Today is the Chinese Valentine's Day. Where did it come from?

Introduction to the Qixi Festival

In my 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 Qixi Festival, and some people also call it the "Qiao Qiao Festival" ” or “Daughter’s 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 side of the east and west banks of the river, facing each other across the river, facing each other from a distance. 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, on this night every year, it is the time 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.

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 goddess in the sky to give them intelligent hearts and dexterous hands, so that 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.

The origin and legend of Qixi Festival

Qixi Festival is about begging for skill. This festival originated in the Han Dynasty. Ge Hong’s "Xijing Miscellaneous Notes" of the Eastern Jin Dynasty states that "Han colorful girls often wear seven holes on July 7th." The record of "needling in the Kaijin Tower and everyone getting used to it" 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 would have a night banquet in the Qing Palace every Chinese Valentine's Day, and the ladies would beg for tricks. This custom also endured among the people and continued from generation to generation.

During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, the Qixi Festival begging for skillful things was quite grand. There was also a market specializing in begging for skillful items in the capital, which was known as the Qiqiao Market. "Drunkard's Talk" compiled by Luo Ye and Jin Ying of the Song Dynasty said: "On 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 were blocked and blocked one after another. , no more can be found, and they disperse at night." Here, from the grand occasion of purchasing begging items in the Qiqiao Market, we can infer the lively scene of the Qixi 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.

About the legend 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 has become one of the four major folk love legends in my country.

According to legend, a long time ago, there was a clever man in Niujiazhuang in the west of Nanyang City. A loyal young man, his parents died young, so he had to live with his elder brother and sister-in-law. His sister-in-law, Ma, was cruel and often abused him and forced him to do a lot of work. One autumn, his sister-in-law forced him to herd cattle and gave him nine cows. He was told 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.

The Cowherd drove the cows into the mountain alone. On the mountain with deep grass and dense forests, he sat under a tree and was sad. He didn’t know when he would be able to drive ten cows home. At this time, someone An old man with white beard and hair appeared in front of him and asked him why he was sad. After learning what happened to him, he smiled and said to him: "Don't be sad. There is an old cow that is sick in Funiu Mountain. Go and feed it well." After the old cow recovers, you can drive it home.

The Cowherd traveled a long way over the mountains and finally found the sick old cow. When he saw that the old cow was seriously ill, he went to get bundles of grass for the old cow and fed it for three days. When the old cow was full, he raised his head and told him: He was the great gray cow in the sky. After breaking the rules of heaven, he was demoted to heaven, broke his leg and could not move. His injury needed to be washed with the dew of flowers for a month to heal. The Cowherd did not fear the hard work and took care of the old cow carefully for a month. During the day, he took care of the old cow. He picked flowers and collected dew to heal his wounds, and slept next to the old cow at night. After the old cow recovered, the cowherd happily drove ten cows home.

After returning home, his sister-in-law was still unhappy with him. Well, she tried to harm him several times, but the old cow tried to save him. Finally, the sister-in-law got angry and drove the Cowherd out of the house. The Cowherd only wanted the old cow to accompany him.

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

After the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl got married, the man farmed and the Weaver Girl 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.

The custom of begging for clever tricks on 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 the seventh lunar month.

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

The activities of begging for cleverness in Jinan, Huimin, Gaoqing and other places in Shandong are very simple. They just display fruits and beg for cleverness. If there is a spider web on the melon and fruit, it means begging for cleverness. 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.

The Qiqiao Festival activities in some places 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 meeting 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.

Similar begging customs still exist 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 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 7, which means that on this night the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl will meet. 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, 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 to 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 in their hands 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 fruit, 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 "loser of 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 and 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. "Tokyo Menghualu" calls it "laughing tired children" and "fruit-eating patterns", and the patterns include Na Xiang, Fang Sheng, etc. During the Song Dynasty, Chinese Valentine's Day Qiaoguo was already sold in the street 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".

To this day, Chinese Valentine's Day is still a romantic traditional festival. 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.