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What folk activities are held on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month?

In our country, on the night of the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, the weather is warm and the vegetation is fragrant. This is what people commonly call the Chinese Valentine's Day, and some people also call it the Qixi Festival. Known as the "Qiqiao Festival" or "Girls' Day", this is the most romantic festival among traditional Chinese festivals, and it was also the day that girls valued most in the past.

On a clear summer and autumn night, stars are shining in the sky, and a vast white Milky Way stretches across the north and south. There is a shining star on each of the east and west banks of the river, facing each other across the river, far away, that is Altair and Vega.

It is a folk custom to sit and watch the Altair and the Vega on the Chinese Valentine's Day. According to legend, this night of the year is when the Weaver and the Cowherd meet on the Magpie Bridge. The Weaver Girl is a beautiful, intelligent and ingenious fairy. On this night, mortal women beg her for wisdom and skill, as well as a happy marriage. Therefore, the seventh day of the seventh lunar month is also called the Qi Qiao Festival.

People say that on the night of the Chinese Valentine's Day, if you look up, you can see the Milky Way meeting of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, or you can overhear the loving words of the two people when they meet in the sky under the fruit stand.

The custom of begging for clever tricks during the Chinese Valentine's Day

The most common custom of the Chinese Valentine's Day is the various begging activities carried out by women on the night of the seventh day of July.

Most of the ways of begging are for girls to go through needlework to test their skills, make small items to compete with each other, and put some fruits on the table to beg for skills. The ways of begging for skills are different in different regions, and each has its own interesting.

The begging activities in Jinan, Huimin, Gaoqing and other places in Shandong are very simple. They just display the fruits and beg for tricks. If a spider spins a web on the fruits, it means begging for tricks. The custom of eating Qiaoqiao rice and begging for Qiaoqiao in Juancheng, Caoxian, Pingyuan and other places is very interesting: seven good girls gather grain and vegetables to make dumplings, and wrap a copper coin, a needle and a red date into three dumplings respectively. , after the begging activity, they gathered together to eat dumplings. It is said that those who eat money will be blessed, those who eat needles will be skillful, and those who eat dates will marry early.

In some places, the Qiqiao Festival activities are of a competitive nature, similar to the ancient custom of fighting for skill. In modern times, there is the custom of threading needles, steaming Qiao Ni Ni, baking Qiao fruits, and in some places making Qiao sprout soup. Generally, on the first day of July, the grains are soaked in water to germinate. On the Chinese Valentine's Day, the sprouts are cut to make soup. Children in this area pay special attention to it. Eating Qiao buds, as well as decorations made in the form of dough sculptures, paper-cuts, colorful embroideries, etc. are the evolution of the custom of fighting Qiao. The shepherd boys will pick wild flowers and hang them on the horns of cows on the Chinese Valentine's Day, which is called "Congratulations on the Cow's Birthday" (legend has it that Chinese Valentine's Day is the birthday of the cow).

In Zhucheng, Tengxian and Zouxian areas, the rain on Chinese Valentine's Day is called "Lovesickness Rain" or "Lovesickness Tears" because it is caused by the reunion of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. It is said in Jiaodong, southwestern Shandong and other places that there are very few magpies on this day, and they all go to the sky to build magpie bridges.

There are still similar customs of begging for clever things in various parts of Zhejiang today. For example, in Hangzhou, Ningbo, Wenzhou and other places, on this day, flour is used to make various small shapes, which are fried in oil and called "Qiaoguo". Qiaoguo, lotus root, white lotus root, red water chestnut, etc. are displayed in the courtyard at night. The girl threads a needle against the moon to pray to the Weaver Girl for skill, or to catch a spider and put it in a box. If the box is opened the next day and the web has been spun, it is called a skill.

In rural areas of Shaoxing, there will be many girls secretly hiding under the lush pumpkin sheds on this night. In the dead of night, if you can hear the whispers of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl when they meet, this girl who is about to be married will In the future, you will be able to get this undying love for a thousand years.

