you can hear the whispers when the cowherd and the weaver girl meet in the dead of night, the girl to be married will get this eternal love in the future.
In order to express people's hope that the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl can live a happy family life every day, in Jinhua, Zhejiang, every family will kill a chicken on July 7, which means that the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl will meet this night, and if there is no cock to announce the dawn, they will never be separated.
In the west of Guangxi, it is said that on the morning of July 7th, the fairy would come down to the earth to take a bath, and drinking its bath water could ward off evil spirits, cure diseases and prolong life. This water is called "Double Seven Waters". When chickens crow on this day, people scramble to get water from the river, and then take it back and put it in a new urn for future use.
Guangzhou custom
Guangzhou's Begging Festival is unique. Before the festival comes, the girls prepare colorful paper, medulla tetrapanacis, string, etc. in advance, and weave them into all kinds of fancy gadgets. They also put the seeds and mung beans in a small box and soak them in water to make them germinate. When the buds grow to more than two inches long, they are used to worship the gods, which are called "worshipping the fairy rice" and "worshipping the gods". From the sixth night to the seventh night, for two nights in a row, the girls put on new clothes and jewelry. After everything is arranged, they burn incense and light candles and bow down to the stars, which is called "welcoming the fairy". From the third night to the fifth watch, they have to worship seven times in a row.
After worshipping the immortals, the girls hold colored threads in their hands and thread them through the pinholes. For example, those who can wear seven pinholes in one breath are called skillful hands, and those who can't wear seven pinholes are called skillful hands. After Tanabata, the girls gave each other small handicrafts and toys to show their friendship.
Fujian custom
In Fujian and Chinese Valentine's Day, Weaver Girl should be allowed to appreciate and taste fruits and vegetables, so that she can bless the fruits and vegetables harvest in the coming year. The offerings include tea, wine, fresh fruit, five seeds (longan, red dates, hazelnuts, peanuts and melon seeds), flowers, pollen for women's cosmetics and a incense burner. Generally, after fasting and bathing, everyone takes turns to burn incense and worship at the altar and pray silently. Women not only beg for cleverness, but also beg for children, longevity, beauty and love. Then, while eating fruit, drinking tea and chatting, everyone plays the game of begging for cleverness. There are two kinds of begging for cleverness: one is "divination", that is, asking yourself whether you are clever or stupid with a divination tool; The other is clever match, that is, whoever goes through the needle quickly gets clever, and the slow one is called "losing clever". The "losing clever" should give small gifts prepared in advance to the skillful one.
In some areas, "Seven Sisters' Clubs" are also organized, and the "Seven Sisters' Clubs" in various areas gather in Zongxiang Guild Hall to lay down all kinds of bright incense tables, offering sacrifices to the cowherd and the weaver girl from a distance. All the "incense tables" are paper-pasted, and the tables are filled with flowers, fruits, rouge powder, paper-made small flowered clothes, shoes, daily necessities and embroidery, and so on. The "Seven Sisters' Clubs" in different regions will work hard on the incense table to see who makes it exquisitely. Today, this kind of activity has been forgotten, and only a few ancestral halls still set up incense tables on this festival to worship the cowherd and the weaver girl. The incense table is usually prepared on the seventh day of July, and in the evening, it begins to beg the Weaver Maid.
: seasonal food
Proper fruit proper fruit, also known as "Kiki Kiki Fruit", has many styles. The main materials are oil, flour, sugar and honey. "Dream of China in Tokyo" refers to it as "laughing at children" and "fruit eating patterns", while the patterns include holding incense and winning. During the Song Dynasty, proper fruit was already sold in the market. proper fruit's practice was: first, put the white sugar in a pot and melt it into syrup, then mix it with flour and sesame seeds, spread it on a table, cool it, cut it into long squares with a knife, and finally fold it into spindle-shaped proper fruit embryo, and fry it until golden, or make all kinds of small items with flour, and then call it "proper fruit" after frying it in an oil pan.
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 emboss patterns on the surface of melon skin, which is called "flower melon". In addition, there are many changes in the melons and fruits used in begging for cleverness: either the melons and fruits are carved into exotic flowers and birds, or the surface of the melon skin is embossed with patterns; This kind of melon is called "flower melon".
Proper fruit has different food customs in different dynasties in history. 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, proper fruit, Lotus, White Lotus, Hong Ling, etc. will be placed in the cleaned courtyard at night, and relatives and friends at home will sit together.