The custom of Valentine's Day in China and the legend of Tanabata in southern Fujian?

The seventh day of the seventh lunar month is a folk Valentine's Day in China, which is a romantic and mythical love festival. When the festival is coming, there are many unique customs all over the country, so today the Old Yellow Calendar will introduce you to the customs and legends of China Valentine's Day in southern Fujian.

On the seventh day of July, when the "Seven Mothers" were worshipped on the seventh day of July, Minnan region not only retained the same customs as other regions, but also had its own unique folk customs, which had a strong folk color of Fujian and Taiwan.

In the rural areas of southern Fujian, it is said that the seventh day of July is the birthday of the "seven fairies". The "seven fairies" are not fairies, but seven goddesses, commonly known as "seven mothers", so people call this day "seven mothers' birthday". This may be the evolution of Tanabata folk custom with strong religious atmosphere in southern Fujian.

Since ancient times, in the minds of working women in southern Fujian, "Qi Ma Year" is the embodiment of beauty, kindness, love and good luck. She can not only bring love, warmth and happiness to children, but also protect their healthy growth. Therefore, there is a folk custom of "worshiping the sun" on Tanabata.

According to the Records of Quanzhou Prefecture, the characteristics of the Spring Festival are "seeking cleverness", "keeping fruits and vegetables old" and "children and grandchildren worship the sky". According to this custom, in the first year after a child is born, the first Tanabata will be a "new contract", which means a new worship of the adoptive mother "Qi Ma Nian" (called "Qi Mu" in Minnan dialect), and on the same day, the "life-sustaining thread" tied to the newborn's wrist during the Dragon Boat Festival will be untied.

At the age of sixteen, "Chinese Valentine's Day" in that year was a "contract washing", which meant that he was baptized when he grew up and left the "Year of Qi Ma". With the development of the times, this folk custom has been abandoned by many urban families, but its remains can still be seen in rural areas.

According to the traditional custom, paying homage to the "seven mothers" on Tanabata in southern Fujian has a strong folk color. On Tanabata, housewives often get up early, cook jiaozi and rub dumplings (poke a small hole in the dumplings, and the children born will have dimples. Another way of saying it is that this small hole is used to hold the tears when the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl leave. Some also fry some peanuts, then grind them into powder, mix them with white sugar, and sprinkle them on them when the sugar skin is cooked, so that the sugar skin tastes more fragrant and Q.

Of course, we must not forget to prepare a table of offerings. The offerings in Quanzhou to worship the Year of Qi Ma generally include candied fruit, melon and fruit, "fried rice", three sacrifices and wine glasses. And wait until noon to worship the "Year of the Horse". The altar of worship is usually placed at the door of the master's bedroom, because it is necessary to worship the "bed mother" inside.

The Legend of Tanabata in South Fujian There are wonderful stories about Tanabata in South Fujian. According to the legend in southern Fujian, when the Emperor was furious with the Seven Fairies and married Yong Dong, he separated the loving couple with the Milky Way as the boundary, then allowed them to meet once every seven days, and ordered the magpie to convey this order to them. Unexpectedly, the magpie was anxious and inarticulate, but mistakenly reported the seven-day meeting as a meeting on July 7 every year. Up to now, Minnan still retains the "guest bird" (Bi).

However, although the magpie reported the wrong happy event and the news was misinformed, it was the emperor's order, so the mistake must be corrected and cannot be changed. So the emperor punished the magpie, and arranged a bridge for the Cowherd and the Weaver Maid on Tanabata every year to help them meet.

It is said that on the seventh day of July, there are no magpies in the world, because they are all bridges; After Chinese Valentine's Day, the magpie went bald, because the cowherd and the cow's hoof trampled on the bridge. Therefore, after offering sacrifices to the "seven mothers", people will throw a bag of glutinous rice on the roof to reward magpies for their hard work.

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