In order to express people’s wish that the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl can live a beautiful and happy family life every day, in Jinhua, Zhejiang, every family will kill a chicken on July 7th, which means that on this night the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl will meet, if If there is no rooster to crow, they will never be separated.

In western Guangxi, it is said that on the morning of July 7th, fairies will come down to earth to take a bath. Drinking the bath water can ward off evil spirits, cure diseases and prolong life. This water is called "Double Seven Waters". When the cock crows on this day, people rush to the river to get water. After getting it back, they put it in new jars for future use.

The Qiqiao Festival in Guangzhou is unique. Before the festival, girls prepare various kinds of fancy gadgets using colored paper, grass, strings, etc., and also use cereal seeds and mung beans. Put it into a small box and soak it in water to make it germinate. When the buds grow to more than two inches long, they are used to worship gods, which are called "worshiping grass" and "worshiping vegetables". Starting from the sixth night to the seventh night of the Lunar New Year, for two consecutive nights, the girls put on new clothes and new jewelry. After everything was arranged, they burned incense and lit candles and knelt down to the stars, which was called "Welcoming the Immortals". On the fifth watch, you have to pray seven times in a row.

After worshiping the immortals, the girls hold colored threads and thread them through the needle holes in front of the lamp shadow. Those who can pass through seven needle holes in one breath are called skillful and are called skillful hands. Those who cannot pass through seven needle holes are called skillful hands. A pinhole is called losing skill. After Chinese Valentine's Day, girls give each other small crafts and toys they made to show friendship.

In Fujian, during the Chinese Valentine's Day, the Weaver Girl is asked to appreciate and taste the fruits in order to pray for her blessing for a good harvest in the coming year. Offerings include tea, wine, fresh fruits, five seeds (longan, red dates, hazelnuts, peanuts, melon seeds), flowers and pollen for women's cosmetics, and an incense burner. Usually after fasting and bathing, everyone takes turns to burn incense and worship at the altar table and pray silently for their wishes. Women not only beg for luck, but also beg for children, longevity, beauty and love.

Afterwards, everyone ate fruits, drank tea and chatted, while playing the game of begging for skill. There are two types of begging for skill: one is "divination", which uses divination tools to ask oneself whether he is clever or stupid; the other is game of skill, that is, who is clever? Whoever threads the needle quickly will get the skill, and the one who is slow is called "losing skill". The person who "loses skill" should give a small gift prepared in advance to the person who gets the skill.

Some areas also organize the "Seven Sisters Association". The "Seven Sisters Association" in each region gather in the clan hall to set up a variety of brightly colored incense tables, offering sacrifices to the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl in the distance. Made of paper, the table is filled with flowers, fruits, rouge powder, small paper floral clothes, shoes, daily necessities and embroidery, etc., a dazzling array. The "Seven Sisters Association" from different regions work hard on the incense table and compete to see who can make it more exquisitely. Today, such activities have been forgotten, and only a few clan halls still set up incense tables on this festival to worship the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. The incense table is usually ready on the seventh day of July, and people start begging the Weaver Girl for advice in the evening.

Qiaoguo is the most famous food for Qixi Festival. Qiaoguo, also known as "Qiaoguo", comes in many styles. The main materials are oil, flour, sugar and honey. During the Song Dynasty, Chinese Valentine's Day Qiaoguo was already sold in the market. The method of making Qiaoguo is as follows: first put the sugar in a pot and melt it into syrup, then add flour and sesame seeds, mix well, spread it out on the table to thin, let it cool before use Cut into long cubes with a knife, fold into spindle-shaped fruit embryos, and fry until golden brown. Women with skillful hands can also shape various patterns related to the legend of the Chinese Valentine's Day.

In addition, the melons and fruits used when begging for tricks also come in many variations: some are carved into exotic flowers and birds, or some are embossed with patterns on the surface of the melon skin; this kind of melons and fruits are called "flower melons".

