Traditional Valentine's Day in China

Flowers are similar year after year, and people are different year after year. It's February of the year 14. Today is Valentine's Day in the West, also called Saint Valentine's Day. This is a festival about love, romance, flowers, chocolates and greeting cards. On this day, men and women exchange gifts to show their love or friendship. Valentine's Day dinner date usually represents the key to the development of the relationship. It has become a popular festival for young people all over the world. Halloween, Christmas, Valentine's Day and other exotic festivals are attracting more and more attention from young people in China. Some traditional festivals in China can be ignored or ignored, but these western festivals always bubble in the circle of friends and say festive greetings to close lovers. . . I won't talk about this phenomenon, such as saving China and destroying the ocean. Today, I will popularize three traditional Valentine's Days in ancient China: First, the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first month; Second, the third day of the third lunar month; Third, Valentine's Day in China (also called Begging for Clevership Festival) falls on the seventh day of July. The romance and affection of the ancients are always sent in beautiful and moving poems! "Last year's Lantern Festival, the lights at the flower market were as bright as day. The moon rose to the willow tree, and he met me at dusk. On the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first month of this year, the moonlight and lights are still the same as last year. I didn't see it last year, tears wet the sleeves of the spring shirt. " (Ouyang Xiu gave birth to Zi Yuanxi) Between the moon and the lamp, wait for the bright-eyed Iraqis. However, several families are happy and several are sad. Some people lead their lovers to spend the Lantern Festival, and some people lose their favorite people. Looking at the lovers in the street, they are sad. What a classic Valentine's Day scene! Xin Qiji also recorded his legendary course of picking up girls during the Lantern Festival in Jade Box. Yuanxi: "Thousands of trees bloom in the east wind night, and the stars are like rain. BMW cars are full of incense, the phoenix moves, the jade pot turns bright, and the fish dragon dances all night. Moths, snow, willows, gold thread, laughter and incense are all gone. The crowd searched for him for thousands of Baidu, and suddenly looking back, the man was in the dim light. " On the night of the Lantern Festival, it was very lively, with horses and chariots, gongs and drums, brightly lit, folk artists singing and dancing, and the "social fire" was extremely lively and dizzying. The girl watching the lanterns is covered with moths and snow willows unique to the Lantern Festival in the clouds and fog. These girls in clothes have been talking and laughing when they walk. After they left, only the smell of clothes was still floating in the dark. These beautiful women, who are not concerned by the author's original intention, just look for one person among hundreds of people-but they are always hard to find. The anxious low-paid man searched again and again, and she almost despaired to send a search for you to Baidu. Suddenly, her eyes lit up and she was clearly seen in the corner of the lamp next to her! It's her! Yes, she used to be in this cold place, but she hasn't come back yet. She seems to be waiting! So, we don't know whether the old-timer did it or not. In ancient times, women, especially their wives and Jasper, were "three steps away from the boudoir" on ordinary days of the year, and they could only go out on special festivals such as the Lantern Festival. Since the custom of decorating lanterns on the Lantern Festival came into being, it is a great event to watch lanterns on the fifteenth day of the first month in all dynasties. Lantern Festival provides an opportunity for unmarried men and women in feudal traditional society to get to know each other. Unmarried men and women can also play with each other and find objects for themselves by watching lanterns, so Lantern Festival becomes the first Valentine's Day in a year. "On the third day of March, it was a sunny day, and many beauties enjoyed the cool air by the Chang 'an River. Good at accepting, indifferent, sweet and sincere, soft and delicate skin and well-proportioned bones. " (Du Fu's "The Second Way") On the Shangsi Festival, there were many young and beautiful ladies beside the Chang 'an Waterfront, who were not only beautiful, but also fair-skinned and in good shape. They were all men's dream lovers. Since they are all beautiful women, there are bound to be talented people on the news, chanting poems in succession to show coquettish posture and please beautiful women. Shangsi Festival: According to legend, the birthday of the Yellow Emperor is on the third day of March, and there is "February 2, the dragon looks up; I was born in Xuanyuan on March 3rd. In order to celebrate the birthday of the Yellow Emperor, people will go out for a spring outing or hold a banquet by the water on March 3rd. Before the Han Dynasty, there was the custom of sexual intercourse. Later, the ethical code rose and the custom of sexual intercourse disappeared. But at that time, the communication between men and women was still freer than later generations, and young men and women would still go for an outing in the suburbs on the same day. In the Southern Song Dynasty, ethics became stricter, and Shangsi Festival declined in Chinese culture. In the Book of Songs, Shangsi Festival is called Valentine's Day in China. If so, Valentine's Day in China is earlier than Valentine's Day in the West 1000 years! Shangsi Festival is still an ancient and romantic festival, which can only be seen in many ethnic minority areas in modern times. The magpie bridge meets "clouds are clever, flying stars spread grievances, and silver and Han are dark." "Goldwind meets high curative value and wins, but