The origin and allusion of Chinese Valentine’s Day
The Chinese Valentine’s Day, also known as Qiqiao Festival, Qiqiao Festival or Qijie’s Birthday, originated in China. It is a festival in Chinese areas and partly influenced by Han culture. A traditional festival in East Asian countries, celebrated on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month. From the legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. The following are the origins and allusions of Chinese Valentine's Day that I have collected and compiled. Let's take a look!
Allusions about the origin of Valentine's Day on Chinese Valentine's Day 1
Origin of Chinese Valentine's Day
Qixi Festival is about begging for skill. This festival originated in the Han Dynasty. Ge Hong's "Xijing Miscellanies" of the Eastern Jin Dynasty has "Han It is recorded that the colorful girl often puts a seven-hole needle on the Kaijin Tower on July 7th, and everyone practices it." This is the earliest record of begging for skill that we have seen in ancient documents. In later poems of the Tang and Song Dynasties, women's begging for skill was also frequently mentioned. Wang Jianyou of the Tang Dynasty said in a poem that "the stars in the dim sky are adorned with pearls, and the palace ladies are busy begging for skill on the Chinese Valentine's Day". According to "The Legacy of Kaiyuan Tianbao": Tang Taizong and his concubines had a night banquet in the Qing Palace every Chinese Valentine's Day, and the maids begged for tricks.
In the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, as the love story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl became more and more perfect, Chinese Valentine's Day has become a universal festival, and the festivals and customs have become more and more colorful, and "begging for cleverness" has become the most common festival and customs. The book "Records of the Years of Jingchu" describes this custom as follows: "July 7th is the night for the gathering of Morning Glory and Weaver Girl. On this evening, women make colorful decorations, thread seven-hole needles, or use gold and silver as needles. , displaying melons and fruits in the court to beg for cleverness." What is even more interesting is that due to the prosperity of Wei and Jin culture, climbing the stairs to dry clothes was changed to climbing the stairs to dry books.
The Sui and Tang Dynasties were a period of great development for the Qixi Festival. Although its customs were basically the same as those of the Wei and Jin Dynasties, its scale and grandeur far exceeded those of the previous dynasties. For example, during the Chinese Valentine's Day, palaces are decorated with brocades, and the scene of "the concubines threading needles, singing the tunes of Qing and Shang Dynasties, and enjoying the feast" can be glimpsed in literary works such as "Romance of the Sui and Tang Dynasties". In particular, there are many poems about Chinese Valentine's Day. There are only a thousand poems in the Tang Dynasty alone. For example, Cui Hao's poem says: "The moon in the city of Chang'an is as bright as day, and every family is holding needlework this night. Fairy skirts and jade pendants are free in the air, and heaven and earth do not see each other." Zu Yong's poem with the same title also goes: "A girl seeks the goddess of heaven, and it is not late at night. Lan. There is a pink mat in the jade court, and a gold plate is held in the sleeves. It is easy to thread a needle to the moon, but it is difficult to straighten the thread in the wind. I don’t know who has the luck."
During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, Qixi Festival was very grand. , there is also a market specializing in begging items in the capital, which is known as the begging market. Song Luoye and Jin Yingzhi's "Drunkard's Talk" says: "On the Chinese Valentine's Day, people buy and sell begging items in front of Panlou. From July 1st, the carriages and horses choked, and three days before the Chinese Valentine's Day, the carriages and horses could not pass, and they were choked one after another. , no more came out, and disappeared at night."
Here, from the grand occasion of buying begging items in the Qiqiao Market, we can infer the lively scene of the Qiqiao Festival at that time. People start buying begging items since the first day of July. The market is bustling with traffic and people. As the Chinese Valentine's Day approaches, the market has become a sea of ??people, making it difficult for cars and horses to move. Looking at the customs, it seems to be no less beautiful. The most grand festival - the Spring Festival, shows that the Qiqiao Festival is one of the favorite festivals of the ancients.