Eat smart food

The food customs of the Chinese Valentine's Day vary from place to place. They are generally called eating smart food, among which there are many dumplings, noodles, nuts, wontons, etc. Festive food. Eat cloud noodles. This noodle must be made with dew. Eating it will gain ingenuity. There are also many folk pastry shops that like to make some candies in the image of the Weaver Girl, commonly known as "Qiaoren" and "Qiaosu". When selling, they are also called "Send Qiaoren". This custom has been passed down to this day in some areas. Folk activities on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month

Every year, the seventh day of the seventh lunar month is the Qixi Festival, a traditional festival of the Han people in my country. Because the main participants in this day's activities are girls, and the content of the festival activities is mainly about begging for skillful skills, people call this day "Begging for Skillful Skills Festival" or "Girls' Day", or "Girls' Day". The Chinese Valentine's Day is the most romantic festival among our country's traditional festivals, and it was also the day that girls valued most in the past. On this night, women sewed needles and begged for skills, prayed for good fortune and longevity, worshiped the Seventh Sister, the ceremony was pious and solemn, flowers, fruits and red flowers were displayed, and all kinds of furniture and utensils were exquisite, small and attractive.

On May 20, 2006, the Chinese Valentine's Day was included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage lists by the State Council.

Chinese Valentine's Day is also called "week". Wang Bo's "Qixi Festival" "Stands in the week, and the spirit is in the moonlight" compares the week with the moon, highlighting the most beautiful, but also the most poignant and touching two characters related to family and love in the four seasons of the year. night. Probably because of this, later generations called the auspicious day for men and women to get married "week".

On a clear summer and autumn night, stars are shining in the sky. A vast white Milky Way stretches across the north and south like a sky bridge. On the east and west banks of the river, there is a shining star on each side, facing each other across the river. , that is Altair and Vega.

On this romantic night, the girls laid out seasonal fruits and vegetables in front of the bright moon in the sky, worshiped the sky, and begged the fairies in the sky to give them smart hearts and dexterous hands. Her knitting skills are skillful, and she also begs for love and marriage. In the past, marriage was a lifelong event for women that determined whether they would be happy or not. Therefore, countless loving men and women in the world would spend this evening, in the quiet of the night, praying to the stars for a happy marriage. Folk activities on the seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar

The seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar every year is the Chinese traditional festival Qixi Festival.

Customs and Habits

Threading a Needle to Beg for Skills

This is the earliest way of begging for skills, which began in the Han Dynasty and spread to later generations. "Miscellaneous Notes of Xijing" says: "The colorful girls of the Han Dynasty often pierced the seven-hole needle in the Kaijin Tower on July 7th, and people practiced it." Liang Zongmou of the Southern Dynasties "Jingchu Years' Notes" said: "July 7th is the evening The women of the Qi Dynasty used gold and silver stones as needles to thread the needles through seven holes. "Wang Renyu of the Five Dynasties" "Kaiyuan Tianbao Legacy" said: "On Qixi Festival, the palace is built with brocade, a hundred feet high, which can accommodate dozens of people. Melons and fruits are cooked with wine, and seats are set up to worship the cow girl. Two stars, each with a nine-hole needle and five colored threads, will be pierced towards the moon. The one who passes by will be a lucky man, and the music of the Qing Dynasty will be played, and all the local people will enjoy it.

" Yuan Tao Zongyi's "Yeting Lu" of Yuanshi said: "Jiuyin Terrace is a place for begging for tricks on the Chinese Valentine's Day." On the evening of the evening, the palace maids went on stage and threaded the nine-tailed needle with colorful silk. The one who completed it first was regarded as a lucky one, and the one who finished it late was called a lucky loser. Each of them contributed money to give a gift to the lucky one. "