there are countless people in the world. Common complaint against acacia, tender feelings like water, meet each other as if it were a dream, when it is hard to see the bridge. If two people's feelings are long-lasting, they will always be there "(Qin Guan's Que Qiaoxian). Valentine's Day in China is also called Beggar's Day, Chinese Valentine's Day and Daughter's Day. . . Valentine's Day in China began in the Western Han Dynasty and flourished in the Song Dynasty. In ancient times, Valentine's Day in China was an exclusive festival for beautiful girls. Among the numerous folk customs of Qixi, some have gradually disappeared, but quite a few have been continued by people. In fact, China's Valentine's Day is not to commemorate the love of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, but to worship the star (actress Wu), which later evolved into a mythical goddess, also known as "Seven Sisters" and "Seven Mothers" among the people. Valentine's Day in China is a festival for women, and the Weaver Girl is regarded as the goddess of textiles and lovers, the protector of women and children. July 7th is the birthday of Weaver Girl. On the night of the seventh day of July, it is inevitable that ordinary women beg her for wisdom and skillful skills and ask for a happy marriage. The trick of Qixi is to pray for ingenuity to Seven Sisters (Weaver Girl), hoping for a happy marriage and a happy family. In the past, beautiful girls begged Qi Jie to teach her clever skills. In fact, the so-called "seeking cleverness" is just "fighting cleverness". After historical development, Tanabata has been endowed with the beautiful love legend of "Cowherd and Weaver Girl", making it a festival symbolizing love, thus being regarded as the most romantic traditional festival in China, and even having the cultural meaning of "China Valentine's Day" in contemporary times. In ancient times, men and women celebrated Valentine's Day in a subtle way. At most, they just watch the scenery and recite poems together, and they are often a group of people, and they rarely have the opportunity to get along alone, otherwise gossip will spread. How did ancient men "pick up girls"? Unlike today's men chasing women, most of them are "straight to the point." Ancient men pursued women and paid more attention to "routines". Affectionate men may take off their Yu Pei and give it to women to express their love, while budding women will gently leave their carefully sewn sachets, wallets, handkerchiefs and other small objects to convey their wishes. Today's society can no longer reproduce the scene of ancient lively parties. Although the shopping mall is more high-end, it doesn't have that romantic feeling, and compared with the traditional Valentine's Day gift of flowers and chocolates, the intimate tokens sent by the ancients are more meaningful. Therefore, although the ancients were subtle, they were more romantic than us. Traditional Valentine's Day in China 2 The origin and significance of Valentine's Day in China The origin of Chinese Valentine's Day, also known as Qiqiao, Qiqiao or Seven Sisters's birthday, originated in China and is a traditional festival in China and some East Asian countries influenced by Chinese culture. On the night of the seventh or sixth day of the seventh lunar month, women beg for wisdom from the weaver girl in the yard, so they are called "begging for wisdom". It originated from the worship of nature and women's needlework, and was later endowed with the legend of Cowherd and Weaver Girl, making it a festival symbolizing love. On May 20th, 2006, China Valentine's Day was listed in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage by People's Republic of China (PRC) and the State Council, and now it is considered as "Valentine's Day in China". Qixi Qiqiao originated in the Han Dynasty. Ge Hong's Miscellaneous Notes on Xijing in the Eastern Jin Dynasty records that "women in the Han Dynasty often wear seven-hole needles on July 7 in the building, and everyone wears them", which is the earliest record of begging for cleverness in ancient literature we have seen. In later Tang and Song poems, women's begging for cleverness was repeatedly mentioned. In the Tang Dynasty, Wang Jian wrote a poem "The stars are bright and the pearls are bright, and Gong E is busy begging for cleverness". According to "The Legacy of Kaiyuan Tianbao", every time Emperor Taizong and his concubines held a banquet in the Qing Palace on Tanabata, the ladies-in-waiting begged with their own ingenuity. This custom is also enduring among the people and passed down from generation to generation. On the occasion of Chinese Valentine's Day in Song and Yuan Dynasties, Chinese Valentine's Day was quite grand, and there was also a market in the capital, which monopolized Qiao Qi's goods and was called Qiaoqi City by the world. Song He's series "Talking about Drunken Weng" said: "Tanabata, the property is a gimmick. From July 1 ST, horses and chariots were swallowed, and three days before Chinese Valentine's Day, horses and chariots were not allowed to pass, and they stopped driving again and again until the night. " Here, we can infer the lively scene of the Jocci Festival from the grand occasion of buying Qiao Qi goods from Qiao Qi. People have been putting up flattering articles since the first day of July, and people are coming and going in the flattering market. By the time of Tanabata, the market of Qiqiao was already crowded with people, as if it were the biggest festival-Spring Festival, which showed that Qiqiao Festival was one of the favorite festivals of the ancients. Today, Tanabata is still a romantic traditional festival. However, many customs have weakened or disappeared. Only the legend of Cowherd and Weaver Maid, which symbolizes faithful love, is circulated among the people, so some people call China's Valentine's Day "China's Valentine's Day". Tanabata is China's Valentine's Day. What about February 14? Double seven: this day, month and day are all seven, so