During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the Chinese Valentine's Day was one of the most important folk festivals and was very exciting. According to records, during the Chinese Valentine's Day in the Ming Dynasty, "women poured bowls of water under the moonlight, each throwing a small needle into the water, and looked at the moon shadow under the water, which may be scattered like flowers, moving like clouds, as thin as a thread, or as thick as a vertebra, so it is possible to predict the future of women." skillful". In the Qing Dynasty, the main activities of the Chinese Valentine's Day were to burn fruits and other food and incense in the courtyard to worship the Morning Cowherd and the Weaver Girl.
To this day, Chinese Valentine's Day is still a traditional festival full of romance. However, many customary activities have weakened or disappeared. Only the legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, which symbolizes loyal love, has been spread among the people. Therefore, some people call the Chinese Valentine's Day the "Chinese Valentine's Day".
Summary of nicknames
Double Seven: The day, month and sun are all seven, so it is called "Seven".
, so that the sky is filled with fragrance, so it is called.
Week: The two stars Cowherd and Weaver Girl are in a special position. They only meet once a year, so this day is called a week.
Qiao Xi: Because there is a custom of begging for clever things on Chinese Valentine's Day, it is called Qiao Xi.
Women’s Day: The Chinese Valentine’s Day is a festival in which girls worship immortals, beg for clever things, compete for clever things, etc., so it is called Women’s Day, also known as Daughter’s Day and Girl’s Day.
Lan Night: The seventh month of the lunar calendar was called "Lan Moon" in ancient times, so Qixi Festival is also called "Lan Night".
Children’s Day: It is called Children’s Day because begging for skills, begging for literature and other customs are mostly done by girls and boys.
Needle Threading Festival: It is called because of the custom of threading needles on this day. Allusions about the origin of Chinese Valentine's Day 2
"Chinese Valentine's Day" originally originated from people's worship of nature. Judging from historical documents, at least three to four thousand years ago, with the emergence of people's understanding of astronomy and textile technology, records about Altair and Vega began. People's worship of stars goes far beyond Altair and Vega. They believe that there are seven stars representing directions in the east, west, south, and north, collectively called the Twenty-Eight Constellations. Among them, the Big Dipper is the brightest and can be used to identify directions at night. The first star of the Big Dipper is called Kuixing, also known as the leader. Later, with the establishment of the imperial examination system, the number one winner was called "Da Kui Tianxia Shi". Scholars called the Chinese Valentine's Day the "Kui Star Festival", also known as the "Book Exhibition Festival", maintaining the earliest traces of the Chinese Valentine's Day originating from the worship of stars.
"Qixi Festival" also comes from ancient people's worship of time. "Qi" has the same pronunciation as "period", and both the month and the day are "Qi", giving people a sense of time. The ancient Chinese combined the sun, moon and the five planets of water, fire, wood, metal and earth into the name "Qi Yao". The number seven in the folk is manifested in stages in time, and when calculating time, "seven to seven" is often used as the final outcome. In old Beijing, when doing ashram for the deceased, it was often considered complete to complete "Qiqi". Calculating the current "week" with "Nichiyo" is still reserved in Japanese. "Qi" is homophonic with "吉", and "Qiqi" also means double auspiciousness. It is an auspicious day. In Taiwan, July is known as the month of "good luck in happiness". Because the shape of the word "xi" in cursive script is like "seventy-seven" written consecutively, the age of seventy-seven is also called "xishou".
"Qixi Festival" is also a phenomenon of number worship. In ancient times, people added the first day of the first lunar month, the third day of March, the fifth day of May, the seventh day of July, and the ninth day of September, plus the days of February 2 and February 2, which indicate pairs. The "seventh" multiples of three, June 6, are all listed as auspicious days. "Seven" is the number of beads in each column of the abacus. It is romantic and rigorous, giving people a mysterious beauty. "Qi" has the same pronunciation as "wife", so Qixi Festival has become a festival related to women to a large extent.