Happy spiders should beg for skill

This is also an earlier way of begging for skill. Its custom is slightly later than threading a needle to beg for skill, and it roughly started in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Liang Zongmao of the Southern Dynasty wrote "Jing Chu" "The Records of the Year" says: "It was evening, and melons and fruits were laid out in the court to beg for cleverness. If there is a happy net on the melon, it is considered to be a good match. "The Legacy of Kaiyuan Tianbao" written by Wang Renyu of the Five Dynasties said: "On July 7, everyone catches spiders in small boxes until they open at dawn; they regard the spider webs as dense and dense as a coincidence." A secret person speaks more skillfully, and a rare person speaks less skillfully. It is also practiced among the people." "Tokyo Menghua Lu" written by Meng Yuanlao of the Song Dynasty said that on July 7th, "a small spider is placed in the zygote, and if you look at it the next day, if the web is round, it is called a coincidence. "Song Zhoumi's "Qian Chun Sui Shi Ji" said: "Storage small spiders in a small box to wait for the density of the web to be a coincidence." , The next morning, I looked at the density of the net and thought it was a coincidence. "It can be seen that the methods of testing skill are different in the past dynasties. The Northern and Southern Dynasties looked at the presence or absence of the net, the Tang Dynasty looked at the density of the net, and the Song Dynasty looked at the roundness of the net. Later generations mostly followed the customs of the Tang Dynasty.

Throwing a Needle to Test Cleverness

This is a variation of the Qixi Festival custom of needlework and begging for skills. It originated from needlework, but is different from needlework. It is a popular Qixi Festival custom in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, written by Liu Tong and Yu Yizheng. "A Brief Introduction to the Scenery of the Imperial Capital" says: "A clever needle was thrown at noon on July 7th. A woman is exposed to a lot of water in the middle of the day. After a while, the water film forms on her face. When she throws an embroidery needle into it, it floats and she can see the shadow of the needle on the bottom of the water. If there are shadows of clouds, flowers, heads, birds and beasts, and if there are shadows of shoes, scissors and water eggplants, it is called begging for skill. The shadows are as thick as a hammer, as thin as silk, and as straight as a shaft of wax, which is a sign of clumsiness. "Zhili Chronicles" also says that in Liangxiang County (today's southwest of Beijing), "on July 7, women beg for skills, throw needles into the water, use the shadow of the sun to check their workmanship, and at night they are still begging for skills from the Weaver Girl." Please Yu Min The "Rixia Jiuwen Kao" quoted from "Wanshu Miscellaneous Notes" said: "On July 7th, the women of Yandu poured bowls of water into the sun, each dropped a small needle to float on the water surface, and slowly looked at the shadow of the sun on the bottom of the water. It may scatter like flowers, move like clouds, be as thin as a thread, or be as thick as a cone, because it is used to predict women's skill. ”

Lan Ye Dou Qiao

A game that originated in the Han Dynasty court. Jia Peilan, the maid of the Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty’s beloved concubine Madam Qi, left the palace to marry Duan Ru, a native of Fufeng. , often talked to people about the Chinese Valentine's Day in the Han Palace. She said: "On July 7th every year, the Han Palace first plays Khotan music by the Baizi Pond, and then uses five colored strands to tie each other, which is called 'Love each other'. Later, the palace's maids and colorful ladies went to the closed-door upstairs together to learn how to thread the Qiqiao needle and beg for skills. There was a palace maid named Xu Jieyu who could carve raw lotus roots into various exotic flowers and birds and presented them to the emperor. The emperor placed these baubles on the corners of the palace tables at night for the palace maids to search for in the dark. This kind of game is called 'fighting skill'. ”

Seeking seeds from seeds

According to the old custom, a few days before Chinese Valentine’s Day, one would first spread a layer of soil on a small wooden board, sow corn seeds, and let them produce green seedlings. , and then put some small huts, flowers and trees on it to make it look like a small village with farm houses, which is called a "shell board", or soak mung beans, adzuki beans, wheat, etc. in a magnetic bowl and wait for it to grow buds of an inch. Then tie it into a bunch with red and blue silk ropes, which is called "Zhongsheng", also called "Five-sheng pot" or "Shenghua pot". It is also called "Paoqiao" in various places in the south, and the bean sprouts that grow are called Qiao. They even use buds instead of needles and throw them on the water to beg for tricks. They also use wax to make various figures, such as characters from the story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, or the shapes of vultures, mandarin ducks, and other animals, and put them on the water to float on them. It is called "floating on the water". There are also wax baby dolls that women buy and float on the water and soil, which are considered good luck for their children and are called "huasheng".