it is called, also called seven. Xiangri: According to legend, the cowherd and the weaver girl meet on Tanabata, and the weaver girl should dress up, paint and even smell the fragrance all over the sky, hence the name. Week: Cowherd and Weaver Girl have special status, and they can only meet once a year, so this day is called week. Wang Bo's Tanabata Fu "Stay in the Week, Full Moon and Evening" compares the week with the moon and evening, and points out the two most beautiful and touching nights related to family and love in a year. Because of this, later generations call the auspicious day for men and women to get married "Zhou". Qiaoxi: It is called Qiaoxi because there is a custom of pleasing on Qixi. Women's Day: Valentine's Day in China is called Women's Day, also called Girls' Day and Girls' Day, because girls worship immortals and strive for cleverness. Blue Night: The seventh month of the lunar calendar was called "blue moon" in ancient times, so Tanabata is also called "blue night". Children's Day: It's called because the customs such as being clever and begging for books are mostly done by girls and boys. Needle-piercing Festival: It is called this day because of the custom of needle-piercing. Moral of Tanabata: Actually, the Begging Festival is not to commemorate the love of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, but to commemorate the Weaver Girl, also known as "Seven Sisters" among the people. Begging for Qiao Festival is a festival for women, and Weaver Girl is regarded as the goddess of textile. On the night of the seventh day of July, ordinary women beg her for wisdom and skillful skills, and they will inevitably ask for a happy marriage. The method of seeking cleverness varies from time to time, and the most famous one is to seek cleverness by threading needles, that is, whoever wears needles quickly will be "clever", and those who fail to be clever will be called "clever", and those who fail to be clever will give prepared gifts to the skillful; Spider silk begging is to put a little spider in a box and see the density of its web; During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it was popular to plunge needles into pots to check whether they were "clever". Besides needlework, there are spiders who should be clever, throw needles to test cleverness, conceive children, hang books and clothes for Niu Qingsheng, worship "grinding and drinking music", worship the weaver girl, worship the kuixing star, eat proper fruit, celebrate the birthday of the seventh sister, dye nails, wash women's hair, tie ancient bridges and worship the seventh mother. Later, this "Jojo Festival" also spread to Southeast Asia, Japan and South Korea. China Traditional Valentine's Day 3 When is the real Valentine's Day in China? The seventh day of the seventh lunar month is usually called China Valentine's Day. Origin of Valentine's Day in China: 1. The ancient astrology culture in China has a long history and is profound. The ancients began to explore the mysteries of the universe from a very young age, and thus deduced a complete and profound star-watching culture. Cowherd and Weaver Girl is a typical example. The legend of Cowherd and Weaver Girl on Tanabata originates from people's worship of natural phenomena. As early as ancient times, the ancients who pursued order not only planned the sky in an orderly way. 2. This correspondence is called "dividing stars" in astronomy and "dividing fields" on the ground. Simply put, the ancients corresponded each constellation in the sky with the physical geographical area on the ground. The purpose of ancient star division and demarcation is mainly to cooperate with astrology theory for astronomical observation. In ancient galaxies. 3. Taurus consists of six stars, located on the east bank of the Milky Way, like two inverted triangles, with distinctive upper and lower parts, but the triangle above is bigger and brighter. The small triangle below is located on the ecliptic. These stars make up a cow with two horns on its head but only three feet, so the ancients called it Petunia. 4. There are nine little stars in the south of this cow, which constitutes the Tian Tian, where it cultivates. Looking south, near the southern horizon, "Jiukan" has nine stars, which is a lowland for storing water and irrigating farmland. The east of Niusu is next to the "Luo Yan" No.3 star, which is a water conservancy facility similar to a reservoir. 5. The three stars of "Weaver Girl" are located in the north of Niusu, among which "Weaver Girl 1" is the fifth brightest star in the whole day, second only to "arcturus", so it is often called "Vega" directly. People refer to "Altair" and "Vega" as "Cowherd and Weaver Girl". Extended data:

China's Valentine's Day-China's Valentine's Day custom: 1, Xiangqiao Club: In Yixing, Jiangsu, there is the custom of Xiangqiao Club on Qixi. Every year on Tanabata, someone will participate and build a fragrant bridge. The so-called incense bridge is a bridge with a length of four or five meters and a width of about half a meter, which is made of all kinds of thick and long incense-wrapped paper. It is equipped with railings and decorated with flowers made of five-color lines. At night, people worship the double stars and pray for good luck. 2. Receiving dew: In rural Zhejiang, the custom of receiving dew with washbasin is popular. Legend has it that the dew on Tanabata is the tears when cowherd and weaver girl meet. If you put it in your eyes and hands, it can make people agile. 3. Worship Seven Sisters: The Seven Sisters Festival on July 7th is often called "Worship Seven Sisters" in Guangdong, and "Worship Seven Mothers" in Fujian and Taiwan Province. Before the founding of New China, Tanabata was a grand festival for beautiful girls. In the past, beautiful girls begged Qi Jie to teach her clever skills. In fact, the so-called "seeking cleverness" is just "fighting cleverness". In the old days, it was very lively to celebrate the Seven Qiao Festival in Guangdong.