Chinese Valentine's Day Notes Prose

It’s the seventh day of the seventh lunar month again, the day when the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl meet. Qixi Festival, also known as July 7th in rural areas, is a festival celebrated every year in cities. Maybe no one pays attention to this festival, it is just a day in legends and stories, nothing surprising. Nowadays, young people are following the fashion and call it Chinese Valentine's Day. Couples send each other gifts and have dinner together in the evening to spend a romantic Chinese Valentine's Day night.

I don’t know which dynasty or generation the legend of the Chinese Valentine’s Day originated from. I only know that I heard my grandma tell the story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl as soon as I can remember. When I was a child, I spent every summer evening enjoying the shade in the yard or outside the gate. The ground was covered with straw curtains made of reeds. At that time, every household would enjoy the shade outside, and the grandmothers in every household would tell stories. Grandma shook the banana fan, shooed away the mosquitoes, and told stories about ghost foxes. The ghost foxes she told were all spiritual and repaying ghosts, just like the ghost foxes in Pu Songling's Liaozhai stories. What I love most is the story told by my grandma about the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. I like the old cow, the hard-working and kind-hearted Cowherd, and the beautiful and passionate Weaver Girl. After listening to the story, I realized that the colorful clouds in the sky were originally woven by the Weaver Girl. Every day when I see the morning glow and sunset in the sky, I think, Oh, the Weaver Girl is busy weaving the colorful clouds again. If you don't see it, you will think that Zhi Nu is in a bad mood today. Without Zhi Caixia, she must be thinking about her children and her Cowherd.

Grandma’s belly has many stories, but she never tires of hearing the story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. I hate the Queen Mother so much that she separated a pair of lovers on both sides of the Milky Way, making them face each other across the river but not be together. Their life in the world is so wonderful, why must they be separated? Later, I heard and read many stories similar to this story. There are many stories, such as the Legend of White Snake, the Match of the Immortal... none of them are as attractive as this story. Man, so lovable. The heroes and heroines in those stories all lived a happy life together for only a few days before they were separated. But the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl lived together for several years and had a son and a daughter. The place where they live is also beautiful. There is a small river in front of the house and mountains behind the house. They live in a place with mountains and water. How wonderful it is. Without the Queen Mother's meddling, they could have lived together for many years and lived a happy and happy life for many years. But the Queen Mother insisted on intervening and breaking them up, which is why such a sad and touching story came about.

When I was a child, I was enjoying the cool weather outside and looking up at the night sky. My grandma pointed out which star was Altair and which one was Vega. Those dense stars, connected together into a wide one is the Milky Way. There is a small star in front and behind the Cowherd that is not very bright, which is their two children. The Cowherd is carrying them, waiting for the annual Magpie Bridge Party by the Milky Way. Sometimes I think, if the Cowherd and his two children wait there for a year, aren't they hungry? Isn't it tiring for the Cowherd to carry the child all the time? It's quite funny now that I think about it, a bit unfounded. When I was young, I didn’t feel like I was worrying too much. My grandma said that you can hear the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl talking under the grape trellis at night. Every Chinese Valentine's Day, I look forward to getting dark. When it gets dark, you can hear the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl whispering. It was often dark and I fell asleep, and I never heard their whispers once. Grandma said that the magpies were not at home on the Chinese Valentine's Day. They all went to build magpie bridges for the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl in the sky. I really believe this. Every time I see magpies, I feel respect for them. I feel that they are the best birds in the world. They have been to the sky. I feel that they are extraordinary birds and birds that bring people happiness. From the bottom of my heart. Like them. To this day, I still have an indescribable love for magpies. Although they often go to the orchard to peck at red apples, I don’t hate them even if a good big apple is pecked into pieces.

In rural areas, Chinese Valentine’s Day is a medium-sized festival, and everyone celebrates it. I don’t know which dynasty or generation passed down this custom, but on the eve of the Chinese Valentine’s Day, on the fifth day of the seventh lunar month, women start to get busy. Get up early in the morning and post it. Add sugar water to the noodles. If you live in poverty, add some saccharin water. The noodles will have a sweet taste. When the dough is open, knead it vigorously on the chopping board until it is smooth and delicate. Divide the kneaded dough into small pieces, then knead it smooth. At this time, take out a special small mold. It is a mold carved from mahogany or pear wood. Various models are engraved on it, including leaf-shaped ones. , there are peach-shaped ones, as well as small fish-shaped ones, cicada-shaped ones, butterfly-shaped ones, small basket-shaped ones, and lotus seed-shaped ones. They are all carved by the skilled farmers themselves.

There can be five or six carvings on a wooden board, some seven or eight, and some ten. Put the kneaded dough balls one by one into the mold, press them flat with your hands, and knock them on the panel. The pills turned into small gadgets with different shapes, each as big as three or four centimeters. They were small and exquisite and very cute. When everything is done, put them in a pot and bake them. Such gadgets don't require much firewood, just wheat straw. Bake them until they are browned on both sides and they are done. This is what rural people call small fruit, and some are also called Qiaoguo. Put them aside to cool, then use needle and thread to string them into a string, put a few crab apples or red fruits in the middle, and hang them around the child's neck. I can't remember the details. I just remember that the children all ate it not long after I hung it up.