To celebrate the birth of a cow

< p> Children will pick wild flowers and hang them on the horns of cows on the Chinese Valentine's Day, which is also called "Happying the Cow's Birthday" because it is said that after the Queen Mother of the West separated the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl with the Milky Way, the old cow asked the Cowherd to cross the Milky Way to meet the Weaver Girl. Its skin was peeled off and the cowhide was driven to see the Weaver Girl. In order to commemorate the sacrifice of the old cow, people started the custom of "celebrating the cow's birthday" [12]

Drying books and clothes<. /p>

According to records, Sima Yi was highly suspicious of Cao Cao because of his high position. In view of the political darkness at that time, in order to protect himself, he pretended to be crazy and hid at home. Emperor Wu of Wei was still not at ease. He sent a confidant, Ling Shi, to secretly investigate the truth. On July 7, Sima Yi, who was pretending to be crazy, was also posting books at home. Ling Shi went back to report to Emperor Wu of Wei. Emperor Wu of Wei immediately ordered Sima Yi to return to the court and take up his post, otherwise he would be imprisoned. Sima Yi just obeyed the order and returned to the court. There is another kind of people who express their depression in troubled times. They despise etiquette and oppose the current customs. Liu Yiqing's "Shi Shuo Xin Yu" Volume 25 said, July 7. Everyone is posting books, but only Hao Long goes to lie in the sun. When people ask him why, he replies: "I post books." On the one hand, this is to show contempt for the custom of posting books, and on the other hand, it is also to show off what he has in his heart. Showing one's belly means showing one's books. In the Wei and Jin Dynasties, Ruan Xian, one of the "Seven Sages of the Bamboo Forest", looked down upon this style. When the neighbor was drying clothes, he saw that the shelves were full of silk and satin, which were dazzling. Ruan Xian calmly picked up a shabby piece of clothing with a bamboo pole. Someone asked him what he was doing. Ear! "From these few stories, we can see how popular the custom of drying books and clothes on Chinese Valentine's Day was at that time.

What festivals and folk activities are held on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month?

Chinese Valentine’s Day is also called Qixi Festival, Qixi Festival or Girls’ Day. This day is the most important day for girls’ families. The reason why the seventh day of the seventh lunar month is called Qi Qiao is because it is said that on this day the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl will meet in the Milky Way. The girls’ families will worship the sky with melons and fruits at night and beg for skill from the goddess.

Around April 5th in the Gregorian calendar is:

Qingming Festival, also known as Grave Sweeping Festival, Ghost Festival, and Underworld Festival, is the same as the Ghost Festival on July 15th and the Ghost Festival on October 15th. The Xiayuan Festival is collectively called the Sanming Festival, and they are all related to worshiping ghosts and gods.

Qingming Festival, also called the Outing Festival, according to the solar calendar, it is between April 4th and 6th every year. It is the time when the spring scenery is bright and the grass is green, and it is also the time when people go out for spring outings. It is a good time for outing (called outing in ancient times), so the ancients had the custom of outing during Qingming Festival and carrying out a series of sports activities. Qingming Festival was also called March Festival in ancient times and has a history of more than 2,000 years.

The customs of Qingming Festival are rich and interesting. In addition to banning fires and sweeping tombs, there are also a series of customary sports activities such as outing, swinging, Cuju, playing polo, and planting willows. According to legend, this is because cold food and fire are forbidden during the Qingming Festival. In order to prevent cold food and cold meals from harming the body, everyone comes to participate in some sports activities to exercise. Therefore, this festival includes both the sad tears of paying respects to new graves and the laughter of outings. It is a unique festival. What ethnic activities are held on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month?

Chinese Valentine's Day

The seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar every year is the Chinese traditional festival, the Chinese Valentine's Day, also known as the Qiqiao Festival or Qiqiao Festival.

People in China, Korea and Japan all celebrate Chinese Valentine's Day, but because the Japanese switched to the Western Yuan Dynasty during the Meiji Restoration, the Chinese Valentine's Day was also celebrated on July 7 of the Gregorian calendar.

