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Story 10: Dragon Boat Festival Story
Qixi Festival
Author: Anonymous
Tangram Festival
The seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar is Valentine’s Day for Chinese people. Some people also call it 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 believed 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, hoping to get it.
Begging for cleverness, they not only beg for the skills of knitting women but also beg for a clever match in marriage. Therefore, countless loving men and women in the world will pray to the stars on this night, in the quiet of the night, for a happy marriage.
In Fujian Province, Guangdong Province, and Southeast Asia, it is most popular to worship the Seventh Sister on Chinese Valentine’s Day. This was indeed a big festival for my daughter’s family in the old days. Most provinces have the Qiqiao Festival to celebrate Chinese Valentine’s Day, but most of them celebrate it as a general celebration. Fujian and Guangzhou provinces attach great importance to it, especially Guangdong Province. Everyone joins in the fun, which is very grand.
When talking about the Qiqiao Festival, we have to mention the popular love story among Chinese people – the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. The Chinese Valentine’s Day, when they meet once a year, is regarded as a symbol of love by passionate children. The tragedy of their love has left a deep impression in the hearts of every Chinese. Therefore, every Chinese Valentine’s Day night, lovers will pray to the dark night sky for eternal love.
Of course, this is just a legend. The ritual of begging for clever things originated from the original belief of the ancient Weaver Girl and Mulberry God. This belief was combined with the saying that the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl met every year on July 7, and became our current folk belief of Qixi Qiao.
The Legend of 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 hard-working, but his sister-in-law still disliked him. When the fish was not shining, they drove him to the mountains to herd cattle. Everyone called him the Cowherd. After the New Year, the brother and sister-in-law separated from the Cowherd. At home, Lang Xin’s sister-in-law only gave him a dilapidated room and an old cow. From then on, the Cowherd herded the cows and chopped firewood during the day, and slept in the broken room 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. Ke was fascinated, and then 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 Weaver Girl. colorful neon clothes. 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 walked out from behind the tree and asked the Weaver Girl to be his wife. The Weaver Girl saw that the Cowherd was honest, hard-working, and strong and 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 boy. 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 Heavenly Troopers to capture the Weaver Girl.
The grief-stricken Cowherd, with the help of the old cow, carried his children in radish baskets and chased them to heaven. Seeing that he had caught up, the Queen Mother pulled off the golden hairpin and made a turbulent Milky Way appear under the Cowherd’s feet.
The heartbroken Weaver Girl and the Cowherd who cared for children, one in the east of the river and the other in the west of the river. Looking at each other in the distance, the magpies were moved by their cries. 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. Wang The 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.