"Qixi Festival" was originally called Qiao Qiao Festival. Qixi Festival is a festival of begging for clever things. This festival originated in the Han Dynasty. Ge Hong of the Eastern Jin Dynasty wrote in "Xijing Miscellaneous Notes" that "Hancai women often pierce seven-hole needles on July 7 to the cows and girls on the stone portraits of the Han Dynasty. Everyone is accustomed to it." This is the earliest record of begging for skill that we have seen in ancient documents.
The night of the 7th day of the seventh lunar month, commonly known as "Qixi", is said to be the day when the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl meet once a year across the Milky Way. The love story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl began in the Han Dynasty. Therefore, the formation of the Qixi Festival was also in the Han Dynasty. At that time, there were customs of "piercing a seven-hole needle", "offering melons and fruits to the Morning Bull and the Weaver Girl", and "climbing the building to expose clothes". After the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl had evolved from love, marriage, separation, to only meeting one day a year. The legend gradually became complete, and because of the touching plot, it was widely circulated throughout the country, but the plot spread in each place was slightly different.
The following is a story circulated in Taiwan: In ancient times, the seventh princess of the Jade Emperor, the ruler of heaven, was called Weaver Girl. She had a beautiful face and superb craftsmanship, and weaved brocades for the heavenly palace every day. There was a beautiful male god called Cowherd. Because he was diligent in herding cattle and farming, the Jade Emperor betrothed the Weaver Girl to him. Unexpectedly, the two gradually gave up their work because of their love. The Jade Emperor was very worried, so he ordered the magpie (now a symbol of auspiciousness) to tell the two that they were only allowed to get together once every seven days, and they had to work the rest of the day. . But the magpie was careless and sent the wrong order, saying that they could get together once a day, so the two still lived a loving life and finally gave up their daily work. When the Jade Emperor heard the news, he was very angry and ordered the two to get together only once every year on July 7th. He also used hairpins to draw a boundary in the air to separate the two. This realm is the Milky Way in the sky. At the same time, in order to punish the magpies for their dereliction of duty, the magpies were ordered to gather their own kind on the night of July 7 every year to build a long bridge on the Milky Way so that the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl could cross the bridge and reunite. Whenever they get together, they tell each other their yearning for each other and shed tears of sadness. Therefore, every year on the night of July 7th, there will often be drizzle in the sky.
In addition, Chinese Valentine's Day is also the birthday of "Empress Zhusheng" and "Mother Seventh Mother". "Empress Zhusheng" Chen Jinggu, also known as "Mrs. Linshui", is from Linshui, Putian County, Fujian.
The reason why she is worshiped as the god of fertility is because it is said that she has saved many mothers in childbirth. It is said that there was a man named Xu Qingsou in Pucheng in the Song Dynasty. His wife was seventeen months pregnant and had not yet given birth. One day, a woman named Chen Zhuanda came to visit him and asked him to prepare a room. , dug a hole in the floor of the room, moved the pregnant woman upstairs, and ordered servants to guard downstairs with sticks. Soon the pregnant woman gave birth to a big snake. When the servant saw it, he killed it immediately and the pregnant woman was safe. Xu Qingsou was very happy to give jewelry to express his gratitude, but the woman surnamed Chen did not accept it and only asked for a handkerchief before leaving. Many years later, Xu Qingsou was transferred to Fuzhou and found this handkerchief in a temple of Mrs. Chen, so he petitioned the court to confer a divine title. It is said that the Zhusheng Empress Temple in Fuzhou is dedicated to thirty-six sisters-in-law, that is, the thirty-six palace maids given by King Lin. In this province, Zhusheng Empress is worshiped, and only the twelve mothers-in-law are worshiped. This is a small number. . Allusions about the origin of Chinese Valentine's Day 3