Shangsi Festival is an ancient traditional festival in China, commonly known as March 3rd. Before the Han Dynasty, the festival was set as Si day in early March, and later it was fixed on the third day of March in the lunar calendar. "Shangsi" first appeared in documents in the early Han Dynasty. Zheng Xuan's note in "Book of Rites of Zhou": "It was purified in the old age, and now it is like water in the third month." According to records, the Shangsi Festival was already popular during the Spring and Autumn Period. The Shangsi Festival is the most important festival in ancient times where the "purification bathing" activity was held. "The Analects of Confucius": "In late spring, the spring clothes are ready, five or six people are crowned, and six or seven boys are bathing in Qiyi, and the wind is dancing with Ug, chanting and returning." This is the situation at that time.

On the 14th day of the seventh lunar month (in some places it is the 15th day of the seventh month), Taoism calls it the Hungry Ghost Festival, Buddhism calls it the Bon Festival, and the folk used to call it the Ghost Festival, half of July. According to legend, on that day, the gate to hell will open and the ghosts in the underworld will be released. Those who have a master go home; those who don't have a master wander around, looking for food in any inaccessible place. Therefore, people hold "Pudu" in July by chanting sutras, performing rituals and other activities to generally save lonely souls to prevent them from causing harm to the world, or to pray for ghosts to help cure diseases and protect the safety of their homes. Therefore, the southern region has the custom of Pudu on this day.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is a traditional folk festival in East Asia, falling on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month every year. The Mid-Autumn Festival is not only a Chinese festival. Influenced by Chinese culture, the Mid-Autumn Festival is also a traditional festival in Japan and South Korea.

According to the Chinese lunar calendar, the eighth month of the lunar calendar is the second month of autumn. It was called Zhongqiu in ancient times, so it is called Mid-Autumn Festival among the people. It is also called Qiuxi, August Festival, August Half, and Moon Eve. , Moon Festival, and because the moon is full on this day, symbolizing reunion, it is also called the Reunion Festival.

The Lantern Festival, also known as the Lantern Festival, Lantern Festival or Lantern Festival, falls on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month every year. It is the first important festival after the Spring Festival. On this day, people eat Yuanxiao, hold lantern festivals, guess lantern riddles, and carry lanterns. In many places, there is also the custom of setting off sky lanterns. It is one of the grand folk festivals in China.

In Foshan, Guangdong, there is a traditional custom of the Lantern Festival, "Things go smoothly without any obstruction." It means that if you walk across Tongji Bridge, you will be healthy and free from any obstacles.

In Taiwan, in addition to flower lantern viewing activities and the famous Taiwan Lantern Festival, there are also sky lantern releasing activities in Pingxi Township, Taipei County in northern Taiwan. In addition, Yanshui Town in Tainan County in southern Taiwan has the famous Yanshui Cannon. In Taitung City in eastern Taiwan, there is Handanye bombing, which also mainly uses beacon cannons, but it is carried out in a different way from the Yanshui beacon cannon.

In the early days of Taiwan, there was a saying that unmarried women would steal green onions on the night of the Lantern Festival to bring good luck. As the saying goes: "Steal onions and you will marry a good husband; steal vegetables and you will marry a good son-in-law" (Taiwanese pronunciation)

Origin

According to historical records, the Lantern Festival began in the year 2,000 Many years ago during the Western Han Dynasty. According to legend, after the death of Han Hui Emperor Liu Ying, Queen Lu's family took control of the political power. After Empress Lu's death, the elders Zhou Bo and Chen Pingping rose up to quell the "Zhu Lu Rebellion" and supported Liu Heng as the leader, becoming Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty. Emperor Wen took the advice of his ministers and carefully governed the country, making the Han Empire strong and prosperous again. Because it was the fifteenth day of the first lunar month when all the Lu were wiped out, Emperor Wen would go out of the palace to play incognito and have fun with the people on this night every year as a mark of commemoration. Emperor Wen of Han therefore designated the fifteenth day of the first lunar month as the Lantern Festival.

