Legend has it that in ancient times, the granddaughter of the Heavenly Emperor, the Weaving Maiden, was good at weaving, and weaved colorful haze for the sky every day. Hating this boring life, she secretly went down to the mortal world, and married the Cowherd of the west of the river privately, and led the life of a man cultivating the land and a woman weaving, and this matter angered the Heavenly Emperor, and captured the Weaving Maiden back to the Heavenly Palace, and ordered them to be separated, and allowed them to meet only once a year, on the seventh day of the seventh month, on the bridge of the magpies.

Their steadfast love touched the magpies, and countless magpies flew to build a colorful bridge across the heavenly river with their bodies, so that the Cowherd and the Weaving Maiden could meet each other on the heavenly river.

"Cowherd and Weaving Maiden" originated from people's worship of natural celestial phenomena, and later developed into the Tanabata Festival. Every time the festival was celebrated, ancient women would make a wish to the stars Vega and Cowherd in the sky, wishing for a wise mind, dexterous hands and a good marriage.

The original meaning of "Altair and Cowherd" is the "star" used in Guangdong (Yue) as the astronomical star area corresponding to the geographical division.

Through the evolution of historical development, the Altair star was given the personification of the beautiful legend of the Cowherd and the Weaving Maiden ("Years of Hua Jili" Volume 3 cites the anonymous text of Han Ying Shao's "Popular Customs": "The Weaving Maiden crosses the river on the eve of the seventh day of the seventh month and makes the magpie a bridge"), as well as the women begging for ingenuity and cleverness from the star of the Weaving Maiden, praying for a marriage, the lovers' meeting, the cut and polish, and so on. Women's red, worship the Weaving Maiden and other rich human connotations.

The formation of Tanabata custom is closely related to the legend of "Cowherd and Weaving Maiden", and the most widely and longest circulated Tanabata custom is "Begging for coincidence", and the ancients attached great importance to the annual practice of begging for coincidence.

The night of Tanabata to sit and watch the star of the weaving maiden, is also a traditional folk custom, in the night of Tanabata, young girls, women should be set on the pre-prepared seasonal fruits, to the bright moon, towards the sky to worship; they will also be held in a variety of begging rituals, devoutly beg the goddess of the weaving maiden to give them clever hands, pray for their own to be able to get the love of the marriage of marriage coincidentally with the fullness of love.

Baidu Encyclopedia - The Cowherd and the Weaving Maiden