The classic record of the legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl was first seen in "The Book of Songs·Daya·Dadong": "The Weaver Girl has seven Xiangxiangs all day long. Even if she has seven Xiangxiangs, she cannot make a newspaper. Wanbi Bi The morning glory cannot be kept in a box." The second one is "The Book of Songs·Zhou Nan·Han Guang": "There are trees in the south, so you can't stop thinking about them. There are goddesses in the Han Dynasty, so you can't die." These records are just the prototype of the legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. The words describe that the Vega did not weave and the Altair did not pull the cart. Obviously, the Vega and Altair depicted at this time mainly appeared as two stars that symbolized the farming civilization and the cottage industry civilization, and did not appear in the legend. The main characters, mutual relationships and related plots, at this time, the Weaver Girl and the Petunia did not have a male-female relationship. Later, in "Nineteen Ancient Poems: Far Far Away from Altair", the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl began to have the image of lovesickness facing each other across the river. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, it became the legend of the Weaver Girl crossing the Magpie Bridge on the Chinese Valentine's Day. "Customs" written by Ying Shao of the Eastern Han Dynasty records: "The Weaver Girl will cross the river on the Chinese Valentine's Day, using magpies as bridges. It is said that the bridge ends will be flat on the seventh day for no reason, because the beam is used to cross the Weaver Girl." "Huainanzi" was cited in "Sui Shi Guang Ji" by Chen Yuanliang of the Song Dynasty. "The black magpie fills the river to form a bridge and crosses the Weaver Girl." There is also a record in "Historical Records": "The four stars are on the dangerous side, holding melons. Morning oxen are sacrificed. In the north, Weaver Girl, Weaver Girl, is the grandson of the Heavenly Girl. The Heavenly Official Star Divination: The Guagua is called Heavenly Chicken, and it is located in the east of Hegu. The Morning Cow is called Heavenly Drum. If it is not worthy of the Weaver Girl, the yin and yang are not in harmony." It was only in Cao Zhi's "Luo Shen Fu" that the relationship between the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl was determined. The story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl meeting on the Magpie Bridge as a couple was roughly formed during the Southern and Northern Dynasties. The "Records of the Years of Jingchu" at that time recorded: "To the east of the Tianhe River, there is a Weaver Girl, the son of the Emperor of Heaven. Every year, she weaves and weaves clothes into brocade and heavenly clothes. The Emperor of Heaven took pity on her being alone and promised to marry the Cowherd of Hexi. After marriage, she The Emperor of Heaven was angry and ordered him to cross the river for a while every July 7th."
It can be seen that the singing of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl began during the Spring and Autumn Period and then in the early Han Dynasty. It was not until the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Three Kingdoms, Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties that people mentioned meeting on July 7th, which had been passed down for hundreds of years. At that time, July 7th was already a large-scale annual festival.
The Chinese Valentine's Day originated very early, and it was just a festival at the beginning. Judging from historical documents, the Qixi Festival originated at least three to four thousand years ago, and its origin is closely related to astrology and phenology.
It is said that the Qixi Festival may have existed during the Warring States Period. According to the Ming Dynasty Luo Qi's "Source of Things": "King Huai of Chu first established the Qixi Festival." However, because the author is too far away from the time stated, it may not be reliable. The earliest record of the custom of begging for tricks during the Chinese Valentine's Day is "Xijing Miscellaneous Notes" by Ge Hong of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. The article records: "Mrs. Qi's servant Jia Peilan came out later and was the wife of Duan Ru, a Fufeng native. It was said that when she was in the palace, she came to Baizi on July 7th. The pool is composed of Khotan music. The music is tied together with five-color strands, which is called "love connection." It is also recorded that "Han silk women often wear seven-hole needles to open their jackets." All of them can explain the grand celebration of July 7th in the palace in the early Western Han Dynasty. However, there are no records of the story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl in these customary activities in the Han Dynasty. It can be seen that the Chinese Valentine's Day is not an annual festival derived from the legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl.