What are the customs and habits on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month?

The seventh day of the seventh lunar month is Valentine's Day for Chinese people. Some people also call it Qixi Festival, Qixi Festival or Daughter's Day. This day is the most important day for girls' families. The reason why the seventh day of the seventh lunar month is called Qi Qiao is because it is said that on this day the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl will meet in the Milky Way. The girls’ families will worship the sky with melons and fruits at night and beg for skill from the goddess.

In addition to begging for the skills of knitting girls, they also begged for a good match in marriage. Therefore, countless loving men and women in the world will pray to the stars on this night, in the dead of night, for a happy marriage.

The bright star in the west of the Milky Way is Vega. Vega is Alpha Lyra, the brightest star in the constellation Lyra. In ancient Greece, Lyra was regarded as a lyre, the golden harp given to Orpheus by the sun god Apollo that fascinated countless people. Next to Vega, there is a small diamond shape composed of four dark stars. Legend has it that this is the shuttle used by the Weaver Girl to weave cloth.

Across the river from Vega is Alpha Aquila, the star Altair. The ancient Greeks imagined this constellation as an eagle soaring in the night sky, and Altair was the heart of the eagle.

There is a small star on each side of Altair in Aquila, both pointing to Vega. Legend has it that these two stars are two children carried by the Altair on a pole, chasing after Vega

The origin of the Chinese Valentine's Day

A long time ago, there was an orphan who lived with his brother and sister-in-law. He was smart and diligent, but his sister-in-law still disliked him and drove him up the mountain to herd cattle before dawn. Everyone called him Niu. Lang. A few years later, the brother's sister-in-law and the Cowherd separated, and Langxin's sister-in-law only gave him a shabby hut and an old cow. From then on, the Cowherd herded the cows and chopped firewood during the day, and slept in the shabby hut with the old cow at night. One day, the Cowherd drove his cattle into a strange forest, where there were beautiful mountains and green waters, and the birds were singing and the flowers were fragrant. The Cowherd saw nine fairies riding auspicious clouds and landing on the grass of the river. Then they took off their colorful clothes and jumped into the crystal clear river water. The Cowherd stared at the youngest and most beautiful fairy in trance. The old cow suddenly spoke: "She is the Weaver Girl in the sky. As long as you take away the colorful clothes, she will be your wife." The Cowherd quietly walked along the tree and quietly took away the colorful clothes of the Weaver Girl. When it was almost noon, other fairies put on colorful clothes and drove away on auspicious clouds. Only the Weaver Girl, who could not find the colorful clothes, remained. At this time, the Cowherd came out from behind the tree and asked the Weaver Girl to be his wife. When the Weaver Girl saw that the Cowherd was loyal, honest, hard-working and strong, she nodded shyly. After the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl got married, the men farmed and the women weaved, respecting and loving each other. Two years later, the Weaver Girl gave birth to a boy and a girl. However, the Emperor of Heaven was furious when he heard that the Weaver Girl was marrying a human being. On the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, the Queen Mother was ordered to lead the heavenly soldiers and generals to capture the Weaver Girl. The grief-stricken Cowherd, with the help of the old cow, carried his children in a radish basket and chased them up to the sky. Seeing that he had caught up, the Queen Mother pulled out the golden hairpin and stroked it, and a turbulent Milky Way immediately appeared under the Cowherd's feet. The Weaver Girl with a broken heart and the Cowherd carrying his son on his shoulders, one in the east of the river and the other in the west of the river, looked at each other and wept from a distance. The cry moved the magpies. In an instant, countless magpies flew to the Tianhe River and built a magpie bridge. The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl could finally meet on the magpie bridge. The Queen Mother had no choice but to allow the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl to meet on the bridge once every year on the seventh day of July.

Of course, this is just a legend. The ritual of begging for cleverness originated from the original belief of the ancient Weaver Girl and Mulberry God. This belief combined with the saying that the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl meet every year on July 7 has become our current folk belief of Qixi Qiao.

