What activities are there during the Chinese Valentine’s Day in Yantai? How do people in Yantai celebrate Chinese Valentine's Day? The Qixi Festival is a festival with great historical influence. Through the continuous changes of the Qixi Festival, we can feel the differences in the main spiritual culture of different dynasties. The most important thing about Qixi Festival is the meaning brought by Qiqiao and the Cowherd and Weaver Girl. So what are the main activities of Qixi Festival in Yantai? Below is the content I carefully prepared. I hope it will be helpful to everyone!
What are the Qixi Festival activities in Yantai?
Baking Qiaoguo
The seventh day of the seventh lunar month is my country’s traditional Qixi Festival. In order to beg for luck, there is a custom of eating sweet fruits on July 7th. Qiaoguo is not actually a fruit, but a snack made from flour.
There is such a custom on July 7th in Qixia, Yantai, Jiaodong. According to the farming season, there is a farmer's proverb that is to watch the grain show on June 6th and watch the rice on July 7th.
This means that on June 6 of the lunar calendar, the grains in the fields begin to show off their ears. By July 7, the grains are basically full, and a good harvest is in sight. In order to welcome the harvest, on this day, every household has the custom of baking Qiaoguo.
Sitting and watching Altair and Vega on the night of the Chinese Valentine's Day
Sitting and watching the Altair and the Vega on the Chinese Valentine's Day is a folk custom that has existed since ancient times. Legend has it that on this night, people can hear the affectionate words of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl when they meet under the fruit stand. There are countless infatuated women praying to the stars on this night for a happy marriage, hoping to find loyal love.
Qixi Festival Begging for Skills
The customs of Qixi Festival include threading needles, liking spiders to respond to skills, throwing needles to test skills, planting seeds to beg for children, worshiping the Weaver Girl, etc. These are all traditional customs of the ancient Qixi Festival. , girls will put out seasonal fruits on the night of Chinese Valentine's Day, worship to the sky, and beg the goddess in the sky to give them intelligent hearts and dexterous hands.
Why do we eat clever fruits on Chinese Valentine's Day?
The legend is that in the past, girls wanted to be clever and clever before they got married, so they used this method to pray to the Weaver Girl to give them clever things. The Weaver Girl could also give herself a pair of skillful hands, and the skillful fruit was born.
During the Northern Song Dynasty, there were many varieties of Qiaoguo. The main raw materials were oil, flour, sugar, milk, eggs, etc. The dough is put into a wooden mold (also called a wafer) with various flower-shaped patterns such as pomegranates, chickens, little lions, goldfish, etc., and the shaped cakes are fried or baked.
Some Qiaoguo are also dyed in seven colors, some are dyed in red, and are threaded into strings with long threads. The ends are tied with sand fruits or floral cloths and hung on the wall as decorations and snacks. Some are also strung together. The ring is hung between children's necks for fun. It is said that on the night of the Chinese Valentine's Day, women and children would throw the fruit on the back of the house, and the magpies would pick it up and build a bridge so that the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl could cross the Milky Way to meet each other at night.
Qiaoguo is very simple to make. First cut the dough into strips one or two inches long, then put them in a hot oil pan and fry until golden brown. Then pick up the fried dough and immediately sprinkle with sesame seeds and sugar. It will be crispy and sweet.