Regarding the origin of the Chinese Valentine’s Day, we can explore it from the Chinese Valentine’s Day customs.
"Qixi" originated from people's worship of the Star God, that is, the worship of nature. Volume 31 of "Taiping Yulan" quotes from the "Fengshi Ji" written by Zhou Chu in the Eastern Jin Dynasty: "On the seventh day of the seventh month, at night, a few banquets were served in the courtyard, and wine and preserved fruits were placed on the banquet. Pray to the River Drum and the Weaver Girl, saying that these two star gods will meet. "The River Drum and the Weaver Girl here refer to Altair and the Vega."
Altair is regarded as the god of grain, and Weaver is said to be the goddess of silkworms, the daughter of the Emperor of Heaven. Both the god of grains and the god of silkworms are gods that the ancestors of our farming nation attached great importance to. People at that time believed that there were seven stars representing directions in the east, west, south, and north, which were collectively called the twenty-eight stars. As for worshiping the two stars Altair and Vega on Chinese Valentine's Day, it is because the movement of these two stars is most prominent in July.
"Qixi Festival" also comes from ancient people's worship of time. According to "Taiping Yulan": "In July, millet is ripe, and the seventh day is Yang, so elk is the most precious." "July 7 is a good day," so it is regarded as an auspicious day to celebrate the autumn harvest. During the Han and Wei Dynasties, this day was regarded as a day for gathering and recreation. This day is also the day when the heavenly gods gather together. "Xu Qi Xie Ji" records: "The Weaver Girl crossed the river, and all the immortals returned to the palace." The number of seven in the folk is expressed as a stage in time, and when calculating time, "seven to seven" is often regarded as the final outcome. Therefore, in the Qixi Festival customs, there are customs such as begging for skill, blessings, and love, which all originate from the fact that July 7th is a good day, so as to pray for a good harvest. The worship of time also extends to the worship of life. Among the customs of Qixi Festival, there are the customs of begging and worshiping ancestors. When Yang Lin studied the origin of the Qixi Festival, she made a detailed analysis of the origin of the Qixi Festival based on the relevant principles of folklore, combined with related books, literati's notes, local chronicles and other related records: the cause of the Qixi Festival lies in the "seven in ancient culture" "Chinese is a number with reproductive magic. The ancients regarded July 7 as a festival as a result of worshiping the mysterious number seven. Its essence is the expectation and worship of reproduction." Therefore, in ancient times, many women wanted to improve themselves in society. In terms of status in life, people often engage in begging activities on the Qixi Festival.
The Qixi Festival was not integrated with the myth and legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl until the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties.
The Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties were a period of great turmoil in the history of our country. The people were in war for a long time, and their desire to pursue a happy and stable life was difficult to realize in reality, so they turned to legendary figures for begging. At this time, the story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl was further perfected and integrated with the Qixi Festival, making the Qixi Festival a universal festival. In addition to the custom of begging for clever things, there are also customs of begging for wealth, longevity and children during the Qixi Festival. The faithful love of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl has also become people's emotional sustenance. Since women have a lower social status and are usually regarded as a tool for reproduction in feudal society, giving birth to a baby boy has become one of the ways for women to improve their social status. Seeking a child has therefore become a folk activity during the Chinese Valentine's Day. an important content.
Through the exploration of the myth and legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl and the Qixi Festival, it can be seen that the origin of the Qixi Festival mainly comes from the ancient people's worship of the stars, nature and time. Its origin has nothing to do with the legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. of. However, with the development and evolution of the myth of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl and the human emotions conveyed in the story, it was not until the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties that they gradually merged. Allusions about the origin of Chinese Valentine's Day 4
Solve the doubts about Chinese Valentine's Day
Chinese Valentine's Day should be called Chinese Women's Day
According to legend, on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl met on the Magpie Bridge. Today, the Chinese Valentine's Day has become a traditional festival in China. Therefore, many people have regarded Qixi Festival as "Chinese Valentine's Day". On August 22, 2016, Qi Shoucheng, a well-known folklorist and expert, said in an interview with Wu Shuang, a reporter from Liaoning Evening News, that it is a misunderstanding of Qixi Festival to regard it as "Chinese Valentine's Day".