There are also larger molds, the one is as big as seven or eight centimeters, and there can be three or two patterns in one. Once it is cooked and cooked, anyone can eat it. These are all made on the fifth day of the lunar month. On the sixth day of the lunar month, people should make sesame cakes, also called fire-shaking, which is also a woman's job. Anyway, don’t celebrate the festival. During the festival, women have to be busy and tired. People like to put some fillings in sesame cakes, either brown sugar or white sugar. If there are peanut kernels, fry them and break them into pieces, then mix them with white sugar or brown sugar. It will be fragrant, sweet and especially delicious. These sesame cakes are also cooked over slow fire before they taste good. Some are impatient and the two sides are browned and not yet cooked, so they take them out and steam them in a big pot, which makes them taste worse.

The Chinese Valentine's Day is a time of leisure for farmers. After the work in the fields is done, it is time to wait for the autumn harvest. There is nothing to do, so women love to go back to their parents' home on this day and take home the sesame seed cakes and Qiaoguo they made. Take the kids with you and go back to your parents’ home. Bring the sesame cakes to your parents to try, and the sweet fruits to your nieces and nephews. The family had a lively meal together, chatting about household chores, crops, and children. The day passed by talking and laughing. Children at that time had no snacks to eat, and small sweet fruits were their best snack. Every Chinese Valentine's Day, the streets and alleys were full of children with sweet fruits hanging around their necks. They competed with each other to see whose sweet fruits were the most delicious. I think my Qiaoguo is delicious. They refuse to give in to each other and sometimes even fight. At this time, the Qiaoguo string hung around the neck became a tool for pulling each other. Whoever's Qiaoguo string was torn into pieces would cry loudly. The child who was in trouble quickly comforted him and went home to find a needle and thread to help thread it again. stand up.

In the past, the Qixi Festival was also called the Qiao Qiao Festival. On this day, girls put a basin of water in the sun to dry. There was a layer of water on top of the water when it was exposed to the sun. Several girls gathered together and gently put the silver needle used for sewing clothes in the water. If the needle floated on the water, the girls laughed happily and sank. The bottom of the water pouted unhappily. Some people say that if you float on the water, you will be successful in begging for luck, but if you float on the water, you will be unsuccessful. Some girls also set up a table in the yard in the dead of night, put a few kinds of fresh fruits on the table, homemade sweet fruits, light a ray of fragrance, and silently bow to the sky for a few times. Then take out a silver needle and a piece of silk thread, and thread the needle in the dark. If it is threaded, it means the begging is successful, otherwise it means unsuccessful. Girls at that time hoped that Weaver Girl could pass on a little bit of her intelligence to them. It's quite interesting, isn't it? Yes, the Weaver Girl can weave beautiful clouds, so it’s not an exaggeration to call her Qiaojie.

More than 20 years ago, I learned how to make Qiaoguo and bake it with my grandmother at home. Married, no children at home. Not being able to show off my craft. After having my son, I had the opportunity to show off my skills. I remember when my son was just two years old, I was frying Qiao Guo in a pot. The almost ripe smell is very attractive and particularly sweet. The son circled the pot greedily and kept asking, "Mom, what did you do?" I told him it was delicious. The son opened his little hands and shouted, I want to eat, I want to eat. The freshly ripe qiaoguo was hot, so my son wanted to eat it if he could wait. I told him to wait until it cooled down before eating. Then he looked there motionless, and then asked, "Mom, can I eat it?" After finally waiting for them to cool down, my son couldn't wait to put them in his mouth to eat. As soon as he ate them, he spit them out and said they were not delicious. Seeing his son's look like that, I couldn't help but burst out laughing. Yes, my son, who was born in 1994, has endless snacks, biscuits, breads, and cakes. Those made from white flour are of course not as delicious as what he usually eats. Although eggs, cooked peanut oil, and sugar were put into the noodles, which made them taste fragrant and sweet, my son still didn't like to eat them. There was no way, this craft was scrapped amidst my son’s protest that it didn’t taste good.

Many years have passed, and no one makes Qiao Guo any more during the Chinese Valentine's Day. Those small and exquisite molds have become decorations, and maybe they will become antiques in a few years. No one is begging for skills anymore, and no one is doing needlework anymore. What do you need such skillful hands for? I don’t know anything, but I can still make popular food and drink spicy food. There are still people who make Huo Shao. After all, it is a staple food for northerners. When they get tired of eating steamed buns, they make Huo Shao to change their taste. They don’t just do it during the Chinese Valentine’s Day. They do it whenever they want. But it must be done on the Qixi Festival, and there are only a few symbolic things left in the Qixi Festival. The custom of returning to one's parents' home during the Chinese Valentine's Day still remains, and we no longer bring fires to burn when we go home. With so many good things, who would miss these noodles?

Regarding the Chinese Valentine's Day, today's children will never know anything else except the legendary story, and this story is becoming increasingly dim in their memories. In their view, the Chinese Valentine's Day is their Eastern Valentine's Day, which has no other meaning except flowers, chocolates and gifts. They enjoy the joy that belongs to them and the happiness that belongs to them. As for the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, it is just a story. Just listen to it and forget it. There is no need to feel sad. Now that the autumn wind is starting to blow, it's cool and pleasant, it's really about having fun, why bother thinking so much. It’s the annual Chinese Valentine’s Day again, and the smell of roasted food wafts through the streets. Thinking of the long past, I feel a little emotional. Writing this can be regarded as an interpretation of the Chinese Valentine's Day.