In our country, the seventh day of the seventh lunar month is commonly known as the "Qixi Festival", and some also call it the "Qiqiao Festival" or "Daughter's Day". This is the most romantic festival among traditional Chinese festivals. It was also the day that girls valued most in the past. In fact, not only the Han people, but also the Zhuang, Manchu and Korean people also have the custom of "Qixi Festival". However, as the Western "Valentine's Day" spread to China, the "Qixi Festival" gradually became known as China's "Valentine's Day". However, her influence among young people is far less than that of the Western "Valentine's Day" which falls on February 14th of the Gregorian calendar every year. Not only that, but a festival with such a long history, profound cultural connotation, and such beautiful legends is getting less and less valued by society and is becoming more and more neglected. Is the world changing too fast? Or is the festival not modern enough to keep up with the times? Will the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl really be abandoned by the Chinese? The neglect of the "Qixi Festival" forces us to focus on the rise and fall of traditional Chinese festivals. The seventh day of the seventh lunar month - Qixi Festival

One of the folk love legends is the story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl.

The Chinese Valentine's Day has always been connected with the legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. This is a very beautiful love story that has been passed down through the ages and is one of the four major folk love legends in my country.

According to legend, a long time ago, there was a smart and loyal young man in Niujiazhuang in the west of Nanyang City. His parents died early, so he had to live with his brother and sister-in-law. His sister-in-law, Ma, was vicious and often abused him and forced him to He did a lot of work. One autumn, his sister-in-law forced him to herd cattle and gave him nine cows, but asked him to wait until he had ten cows before he could go home. The Cowherd had no choice but to drive the cows out of the village.

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One day, the Weaver Girl from the sky and the fairies came down to earth to play and bathe in the river. With the help of the old cow, the Cowherd met the Weaver Girl, and the two fell in love with each other. Later, the Weaver Girl secretly descended to the human world and became the Cowherd's wife. The Weaver Girl also distributed the silkworms brought from the sky to everyone, and taught everyone how to raise silkworms, draw silk, and weave shiny silk and satin.

After the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl got married, the man farmed and the woman weaved, and they were deeply in love. They gave birth to two children, a boy and a girl, and the family lived happily. But the good times did not last long, and the Emperor of Heaven soon knew about this. The Queen Mother came down to earth in person and forcibly took Weaver Girl back to heaven, and the loving couple was separated.

The Cowherd had no way to go to heaven, so the old cow told the Cowherd that after its death, its skin could be used to make shoes, and he could go to heaven wearing them. The Cowherd did as Lao Niu told him, put on his cowhide shoes, took his children with him, and went up to the sky to chase the Weaver Girl. When he saw that he was about to catch up, the Queen Mother took off the golden hairpin from her head and waved it, and a turbulent wave came out. The Tianhe appeared, and the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl were separated on both sides and could only cry to each other. Their loyal love moved the magpies. Thousands of magpies flew to build a magpie bridge for the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl to walk on the magpie bridge to meet each other. The Queen Mother had no choice but to allow the two to meet on the magpie bridge every July 7th.

Later, every seventh day of the seventh lunar month, when it is said that the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl met on the Magpie Bridge, the girls would come to the flowers in front of the moon and look up at the stars, looking for Altair and Vega on both sides of the Milky Way, hoping to see them. They meet once a year, begging God to make them as ingenious as the Weaver Girl, and praying that they can have a happy marriage as they wish, thus forming the Chinese Valentine's Day. April 5th in the Gregorian calendar is the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, the fifteenth day of the eighth month in the lunar calendar, and the ninth day of the ninth month in the lunar calendar.

What festival is it and what folk activities are there?

April 5 of the Gregorian Calendar = Qingming Festival = Chinese people sweep their graves

The fifth day of the fifth lunar month = Dragon Boat Festival = dragon boat racing and making rice dumplings

The seventh day of the seventh lunar month = Chinese Valentine's Day = Chinese people pair up in pairs

The fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month = Mid-Autumn Festival = admiring the moon and eating moon cakes

The ninth day of the ninth lunar month = Double Ninth Festival = Respect for the Aged Day

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