Qi Shoucheng introduced that the "Qixi Festival" is also called the Qiqiao Festival, which originated in the Han Dynasty. The customs are to hang out scriptures and clothes, pray to the twin stars and thread a needle for luck. If we really want to give the Chinese Valentine's Day a popular name, it should be "Chinese Daughter's Day". Qi Shoucheng explained that in history, on the day of the Chinese Valentine's Day, girls who did not go out had to tie their hands with colorful threads and pray for the future to be as clever as the Weaver Girl in the sky. Therefore, the "Chinese Valentine's Day" was the most important festival for ancient girls. The traditional activity of the Chinese Valentine's Day is for girls to thread embroidery needles with colorful threads to compete with each other to see who can do better needlework. At the same time, they put out tributes of fruits and melons to beg for their dexterity.
The Chinese Valentine's Day is mistaken for Valentine's Day
The reason why today's society misunderstands the Chinese Valentine's Day as "Valentine's Day" may be due to the romantic and poignant love story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl.
In fact, "Chinese Valentine's Day" does exist, but it is not the Chinese Valentine's Day, but the "Lantern Festival" on the 15th day of the first lunar month, that is, the "Spring Festival". According to Chinese folk tradition, on the first full moon night of the year, people light up lanterns, go out to admire the moon, and set off fireworks.
"In ancient times, influenced by feudal ideas, women often stayed at home. It was not etiquette to show their faces. Only on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month could they go out for lantern festivals, and boys and girls could meet each other on this day. , express your love. Therefore, the fifteenth day of the first lunar month is the real Chinese Valentine’s Day.”
Many businesses regard the Chinese Valentine’s Day as Valentine’s Day for commercial promotion, and many young people regard the Chinese Valentine’s Day as their Valentine’s Day. However, this approach is not only detrimental to the protection of traditional festivals, but also distorts the cultural connotation of traditional festivals. "Including the media, we should publicize more the cultural connotations of traditional festivals and have correct guidance on how to celebrate traditional festivals. The reason why Qixi Festival can be listed on the national intangible cultural heritage list is because it is a festival with Chinese characteristics. We You should cherish it and never throw away your things. "The origin of Chinese Valentine's Day 5
The beautiful legend that transcends time and space "The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl"
The story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. There are various versions of the story that have been spread, developed and evolved for more than two thousand years. The main plot is:
The Weaver Girl, the granddaughter of the Queen Mother of Heaven, works to weave clouds in the sky, also known as cloud brocade and heavenly clothes; Lang is a cowherd in the world. His parents died young and he was abused by his brother and sister-in-law. He lived with an old cow every day and had a very hard life.
One day, Lao Niu told him that the Weaver Girl in the sky was going to take a bath in the Milky Way with her sisters, and asked him to "steal" the Weaver Girl's feather coat, so that without the feather coat, the Weaver Girl could not fly back to the sky. will be his wife.
On that day, the beautiful fairies went to the Milky Way to bathe and play in the water. At this time, the Cowherd who was hiding among the reeds suddenly ran out and took away the Weaver Girl's clothes. The frightened fairies hurriedly went ashore, put on their clothes and flew away, leaving only the Weaver Girl. At the Cowherd's plea, the Weaver Girl agreed to be his wife.
After marriage, the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl farmed and weaved, fell in love with each other, and lived a very happy life. The Weaver Girl also gave birth to a son and a daughter to the Cowherd.
Later, when the old cow was about to die, he told the cowherd to keep its skin so that he could wear it in times of emergency and receive help. After the old cow died, the couple reluctantly peeled off the hide and buried the cow on the hillside.
One day later, the Queen Mother heard that the Weaver Girl "disobeyed the rules of heaven" and "eloped" to the mortal world. She was very angry and sent heavenly soldiers and generals to capture the Weaver Girl. The god took advantage of the fact that the Cowherd was not at home and captured the Weaver Girl.
When the Cowherd went home but did not see the Weaver Girl, he remembered that the old cow told him that if he put on the cowhide, he would get help when he was in trouble. He quickly put on the cowhide, carried two children and chased him out. The Cowherd also flew into the sky. At the critical moment when the Cowherd was about to catch up with the Weaver Girl, the Queen Mother took off her hairpin and scratched behind the Weaver Girl, and the scratch turned into a turbulent Milky Way. Cowherd can no longer survive.
From then on, the two could only look at each other across the river, crying day and night. The two small stars next to Altair are called pole stars. People say they are the sons and daughters of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. Finally, the true love of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl moved the magpies in the sky. Every July 7th, they plucked out their beautiful feathers and built a rainbow bridge, so that the couple who had missed each other for a year could meet each other on this night.
In addition, when the night of Chinese Valentine's Day is quiet, people can still hear the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl's loving words in the sky under the grape trellis or other fruit trellis.
Qixi Festival - Single Women’s Day
Qixi Festival is China’s Valentine’s Day and is also a festival that promotes love between men and women.
Folklorists have put forward their own opinions: Qixi Festival is first and foremost a festival for single women.
Zhao Kuifu, a professor at the Institute of Ancient Books at Northwest Normal University, believes that in ancient China, the Qixi Festival should be the happiest day for single women. Even during the Spring Festival, many women may not be able to wear new clothes to visit the house. Men visit relatives and friends. Only on the Chinese Valentine's Day, single women in ancient times can dress up and go out openly to party and play with their sisters.
“The Qixi Festival was first performed in the palace of the Western Han Dynasty, and later spread to the people.” Zhao Kuifu said that in the Western Han Dynasty palace, the maids could not be encouraged to fall in love at will, so the earliest connotation of the Qixi Festival was mainly Begging for skill and commending women for their cleverness, women show off their unique crafts such as embroidery and needlework on this day.
Zhao Kuifu told reporters that after the Qixi Festival spread to the people, wishes such as love and happy family were added, and even the connotation of advocating reading and writing articles was added, such as Liu Yiqing's "Shishuoxinyu" "" mentioned the clip of everyone posting books on July 7th. Although the customs of Qixi Festival vary from place to place, the main thing that has not changed since ancient times is "begging for women's wisdom".
From this perspective, Zhao Kuifu believes that the Chinese Valentine's Day is very different from the Western Valentine's Day. "In ancient China, women were absolutely not allowed to have ambiguous feelings with lovers other than their husbands. This is part of Confucianism and cannot be put on the table." Zhao Kuifu said, so there is a saying that the Chinese Valentine's Day should only be for unmarried women. This festival means that all lovers in the world will eventually get married.
Chu Dongai, an associate professor at the School of Journalism and Communication at South China University of Technology and a doctor of folklore, also believes that the more accurate term for Qixi Festival should be "a festival for unmarried women." In modern times, a group of "single women" did exist in the Pearl River Delta region, and they were indeed the main body of the Qiqiao Festival. However, there are two types of these single women. One is that after getting married, they are dissatisfied with the arranged marriage and return to their parents' home to live in their parents' homes and stay with their husbands for the rest of their lives. The other is the so-called "self-combed women". Generally, women in this category are dissatisfied with feudal arranged marriages when they are marriageable at the age of fifteen or sixteen, and declare that they will never marry, and then move into the "aunt's house". These women are a unique group in the Pearl River Delta in modern times. They resisted feudal marriage and used their own actions to pursue an independent marriage. ;